Charmed by Old Quebec

Quebec flags flying proudly in Old Quebec

I haven't been to Quebec City since I was a teenager and had fond memories of the place, being very European and beautiful. And I'm glad to report it still is very much so, particularly the old part of town.

We're on a cruise on the Queen Mary 2 -- the same ship we were on two years ago -- and it is docked by the old town called Old Quebec.

Time is limited so we took a bus tour to see some of the main sights, but looking back on my notes, they are just a series of factoids that don't seem that interesting! But overall it was a good reminder of how old the area is compared to say Vancouver, and that old and new co-exist well together.

Wandering around the quaint old town

The area was founded by explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1608 and Quebec means the "where the river narrows" on the St Lawrence River. It also naturally has lots of cliffs making the place a great fortress.

The tour guide said that the main employer was the government, with one in 10 jobs are civil servant ones. There's also 9,000 soldiers posted here and lots of research particularly in fibre optics conducted here.

Interesting to note is the train station and Chateau Frontenac have similar architecture and have the copper roofs that have turned green.

In between pointing out the sights and good restaurants to try, the guide also showed us a few churches that have changed in use. Some have converted into condos that he joked would help you "rest in peace", another was just sold to be used to host flea markets, and another had shops on the ground floor. Talked about mixed-use land.

We also saw a statue of Joan of Arc riding on a horse with one leg up. The guide said one leg up meant the person was injured in battle; two meant the person had died. Three? That horse must be performing with Cirque du Soleil...

The majestic Chateau Frontenac run by Fairmont Hotels

Yesterday we had wandered a bit of the old town, and we were charmed by the old-looking streets and the shops, mostly arts and crafts, cafes and such.

There were several musicians on the streets, including a man on a harp, and another playing the violin and singing folk songs as well as playing wooden spoons. In the evening we saw a performance on the ship by a group singing folk songs and dancing to them.

At one point they also demonstrated how to use the wooden spoons (they are attached together), and the leader got several audience members up on stage to learn how to use them!

The leader also joked that the dancing was very Irish (think Riverdance), but the songs were very French.

Passing by Notre Dame Cathedral

Visiting Quebec City again reminded us of why we loved it here the first time, and it's a place that we should come back to again with more time. It's so full of history and culture, the people are friendly and like a good joke or two.

Chateau Gazing

Chenonceau chateau, with the original tower on the right

This morning we went to visit a beautiful chateau at Chenonceau. It is located in a beautiful idyllic setting and one can imagine royalty arriving by horse-drawn carriage, with immaculately manicured gardens flanking both sides of the castle.

It was owned by Thomas Bohier and his wife Katherine Briconnet. However, Bohier owed money to the crown, and he had to forfeit the property to Henry II.

Catherine de Medici's portrait on the fireplace

He in turn gave the chateau to his mistress Diane de Poitiers, who was apparently 20 years older than him and known for her beautiful skin and red hair. In her bedroom is a portrait of Henry II's wife, Catherine de Medici, who looks very stern, so it seems strange for Diane to have her rival's portrait hanging on her wall, or is it a reminder not to be like Catherine?

After Henry II died, Catherine took her revenge, kicking out Diane and taking over the estate. She held parties in the gallery and covered the area to create more space in the chateau.

The next generation, Henry III occupied the chateau with his wife Louise of Lorraine. However, when he was assassinated, Louise was so distraught that she made her bedroom all black, while she wore white, the royal sign of mourning.

Each of the rooms were very beautifully decorated, and tapestries were more used as ways to insulate rooms, and many of the fireplaces are still in working order. The kitchen was interesting, with lots of copper pots hanging on the walls, as well as knives in the butcher area with a well worn wooden block.

The gallery used for parties and wounded soldiers

There were no washrooms in this chateau -- they used chamber pots and hardly bathed! Also curtains were installed in four-poster beds so that people could have some privacy -- there weren't many corridors so people, from visitors to staff had to pass through other people's rooms to get elsewhere.

There are many interesting details, such as the private chapel, the interlinking C's that almost look like a "D", and the original tile worn out, but the designs can still be seen on the edges of the rooms.

During World War I, the gallery was used as an impromptu hospital for over 2,000 soldiers, and in World War II, its location on the River Cher marks the line of demarcation between the occupied zone and the free zone.

The butcher room with choppers and a worn chopping board

The resistance used the chateau to smuggle people, including Jews from the north to the south in the free zone.

Outside the gardens are very pretty, but use the same plants in the entire design which while pretty, isn't very interesting for green thumb fans. There's also a garden maze, but we didn't have time to go in.

After lunch we visited the chateau at Amboise, a short drive away. It was originally built in the 15th and 16th centuries, and was the home of many kings and queens -- Charles VIII, Francis I, Henry II and Catherine de Medici.

However most of the property is gone, after an owner sold many of the stone blocks to raise money. But what we could still see was impressive.

Leonardo is apparently buried here

We first went into the small St Hubert chapel and in there is apparently the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci. He was asked by Francis I to come to France, and at that time the artist was already 64 years old. Leonardo was not the first Italian architect/artist invited by Francis I, as the others didn't want to come.

It is believed that days before Leonardo died, he called the notary to come and discuss his will and burial arrangements. He asked that he have a simple tombstone and he was apparently buried with one hand behind his head, which is unusual.

However the original church in which he was buried (not far away, on the same grounds) was destroyed, and his corpse was moved again, apparently in this chapel; however we cannot be sure because Leonardo had no descendants so there are no DNA samples to verify this. Our guide believes 95 percent that Leonardo is buried there.

The castle with those in black still existing, in red are gone

Then we made our way into the main building, going through several of the rooms, like the cupbearer's room, where there is a special cabinet storing the king's drinks. Only one person has the key to the cabinet to prevent poisoning.

Another was a long room with vaulted ceilings that would have been used for dining and partying, but also for trials, one case which involved Protestants who were convicted with attempting to assassinate the king and were hung outside the castle for four days so that the public learned a deadly lesson.

However towards the end of our tour some of the rooms were decorated with 19th century furniture, complete with wallpaper and paintings. The landscaped gardens outside are also sculpted, with bushes looking like verdant balls.

A Flemish influence in the architecture of the castle

We survived the day -- reaching 35 degrees! It was still very hot and very bright at 7pm! And it will still be very hot in the next few days.

Visiting Chartres and Chambord

The facade of the cathedral in Chartres

This morning we set off early from Paris to Chartres, southwest of Paris. It is best known for its cathedral, considered to be the best example of French Gothic architecture, and has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 2003.

We were one of the first groups in the cathedral, that was built in the 12th and 13th centuries and is also known for its stained glass windows from the Middle Ages. There are 172 stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible.

The Blue Virgin stained glass window

One of them depicts the "Blue Virgin" in a sky blue against a dark blue background. Blue is not a common colour used in stained glass, but here at Chartres it seems to be the norm. The cathedral also houses a piece of the veil of the Virgin Mary... there's a letter in calligraphy that claims it is from the days of Charlemagne...

The stained glass windows are tall and rectangular, and there are two round rose windows as well. The colours are so vivid, but perhaps this is due to the restoration happening at the moment, as there was scaffolding in the cathedral; it also prevented us from seeing the large labyrinth on the floor, which pilgrims used to walk on their knees while praying, as a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Behind the cathedral is a small garden and below it is a small garden maze and beyond it a panoramic view of the town.

Our next stop was Chambord, to the famous chateau -- or rather a hunting lodge -- that was commissioned by Francis I. He apparently hired Italian architects, one of which may have been Leonardo da Vinci, to create this place that has 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces and 84 staircases. One of them may have been designed by Leonardo, a double helix staircase that goes up three flights, but never meet.

The back of the chateau, or hunting lodge in Chambord

Apparently Francis I wanted the roof of the hunting lodge to look like the skyline of Constantinople. But he didn't spend much time here -- during his 32-year reign (28 years of which were spent on building the lodge), he only spent seven weeks here. Whenever he wanted to visit this home, his 2,000 household staff had to bring all the furniture, clothes and provisions for him to stay here.

Francis I came here to go hunting, and these days people come here to hunt one day a year in November.

Louis XIV spent some time here afterwards and before the outbreak of World War II, the works of art in the Louvre were moved to Chambord for safe keeping from the Germans.

Another interesting factoid is that the chateau was the inspiration for the palace in Disney's animation feature Beauty and the Beast.

The entrance to the chateau a la Constantinople

I have to come back here again to spend more time -- we had to quickly grab lunch before getting on the tour bus again to head toward Tours, but not before we sampled some wines at Montlouis.

It's located inside a limestone quarry, where the rock was quarried for the chateaus in the area. As a result it's a cool place to store wines. However there's no vineyards here -- it's a production area where grapes are processed, blended, fermented, bottled and distributed.

The Loire Valley is known for its Chenin Blanc and sparkling wines. The latter are produced by adding sugar and yeast twice. However the dead yeast leaves a cloudy mixture at the bottom of the bottle and so the bottles are placed on an angle facing down and turned periodically.

See the dead yeast in the bottle that needs to be removed?

Then once the dead yeast has collected at the mouth of the bottle, and because the caves are so cool, the sediment freezes and pops out much easier without losing too much of the sparkling wine.

We got to sample three of the wines, a sparkling wine, a rosee and a white wine, but none of them really impressed us which was strange considering we're in wine country.

By dinnertime we arrived at Tours and had dinner at a fun restaurant called Leonardo da Vinci and were entertained by a guitarist who encouraged us to sing songs either in French or English.

The very grand City Hall in Tours

After dinner we walked around the area, passing by City Hall, the shopping street nearby and saw the modern-looking streetcars. But everything was closed after we finished dinner so we could only window shop!