Perouges

This morning, Agnes and I went shopping, mostly for food stuffs.  We leave for Paris tomorrow and will be staying in a small flat, so we will be able to make breakfasts and lunches before we head out to see the city.  I also bought a lot of chocolate to take home for us and others, as well as a super cool cutting board for bread.  It has a wooden grill on the top and a tray to catch crumbs underneath, keeping the mess to a minimum.  It will be a silly thing to take home in our suitcases, but oh well. 

This afternoon we had a delightful trip to a small medieval city outside Lyon called Perouges.  It is a walled city perched on top of a hill.  It is absolutely beautiful!  Here are two pictures I did not take followed by a whole bunch I did.

We all piled into the backseat of Jean-Marc and Agnes' car, and I prayed that we would "travel in safety" as any sort of accident would have probably done several of us in.  Fortunately, the only unpleasantness came from the children complaining that they didn't have enough room.  No kidding.

Perouges is the quintessential medieval town.  It is walled, has cobbled streets, old stone buildings, a church that could be used as a defensive stronghold, and charm that has led it to be the setting of numerous French films.  The children were enchanted.  The adults too.  The wisteria was in bloom, there were many little spots where we had to stop and take pictures, and I think we were all overcome by a romantic sort of feeling that had little to do with love.  It was absolutely wonderful!  There were few people there on a Monday afternoon, so there were moments when it felt like we were the only ones around.  It was tourism at its best.  I took many, many pictures.

Leading up to the gate of the city.

Panoramic view from just outside the city gates.

Inside the church.

The date next to Brandt is 1362.

Jean-Marc managed to squish his head into that little tiny space.

Ouch!

The door that would close off the city.

The view of the gate from inside the city.

I love the blooming wisteria growing over the windows and doors.

So beautiful!

Jean-Marc was making growling, shrieking noises and making the children shriek too.

Agnes had to warn him to behave.

Our caged host.

That's a chimney up there.

Not your run of the mill chimney, however.

More wisteria.

This huge tree is in the middle of a square.

And even more wisteria.

This sundial is in the face of the building above, in the upper right.

The translation of the phrase is, "I will show you only the hour of the nice days."  

Because it's a sundial, when it's cloudy, it is ineffective.

It has been there since 1274.

Check out that sword!

A shield just like Peter the High King's in Chronicles of Narnia.

Our brave knights.

They desperately wanted us to buy them this stuff, 

but how would we have gotten it home?

I loved these little shelves that folded down from windows.

An easy way to sell your wares directly from your house.

See what I mean about picturesque?

Lots of pictures of doors. 

I thought they were so interesting.

Scene without Brandt.

Same scene with Brandt.

We saw a couple walking hand in hand down this little street towards an overlook.

It looked so romantic.

Kent and I are trying to duplicate it.

I was giggling.

For some reason it doesn't seem to have the same feeling.

Probably because I know it's staged.

Agnes and Jean-Marc

Another door.

But isn't this a great knocker? 

I wanted one, and we looked in several shops.

No luck.

Someone lives here.

Currently.

More wisteria!

AAAAH!

I LOVE IT!

Aren't these little pansies/johnny jump ups wonderful framed in that ancient window?

The top of the tower and pretty  much the highest point in the city.

We went there.

House of the prince!

Panoramic view from the top of the tower.

For not much money, I think about four euros, you can go inside the Prince's house, which is a little museum.  They have old machinery and crockery, but the really great part is that you can climb up to the top of the tower.  This provides a really fantastic view over the city and surrounding countryside.  The view alone is worth the four  euros.

See the big patch of yellow?

That is a field of colza, flowers used to make oil.

Canola in the US.

I think it is beautiful.

Brandt wanted me to take this picture because there was, again, the emblem of the "great lion Aslan."

The very steep stairs we climbed to get out on top of the tower.

Chimney.

See?

Not your run of the mill opening.

Looking up from below.

We were right at that flag.

The pictures below were taken in the room with windows below.

There was music being piped in, I think, and Blythe was dancing in the sunlight.

Love it!

This was a large piece of metal something the children found very appealing.

They danced and played around it for some time.

It might have been part of a grinding apparatus.

We sat at a little cafe under drying corn to enjoy a special galette de Perouges.

It is pastry topped with butter and lemon zest and is rather tasty.

Agnes apologized because it wasn't hot and it better when it is, but we enjoyed it anyway.

She promised me a recipe and I think I will make it at home.

Yum!

On our way out, we passed a knight wearing very fluffy blue bunny ears on the top of his helmet.

He was part of a video being filmed.

We watched for a few minutes.

It was a very silly video.

The knight was cool, however, even with fluffy blue bunny ears.

Video filming.

It was a marvelously fun day.  We are delighted that Agnes and Jean-Marc took us on this adventure.  Before we hoped in bed, we went to settle the children.  I found Blythe literally hanging out of bed.  I have no idea how she managed to even stay asleep with the whole lower part of her body dangling off the side.