Avallon - Strolls Around a Pretty Town

Lillian :  Avallon is a really pretty town ... a lovely place to explore.

Audrey :  This photo is from just in front of  L’église Saint-Lazare - lots of really old buildings.

Lillian :  In the background - the Clock Tower & Bell Tower behind it, they were built between 1456 & 1459.  The building in the centre is the House of the Lords Domecy - it was built in the 15thC and has recently been repaired.                     In 2007 it did look rather crumbly.

Audrey :  The Clock Tower has an arch - you walk right through it from the main shopping street.  The Tourist Office is the half-timbered 15thC building on the left  ...  and then you come to the wonderful statue of a Frog. 

I gave the Frog a kiss but it didn't turn into a statue of a Prince.




Lillian :  These beautiful tiles are on the floor of the foyer in the Tourist Office.














 And this mosaic is from Roman times - it is in the Musee Avallonaise which is well worth a visit.
















Audrey : The people of Avallon display a quirky sense of humour ...  a fallen stone gets a painted face ... the facade of a house gets a sweet squirrel over the door ...

    

Audrey :  And there are lots of cats in Avallon - 

Cat in an Attic Window

Pretending to be a tiger in the jungle

Another Cat in another window

Let Me Out!

Lillian :  All that exploring does get rather tiring - we had a sit-down on the doorstep of an old house ...

You were feeling quite tired Audrey.

Double Rhubarb - rhubarb tart and rhubarb glacée

 Audrey : Yes but I felt much better after we had a lovely lunch in the garden at Tearoom Dame Jeanne

Lillian :  The next day we explored some of the parks and jardins.  The massive War Memorial (by Pierre Vigouroux) is at the end of this park - facing L'église Saint-Martin-du-Bourg. 

Just outside the walls - under the Tour Gauchard is the Square Houdaille

And in the centre of town is Place Vauban with the statue of the Marquis - it is by Bertholdi who also created the Statue of Liberty.

 Audrey : It was spring and the gardens were full of flowers - 

Audrey in the Buttercups Ranunculus repens

Lillian and Purple Tulips

In a patch of Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Audrey :  You were wearing your new black dress Lillian.

Lillian in her new Little Black Dress

And a Little Blackbird - he sang so beautifully.

Spring-time in Avallon

Versailles - Le Grand Trianon part 2

Lillian : We had a lovely time in the gardens with all the pretty tulips then went back inside the Grand Trianon building to see some of the rooms on the other side of the 'Peristyle' -  The Grand Apartment and the Round Room with it's marvelous floor ...

 

  

and a lovely chandelier ...

 
Audrey :  There were lots of lovely chandeliers - can you imagine how they would have twinkled with all the candles lit and flickering?
 

Lillian :  Even the way the chandeliers are hung from the ceilings is gorgeous ... 

 

Lillian :  This was The Music Room until Louis-Philippe converted into a billiard room.

Audrey :  Look where the billiard balls come out!

 

Audrey :  And there is a room with lots of things made of gorgeous green stone -

 

Lillian :  It is malachite, from Siberia.  The king of Russia, Tzar Alexander I gave Napoleon the malachite in 1808 and lots of lovely things were made from it.

Audrey : The Grand Trianon is quite Napoleonic - the official website calls this room The Emperor’s Topographical Study  -   "in 1810 Napoleon made this his map room". 
This is a lovely light-filled room with elegant furniture, green curtains and here is a close up of the lower part of a chandelier ...

 

 

 

 

Lillian :  We were intrigued by this wonderful folding set of steps - when closed it would look like a piano stool with a padded seat.  Quite ingenious!

Audrey : Talking about stools, remember all the stools lined up - they were pink with wonderful bobble fringing

Lillian :  And if you look closely (click on the photo to see it larger) that central medallion on the sides of the seats, it is a bee.  Napoleon Bonaparte took the bee as one of the symbols of his empire but there is some debate as to why

"The Bee Symbol of immortality and resurrection, the bee was chosen so as to link the new dynasty to the very origins of France."
or
Because an up-side-down fleur-de-lis looks like a bee ... 
or
Because bees are symbolic of industriousness. 
or
It was an adaptaiton of Charlemagne's bee.  
but
perhaps the ancient insects were not actually bees but cicadas or crickets or maybe even flies!

Audrey : Yuk - enough already!  Perhaps Napoleon liked honey - perhaps he ate too much honey and it gave him belly aches and that is why he was always holding a hand against his tummy ...







Lillian : This is The Cotelle Gallery - it is were the last of the Versailles peace treaties was signed - after WWI.

Audrey :  It is a lovely long room, with lots of paintings of the palace grounds and gardens as they were in 1687.  The gardeners try to make everything look as they did back then, when they were new.  Talking about gardens, we went out of the Grand Trianon to see the gardens behind the building ...














Lillian :  Quite formal with lots of statuary ...

 large urns with babies on top

Audrey : And busts of important people - this gentleman has a big head like a Blythe doll.

Lillian : We will leave this post with one last photo of those lovely tulips in Le Grand Trianon gardens.  Next post will be our last of Versailles.

Versailles - Le Grand Trianon part 1

Lillian :  The Grand Trianon is really pretty and elegant.

Audrey : It is all pastel pink and buttery yellow outside.

 

Lillian :  Yes, it is pink marble and porphyry and was built for Louis XIV in 1687 by Jules Hardouin Mansart, he was also the architect of the grand Les Invalides building in Paris.  You can read about the building of the Grand Trianon here on the Official Chateau de Versailles Site.

Audrey : I loved all the pretty basket/urns full of flowers.

Lillian :  Inside the furniture and decor mostly dates from the time of Napoleon - The First Empire. 

Mostly everything is very tasteful - though we weren't sure about the carpet in The Boudoir de l'Imperatrice (Napoleon's mother). 



Audrey : I think that even an Empress can take leopard print Too Far!  What is that frame thing for Lillian? 



Lillian :  It is for stretching a tapestry or embroidery on while you stitch it ... and that one is really large. 

Lillian :  This room is quite lovely - it is known as The Room of Mirrors. 

 


Audrey : Oh, I wonder why?

But look at those permanent flowers and up the top - one of those Fritillaries we saw in the Petite Trianon gardens.

Lillian :  Our stylist was very interested in all the curtain treatments - and all the very impressive trimmings. 

Lillian :  From the very pastel blue & pink of the Room of Mirrors you go to The Empress's Bedroom which has lots of red upholstery.

Audrey : Which Empress?

Lillian :  Empress Marie-Louise - the 2nd wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Audrey : Wasn't wife No: 1 Josephine?

Lillian :  Yes, Marie-Louise was Empress of France from 1811 to 1814 which wasn't very long but she furnished this room as it appears today except for that bed.



Audrey : The fire-places in the Grand Trianon were very impressive -

This red marble (I think it is red marble) fire-place is in The Chapel Room.

Lillian :  And this is in The Louis-Philippe Family Room


Audrey :  A large room all done in yellow with a circular pattern in blue.  Again fabulous curtains and tassels.


 









Lillian :  Back in The Chapel Room is this portrait of Marie Leszczinska - married to Louis XV she was also the daughter of Stanisław Leszczyński.  We will talk more about later when we show you all the photos from Nancy.

 

Audrey : I do like the sleeves of her dress and that very grand train though the young lad seems to be having quite a hard time keeping it clean and off the floor.  

Lillian :  It is blue with gold fleur-de-lis and lined with ermine -it indicates that this lady was French Royalty - the cupid in front is carrying her crown on a pillow.

Audrey : The Grand Trianon building is in 2 parts with a wonderful walk-way in the middle ...

Lillian :  It is called The Peristyle ...

Audrey : I wished that I had on a big silk dress like Marie Leszczinska's so I could parade up and down there.

Lillian : It is quite lovely, a very pretty indoors / outdoors link.  The Courtyard is over that side ...

 

and to the other side - the gorgeous gardens.

 

Audrey : Wonderful formal gardens with masses of tulips and some pointy trees ...

And all the tulips were pastel pink and white and buttery yellow - exactly, pweecisely the same colours as the building.

 

Lillian : So many tulips - and the plants must be really healthy as many had multiple blooms.

 

Audrey :  Almost TOO pwetty!