On the road (1) – Six countries, nine days COMPLETED About This Page:

[chezp]

Returning back in time...

Saturday 20 March – part one: are you sure we’re going the right way?

No alarm this morning, that must mean that we’re on vacation and a quick look around the unfamiliar circumstances confirm that indeed we are.

It was about 7.15, which wasn’t too bad and ironically, when you take the time difference into account, it’s the same time we would usually wake up at home. I did some bits online and we gradually got going, having some tea and some breakfast of the almond croissants that we had brought from home.

Eventually, we headed down at around 8.40 to check out and I was very proud of myself for being able to say the room number in French to the receptionist. I guess they put a note on our reservation that we preferred to speak English (and in fairness that’s what they had asked me last night), as she then immediately switched to English. I paid our bill, a huge whopping €2 for local taxes and headed out to the car after Mark, who was already out there packing it up. It turned out that the British car that we had parked next to belonged to a group from the same part of the UK that we’re from. Now altogether, It’s A Small World after all...

We headed out, feeling very impressed with the Holiday Inn at Dijon. I think both of us would happily recommend it to anyone.

Our first stop today was the Abbaye de Fontenay, which I knew was about an hour’s drive away from Dijon to the north east of the city. I had half hoped that maybe we might get to it yesterday, but it didn’t pan out that way.

What I didn’t realise is that Tim would treat us to a route that took us through what sometimes felt like completely deserted countryside. At times, there were absolutely no other cars around, which was a very odd feeling. It certainly brought it home to us how vast France is and how much of it just hasn’t been populated. I guess, in those respects, it’s very much like America.

We went through some beautiful villages, but some of them literally consisted of about half a dozen houses and then you were straight out the other side of them. They were gone almost as soon as they started. Others looked beautiful and exceptionally old, yet when you got near to them, you suddenly realised that they were all run down and derelict. I guess these buildings cost a lot of money to maintain and perhaps they can’t always afford that cost.

















We ended up zig sagging our way around hairpin bends through valleys and up mountains. As Mark said, it was hard work in terms of driving, but equally it provided us with some beautiful scenery along the way, much nicer than we’d seen the day before. This was quintessential France with the pretty farmhouses.






Of course, quintessential France has its drawbacks and one of those was the tractor we encountered, but fortunately that was on one of the roads that was pretty deserted, so thankfully we were able to get past him pretty quickly.








Eventually we made it to the abbey and it really is in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Mind you, I guess that worked perfectly for the Benedictine monks who based themselves there. After all, at least there was nothing to distract them or disturb them. We parked up and were one of only about four cars there. I must admit when we first entered, I did think that maybe it was closed and I was very relieved to see some other cars there.






The next challenge was getting into the place itself. The entrance was clearly enough signposted through the bookshop or so it seemed. I’d done some research on this place and my guidebook suggested that you did need to pay for it, which seemed about right to me, but when I went on their website, it mentioned nothing about an entrance charge, so I began to wonder whether it was free. After all, surely they’d mention a charge?

We walked around the shop and browsed everything in there and the two guys there just let us, never once asking us if we needed any help. We tried a door at the far end and that didn’t shift. There were no signs up about how much entry cost and we were thoroughly confused. We came back out, thinking maybe we’d missed the entrance somewhere else, but there was no other way in. Now this was getting very odd...

We went back inside, after a moment where I declared I was ready to give up and just leave and Mark dissuading me not to, and I asked the guy in French where the entrance was. Immediately, he headed behind the till and proceeded to ring two people up on the till. Good grief, could you guys not have said something earlier? I hardly imagine that you get lots of people out here, just browsing the shop for the sheer hell of it, but never mind....

Once we were all paid up, €8.50 each, ($11.50) he picked up a key and took us to the door that we’d tried before and unlocked it. Right, now it all made sense.

The second we went outside, I was glad that Mark had persuaded me to give getting in here another go, as it was truly beautiful. This is a UNESCO site of interest and you always know that those are only handed out to the very best of the best and that falls into this category.



Next: one amazing abbey!

[piglet925]

Wow, I love the pictures once you rode the gondolas to the top. Still scared of heights, but I would have definitely rode them to get that view. The French countryside is beautiful, we get to see and ride behind tractors all the time in our town. Can't wait to see the pictures of one amazing abbey.

[DrDolphin]

Two wonderful updates - more gondolas, lovely mountains and a wonderful Abbey.

Didn't they hold a winter Olympics in Grenoble? Like in the 20s or 30s?

[Principessa_di_Fata]

Amazing pictures of the countryside! WOW! And how very "French" of them to just let you browse and not say anything until you asked, lol. (My family is French so I can say that with no hesitation, lol).

[chezp]

Originally Posted by DrDolphin

Two wonderful updates - more gondolas, lovely mountains and a wonderful Abbey.

Didn't they hold a winter Olympics in Grenoble? Like in the 20s or 30s?

1968 rings a bell from all the stuff we saw there....

[pamcarey]

Woo hoo! Two updates for the price of one! The abbey looks beautiful! You definitely drove way out in the countryside to get there.

[KMB733]

I'm enjoying all the lovely pictures! Especially the ones from the gondolas. That would be such a awesome way to see the city!

[simbarel]

Holy moley, what amazing photos!

[Kenny]

Great views from the "top"! I really enjoyed the ride through "back country France", too. The abbey is very interesting. It is just hard to believe that they would let you go so far as jiggling the handle of the door and not offer assistance?!

[Colexis Mom]

Great pictures from the gondola and from the countryside! More please!

[Cam22]

Two great updates! the gondolas and the views she got from there. Glad you didn't give up on the abbey.

[chezp]

Very confusingly for everyone, we now continue with the story of the abbey and will jump back to leaving Grenoble in a few days' time...

Saturday 20 March – part two: one amazing abbey!

The abbey is the oldest surviving Cistercian foundation in France and was founded in 1188 by St. Bernard. It was well used, with more than 200 monks based here at the peak of its popularity. However, with the French revolution, the monks gradually left and it ended up passing into private ownership.

We wandered past where the dog kennels used to be, shown by two statues of dogs...



Here you can also see the Dovecote, which reminded me of the tower at Akerhaus, both the one in Epcot and the real one in Norway.


Mark can find an entertaining photo opportunity everywhere we go!


We got a few photos, including some self portrait shots. We didn’t have the tripod with us, but we improvised using my France guidebook and the results weren’t too bad at all.



Then it was into the Grand Abbey Church and, my goodness, just like Reims Cathedral yesterday, it was freezing in here. It was a bit spooky in here, with no furniture at all, just a huge gaping space with some statues towards the end of the huge hall. This dates from the 1140s.



Next it was up the stairs and into the dormitory, where the monks would’ve slept on straw. I can’t begin to imagine how cold it would’ve been in here during the winter. The timberwork roof here is from chestnut that dates from the 15th century.



We headed out of there and into the relative warmth of the cloisters area, where the monks would’ve done their prayers. It was very peaceful and calming.



Then it was into the Chapterhouse,where the Abbott would’ve carried out readings.



From here, we headed into the great garden, which gave us some great views of the abbey. This was where the monks would have once cultivated herbs for medicines and potions.



Our tour next took us towards the forgery, the area where the monks worked to produce iron to make toolsand Mark prophetically declared something about a water wheel. Wouldn’t you know it? We go into the next room and there’s a working one in there. From what I could read of the French descriptions in there, this was a project between seven technical schools and universities and the restoration of this took three years, with it only being unveiled in 2008.



Outside, you could see the water where the water wheel was drawing its power from and that also offered some more lovely views of the abbey. In the distance, we could see a tour group and, when we looked towards the car park, we could see that they had obviously come from a huge bus that was now parked there. I was very glad that we had been early and had missed them. The whole way round, we’d only seen one other person. It was as if we’d had the place to ourselves and that was a feeling I really enjoyed. It made for some perfect photos.



We headed out, stopping to use the toilets on the way out. We had already worked out that anytime there seemed to be a decent set of toilets, where they weren’t charging to use them, it was a good plan to take full advantage of them and these were very nice, even if they were unisex ones, something that I still find a bit freaky to this day, even though one of our buildings at work has that set up.

Next: that’s one impressive roof!

[emmalovesdisney]

Those are some lovely photos

[Kenny]

Great update, Cheryl! The abbey looks very interesting, indeed.

[Wendyismyname]

Stunning. Now I those photos!!! And I adore the pictures of the buildings in the villages. That's one of the things I remember clearly when I went to England was just how close they were to the road and to each other.