We’re just back from a holiday in France. We spent 4 days staying on a houseboat on the River Seine right outside the Musee D’Orsay. It was great sitting on deck watching the other boats go by and of course, we visited the Musee D’Orsay. All the Impressionists were there but my favourite rooms were of Bonnard and Vuillard where there were paintings of theirs I’d never seen before.
We then moved on, by train, to North of the Loire where we stayed in a gite in the middle of nowhere. After driving through towns with no-one on the street and all the shutters closed, you’d find a small restaurant and it would be packed! By 1.30 the towns would be deserted again! We visited some very pretty medieval towns and Le Mans, where we caught the train, was amazing with narrow cobbled streets and 14th century timber framed houses. In the UK it would have been heaving with visitors but there were only a few of us tourists. The cathedral like many of the other churches had beautiful painted frescos and pillars dating back several centuries.
Some of the most fun nights were spent watching the World Cup in various bars. It was surprising to see that the Americans and French were cheering for England when they were playing. So, we aren’t hated by everyone after all.
I enjoyed painting and here I am in the garden of the gite being critiqued by the owners’ cat.
