Not much to say this morning. I'm just going to post some pictures I took during our leisurely walk around the village of Montréal in Burgundy in late October 2014. If you read this blog regularly, you might find it repetitive with
these kinds of details, but the fact is that I don't know who will look
at the blog at what moment, or what post people will land on first, so each post needs to be pretty much
self-contained. Details...
This set of photos shows a lot of details I noticed around the village and found
interesting. The first photo above shows somebody's sense of humor, with
a car license plate from the city of Montréal in Québec — « Je me souviens » — nailed to an
old door in the village of Montréal in Burgundy. Next to it is a photo of
another village house for sale. It looks like it might need more than "freshening up." (I just found a web site with photos of that house above. It has already been sold for 45,000 €...)
The photo immediately above is a mystery to me — what does this decorative detail on a house actually represent? Those curly things at the top look almost like eyes, but they're not. And what is that tree in the middle?
I really liked the way this unused doorway on one of the village streets had been condamné, as they say in French. Rather than put up a wooden door that would need paint and other maintenance, just fill in the gap with stones. Clever. And it has a nice salamander with it too.
Above, a beautiful window in an old house. How many windows can one photograph in a lifetime? The answer: millions, if one is in France. So many are so beautiful.
And doorways too. Potted geraniums nicely dress up that old stone staircase on the left above. And the door on the rignt shows how wood doesn't hold up to the weather all that well, especially in a damp climate.
Renaissance window and door frames. Somehow, the modern windows within the frame don't look quite right. But we'll get used to it.
ReplyDeleteThe new windows are probably more air-tight than old ones would be.
DeleteRepetitive? Never. Your photos are always beautiful and interesting - you record the things that make France such a ravishing country.
ReplyDeleteAren't the 'curly things' part of a decorative scroll around a design which may be a coat of arms? A marriage stone, perhaps?
Thank you. I do look at my photos as documentation. The subject is France....
DeleteWhoa, did François Ier vacation behind that walled-up doorway? :) (Hence the salamandre)?
ReplyDeleteI wonder about that too but I don't know.
DeleteThis is one of the reasons we travel to France--the vernacular architecture, which is so pleasing to the eye everywhere you go. I guess food is the other main reason.
ReplyDeleteYou know the link between Quebec and Mortagne-au-Perche, I believe--Mortagne was an important site of emigration to Canada, and supposedly the parents sending their children off to the new world said "Always remember God and France." Hence, "Je me souviens" as the motto of Quebec.
Apologies if I've mentioned this on your blog before. Your repetitions are usually fascinating; mine are not.
Don't apologize. I do remember that about Mortagne and Québec. Did you know that there is a plaque in Mareuil-sur-Cher commemorating the departure of local people emigrating to Québec? Ne l'oublions pas.
ReplyDeleteI travel through your pictures! I love these posts!
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda. I myself am enjoying the photos of sunny weather in beautiful Burgundy last October. Here, it has been raining steadily since before daybreak. Typical January dreariness.
ReplyDeleteI love looking at the details. The dilapidated house had some good days, perhaps the new owner will make it beautiful again. As for the emblem- I see two elephants at the bottom and two owls up top- a tree of life in the middle which could be a marriage stone (will have to google that idea).
ReplyDeleteThat walled up door took some time to make. It is quite nice.
Evelyn, I like your interpretation of the emblem. Now I look at it with different eyes. Thank you!
DeleteDe rien, chm!
DeleteHi, Ken. I have yet to find your posts repetitive. Your writing style is really wonderful, your stories are entertaining, and the photos are eye-catching. Your daily blog posts are a very pleasant way for me to spend a little time in France every day (virtually for now, but my retirement this year and the fall of the Euro are coinciding nicely to make spending long periods of time in France a real possibility).
ReplyDeleteThat's great, Dean. What parts of France are you attracted to? Maybe all of them?
DeleteThe ornate stone is fascinating. I think Evelyn might be right, that it represents a marriage, the union of two families. It certainly appears to be a tree of life, but with unusual additional motifs -- a pig and a double rose either side of the trunk and a crescent moon and a star above the tree. Very curious.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that salamander over the door posted somewhere else too...
Could the star and the moon mean day and night?
ReplyDeleteCould be that the sun and the rose mean a young beautiful girl and the moon and the pig an older if not a dirty old man?
ReplyDelete