Paris1972-Versailles2003

So looking back I guess have not told you about the Big Wheel in Brussels during Christmas time. It is a magical place and one of my family’s favorite spot. Therefore, it is time to render the credit it deserves and write a bit on it ok.

This is an awesome time to be in Brussels and its shows by its Christmas market been rank right up there with the best in Europe. The European Best Christmas Market organization voted Plaisirs d’Hiver the seventh best Christmas market in Europe! More here: European Best Destinations best Christmas markets

Winter Wonders or Plaisirs d’Hiver ,the big holiday market, done in the center of the City of Brussels. No less than 270 stands make up this magnificent market, which crosses most of the historic center for more than 2.5 km. The event is organized around the Grand Place of Brussels and around the Bourse, on the Place de la Monnaie, Place Sainte-Catherine and Place du Marché aux Pisissons. It’s a very nice family festive environment which we have enjoyed for several years while the boys were younger!!

However, as the boys grew the attractions became a bit more daring and I had to climb the big wheel or Ferris wheel or Grande roue  to watch all these animations and all this high agitation. And even if the hulls are largely glazed, it is better to take your scarf and  hat, and a lot of courage lol!

Do you know the Paris Ferris wheel was inaugurated on the Boulevard du Midi in Brussels, in the extension of the pedestrian area?. It will be accessible from 27 November 2019 and will then go to Ghent.

The Ferris wheel is 55 meters in diameter and 60 meters high. It has 42 cabins that can hold up to six people, for a total capacity of 252 people. In comparison, the Ferris wheel of the Foire du Midi rises to 44 meters, while that of the Plaisirs d’hiver rises to 50 meters in height. The latter will be accessible from November 27, shortly after the disassembly of the Paris Ferris wheel on the Boulevard du Midi. The Ferris wheel was purchase by a forain duo from  Place de la Concorde in Paris for 3.5 million euros. A wheel 70 meters high will soon be installed on the Parisian square. Stay tune for that.

A wonderful place to be at Christmas and even if far away we all need to plan right? Go there. Enjoy the Ferris wheel or Grand Roue at the Plaisirs d’Hiver Christmas market in Brussels Belgium.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip are

Official Plaisirs d’Hiver in English

Tourist office of Brussels on the plaisirs d’Hiver event

The text is all new, the photos are from 2015. Enjoy them and be there, I will try to be there again even if my boys are now men!  And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

Hi there, its me back with castles!!! I love castles seen so many in my belle France but each new ones is just more beautiful lol except one…hehehe you know if you read my blog.  I was with the boys on our road warrior trip in the Pays de la Loire, Maine-et-Loire dept 49 and visited on the way home the old town of Brissac-Quincé; this is since 2016 a new town call Brissac Loire Aubance . Of course, there is a beautiful gorgeous castle here.

Brissac-Quincé is an old town located in the department of Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire region. The town was born in 1964 from the grouping of two old neighboring towns of Brissac and Quincé. It is then consolidated in 2016 in the new town of Brissac Loire Aubance. Brissac-Quincé as the best known name still is located on the D 748 road, 16 km south of Angers, 29 km from Saumur, 46 km from Cholet, 85 km from Nantes and 266 km from Paris.

The new town heritage info is here: City of Brissac Loire Aubance on heritage

However, the main here is the Castle of course and our wonderful stop for lunch in town!

The Château de Brissac  is located in new town of Brissac Loire Aubance. With seven floors and more than two hundred rooms, this castle is one of the highest in France (it claims to be the highest). Cradle of the family of Cossé-Brissac since 1502 that still live in it as private property open to the public. Its medieval towers, remains of its fortress of origin of the 15C, shelter perfectly the main facade. It is in this castle that in 1620, took place the reconciliation of Louis XIII with his mother, Marie de Medici, widow of Henry IV. Many plantations adorn the park with beeches, tulip trees, maples, willows, cedars, as well as liquidambars trees as well as a nice farm with donkeys!!!. Its architecture makes it so they tell me the highest castle in France, it has seven floors in total, as well as two hundred rooms, and its facade reflects the baroque influences of the time. Home of the dukes of Brissac, the castle raises its monumental facades from its large landscaped park. Since the beginning of the 16C, it is the property and residence of the dukes of Brissac.

A bit of history I like

It was originally a castle built by Foulques Nerra, Count of Anjou,(who built so the story about 35 castles in the region)  in the 11C. After the defeat of the English by Philippe Auguste, this one yields it to Guillaume des Roches. The castle was acquired in 1435 and rebuilt in 1455 by Pierre de Breze, a rich minister of Charles VII. At the death of the latter, occurred at the Battle of Montlhéry saving the king, it is his son, Jacques, who inherits and moved to the castle. He settled there with his wife Charlotte de Valois (daughter of Charles VII and Agnès Sorel). When Jacques discovers that his wife has an affair with his friend Pierre de Lavergne, he pierces her with his sword in 1462; today a legend claims that it appears in the form of a white lady on stormy nights. During the reign of Francis I, the property was bought in 1502 by René de Cossé whom the king named governor of Maine and Anjou. The castle thus enters the family of Cossé which then adopts the name of Brissac.

The Cossé-Brissac retain the castle until 1792. During the French revolution, it is requisitioned and turned into quartering for the Bleus (republican revolutionaries) of   Vendée. Sacked by the revolutionaries, it remains in this state until 1844, where a program of restoration is undertaken and pursued by the Cossé-Brissac, to whom the castle is restored after the revolution, and whose members are there since. In 1890 is inaugurated its theater, created on two floors by its owner, Jeanne-Marie Say granddaughter of the famous sugar refiner Louis Say, widow in first wedding of Roland de Cossé, marquess of Brissac in 1871, then viscountess of Trédern .

The theater of the Marquise de Brissac , born Jeanne-Marie Say heritage of the sugar Say empire, had a passion for the opera and singing. As her status won’t allow showing in public she decided to built a theater in the castle so she could play to a select public. The theater open in 1890 and until her death in 1916 she organized events here. She created the festival in September called Les Séries d’Automme du Château de Brissac. She plays with her performing friends works of Wagner, Gounoc, Massenet, Saint Saëns, Donizetti, and Offenbach. The theater was abandoned for more than a century until reopen in 1983 thanks to a volunteer association of the Friends of the castle of Brissac.

The Duke of Brissac proposed his castle to house works of art, it received in 1939-1940 during WWII such as the furniture of Versailles ! kept on site until 1946 by the wife of Gaston Brière, it former curator, and works of museums Gustave Moreau, Nissim de Camondo, Decorative Arts, Châlons sur-Marne, the Elysée and Senate palaces, the Comédie Française, the Swiss legation, the embassies of Argentina and Great Britain and among 65 private collections such as the ones of André Lhote, Maurice Denis, Paul Valery and the treasure of the cathedral of Angers. In 1950, Jean Morin, then prefect of the department, had the idea of ​​organizing a theatrical performance at the castle. This spectacular open to the public, the castle is home to a Christmas market, an Easter egg hunt and the Fashion Flower Festival. It also regularly hosts events related to hot air balloons, as departures of the Championship of France and   inaugurates what will become the Festival d’ Anjou.

It is a wonderful beautiful castle with as said so many rooms difficult to post in one time but will hopefully give you the flavor of what to expect, photos are allowed! Again beautiful castle worth the visit.

Some webpages to help you plan your must trip here are

Official Chateau de Brissac in English

Tourist office of Loire layon aubance on the castle

And on the way back we had our lunch/dinner here in city center Brissac and voilà another gem of the wonderful French gastronomy.  So good hard to missed one.  The restaurant for the late lunch/dinner was the L’Ardoise-Brissac with apértifs or apéros entries of 200g terrine de godet(canard), assorted cold cuts and ham terrine platter chicken with curry paste, goat cheese with nuts moelleux au chocolat with strawberry ice scoop, dame blanche , 3 scoops of ice cream and a bottle of red La Source du Ruault Saumur Champigny 2016 all for less than 21€ per person Divine we went to the shop purchase more for home ! the staff very attentive and friendly welcome and service, only families and found out dogs allowed for our next trip over lol!!! Lovely recommended at Place Clemenceau Brissac Quincé tel +33 (0) 2 41 66 54 22 More on web here: Restaurant salon de thé bar à vins L’Ardoise-Brissac

There you won’t go wrong at Brissac-Quincé and its castle and wonderful eateries, a lovely trip indeed, more to come of course I am just half way on my vacation time in my belle France! In the meantime , enjoy the Château de Brissac!

And remember, happy travels, good health ,and many cheers to all!!!

And on my wandering road warrior trips of my belle France I heard about this castle and decided to give it a run; very impressive. This is in what is normally call the Loire or valley of the kings but since France restructured its regions (for lack of history) there are now two parts of the Loire. This one is in the region of Pays de la Loire and the department 49 of Maine et Loire! I will be telling you a bit about the Château de Brézé!

First, there is the little town of Brézé that became on January 1, 2019 a town delegate of the new town of Bellevigne-les-Châteaux. The Castle of Brézé is a monument of which a vast underground gallery was recently discovered a castle under the castle. It also has the deepest dry moat in Europe with their 18 meters. And this is about what is in town really but worth alone the trip.

This is the city page on its heritage: City of Brézé on its heritage in French

There is plenty of free parking outside and you walk in with grandeur to the ticket office with the old stables on your left and the pigeon house right next door before you face on the beautiful castle of Brézé!

The château de Brézé, is a 16C castle located in the town of the same name 10 km south of Saumur. The particularity of the Château de Brézé lies in its troglodyte network located under the castle and in the ditches, comprising both parts of daily life (bakery, stables, silkworm) and military (drawbridge, walkway). The castle of Breze is a private property belonging to Jean de Colbert, son of the late Count Bernard de Colbert and the late Marquise Charlotte de Dreux-Breze. However, it is open to the public.

Its dry moats are the deepest in Europe at 18 meters. The stone of the construction was taken from the moat digging. It has a drawbridge and an underground network of the 12C, a troglodyte part. Renaissance style, it includes a large gallery, a Renaissance home and a clock tower. The cylindrical dovecote dating from the beginning of the 16C, of 3,700 balls (holes that serve as a nest for pigeons), is capped with a lantern dome. The orangery also has a lantern.

In 1448, Gilles de Maillé-Breze obtained from King René permission to strengthen the castle and dig ditches. The renaissance Italian-style castle and outbuildings were rebuilt in the early 16C by Arthur de Maillé. Urbain de Maillé Breze will be the first marquis after Louis XIII erected the estate in marquise in 1615. He marries Nicole du Plessis, sister of Richelieu and they will have two children Armand, grand admiral of France, who dies in Tuscany at the 27 years of age without posterity, and Claire-Clémence who married Louis II of Bourbon-Condé, the Grand Condé and he transmits this heritage in 1650. The Grand Condé takes the head of the Fronde, thus opposes the regency during the minority of the young Louis XIV and, in 1653, the castle is occupied by royal troops. In 1682, Condé will exchange the castle of Breze against La Galissonniere in Bere (Châteaubriant), owned by Thomas de Dreux. In 1685, Thomas de Dreux, advisor to the Parliament of Paris, was confirmed the title of Marquis de Breze by King Louis XIV. Following the marriage of Charlotte de Dreux-Breze with Count Bernard de Colbert in 1959, the property passed to the hands of the Colbert family who still lives there.

The Château de Brézé hosts the time of a weekend a tournament. This medieval joust brings visitors back to the days of armored knight battles. The show is livened up by multiple animations and workshops in the park of the castle, transformed for the occasion into a medieval village. The Château de Brézé is mentioned by Marcel Proust in the second part of “Du Côté de Guermantes”. In the novel, the castle is presented as having been the property of the late wife of the Baron de Charlus, who would then have made a gift to his sister, Madame de Saint-Loup. “Brézé, it’s royal!” says Charlus. This assertion of one of the characters of La Recherche and which appears as a Proustian fiction, is not entirely unfounded if one considers that Breze belonged a time to the Grand Condé who, by their relationship with Louis XIV (they were his cousins ​​first cousins) were what were called “princes of the blood” (of royal blood). Proust’s novel thus presents the castle of Breze as a Royal residence likely to be worth millions.

Official Chateau de Breze in English

Some remarkable photos you will see here are the ones on Louis XVII the son of king Louis XVI ,that was assassinated by the revolutionaries as well as that of Henri V to be, the late Count of Chambord! There are also of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII in the Grand Galerie!

King Louis XVII assassinated son of Louis XVI

Count of Chambord could have been king Henri V

In all it was a nice visit especially walking underground on what it is a castle under a castle with living quarters and even a space for a mini farm all dark lit up but very medieval indeed, worth the trip. There is wine tasting of the property and take home too lol!!

Hope you enjoy the trip on the wonderful Loire ,these places are about less than 3 hrs from my home and should come often even if I do , there is so much to see and castles to spend a lifetime visiting them and maybe not enough time lol! This one is a dandy and really off the beaten path for most, do see the Château de Brézé.

And of course at the end of the day between Fontevraud and coming to Brézé we were hungry on the road not many choices so we settle for the familiar La Boucherie steakhouse chain right at Bd Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny on the beltway D347 outside Saumur for our lunch of burgers, tagliatelles, mince meats with fries, red Saumur wine and expresso coffee for less than 14€ per person!! More on the resto here: La Boucherie at Saumur

And now ready to head back home! another dandy day in the beautiful Loire valley and there is more to come while we still driving around my belle France! Remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

So let me show something wonderful just a few hours south of my house and a place we came to love as my oldest son study hotellerie/restaurant courses there. He went and we follow, to our amazed eyes several years back, and have since return several times. I will be telling you about the tours or towers of the harbor of La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime dept  17 in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine! Bear with me on repetitions…as introduction is the same.

Once in town, we walk, and walk is a walker’s paradise of quaint old streets and historical buildings, we took the tour de la Chaine, tour de St Nicolas, and the  tour de la Lantern. The development of this new city of the 11C is assured from the 14C by the protection offered by the towers, including the towers of St. Nicholas and the Chaine that regulate the entry of many merchant ships in its port.

All three designed to serve as a residence, two towers out of three (ie the tower of Saint Nicolas and the tower of the Chaine) were also places of detention between the 16C and 18C for the Huguenots and foreign sailors. They then become military prisons in the 19C. The Lantern Tower was used to disarm the boats upstream of the port and was a lighthouse. The boutiques of the Chaîne and Saint-Nicolas towers offer throughout the year a wide range of books, products for young and old. The shops are free access and are open 7 days a week during the opening hours of the towers.

The Tour de la Lantern or tower (was on renovations when stopped by) is from the 15C is one of the 3 towers in the seafront of La Rochelle.  An order of the city dating from 1209 already mentions the existence of a Tower of the Chain, having nothing to do with the current Tower of the Chain, but having the same function. In effect, this one then barred the entry of the primitive harbor of La Rochelle located on the brook of Lafond, and was subsequently called “Tour du Garrot” after the name of the lifting device which was used to disarm the vessels before that they can enter the port. The tower captain was referred to as the “disarmer of the vessels”. the new building, begun in 1445, incorporated by lining this old tower. It was completed only 23 years later in 1468.

The various names of the tower ; the oldest was Garrot Tower. In 1568, in order to reinforce the walls, the churches are destroyed. Catholics flee from the walls, but 13 priests are arrested and locked in the tower. They will be slaughtered and thrown into the sea from the top of the tower the following weeks. The tower then took the nickname of Tower of the Priests. Nickname which was reinforced after the slaughter of four other priests by the crowd, during the French revolution in 1798.  Finally, in 1822, two of the protagonists of the Conspiracy of La Rochelle are locked in the tower before being executed in Paris with two others, same year. The tower then took the nickname of tour of the Four Sergeants. The tower of the Lantern  has a height of 55 meters, it consists of two parts. Its base is a cylinder 25 meters high and more than 15 meters in diameter, overhung by an octagonal arrow, four of the eight sides are pierced with three-lobed windows  in Flamboyant style.

Several rooms superimposed make up the interior of the tower of the Lantern: The salle basse (lower room). The salle des gardes  (guard room) located on the first floor (2^nd US), this room is access to the tower from the ramparts wall. The level, divided into two rooms, retains two gunboats, a fireplace and a 19C oven. The Niveau or Level 3 ;the level is cut in half by a split wall . The wall divides the level into two rooms: the salle du désarmeur des nefs  (disarmer room of the vessels) and the salle de la pistole (Pistol’s room). The disarmer room of the vessels has a study, latrines. The room, called pistole, has inscriptions, including Spanish, religious, companions, corsairs, etc. The dormitory is the 4th level (5^th US), it could accommodate more than 100 inmates. It includes as in the rest of the tower graffiti French, English, Dutch, poems, representations of ships .etc.  chemin de ronde ( walkway) . salle Jehan Mérichon ( Jehan Mérichon Room) ,this room is named after the former mayor of La Rochelle who financed the completion of the tower. Jehan Mérichon was mayor of La Rochelle five times and was advisor to King Louis XI. The prison cells are spread over two levels that were created in the 19C. They initially had openings that were closed during the restoration of the early 20C. The salle de l’amer (Bitter’s  room ), this room contains the most beautiful graffiti of ships of the tower. On the ground floor , a labyrinth can evoke the prison, the confinement … Suspended with the arrow of the tower, a vertical stele can symbolize the escape, the freedom.

The Tour de la Lantern is 38 meters high, the gallery offers an exceptional view of the city center and the bay of La Rochelle which explains the involvement of the tower in the lookout of the sea. The current lantern is a reconstruction. Unlike the La Chaîne and Saint-Nicolas towers, the Lantern tower has only two spiral staircases. The lower room is connected to none of them. The first serves all the rooms up to the walkway. It is capped by a stone pyramid of four sides. In addition to the flamboyant Gothic style hooks, one of the sides includes a stone inset under which was inscribed the completion of the tower dated 1468 and its attribution to Mayor Jean Mérichon. The second narrower connects the walkway to the gallery and the bitter hall. It is crown by the Lantern.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here are

Official National Monument Tours of La Rochelle

Tourist office of La Rochelle on the towers

There you go this is an amazing tower and well worth the visit to La Rochelle, a beautiful city indeed.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

So let me show something wonderful just a few hours south of my house and a place we came to love as my oldest son study hotellerie/restaurant courses there. He went and we follow, to our amazed eyes several years back, and have since return several times. I will be telling you about the tours or towers of the harbor of La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime dept  17 in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine! Bear with me on repetitions…as introduction is the same.

Once in town, we walk, and walk is a walker’s paradise of quaint old streets and historical buildings, we took the tour de la Chaine, tour de St Nicolas, and the  tour de la Lantern. The development of this new city of the 11C is assured from the 14C by the protection offered by the towers, including the towers of St. Nicholas and the Chaine that regulate the entry of many merchant ships in its port.

All three designed to serve as a residence, two towers out of three (ie the tower of Saint Nicolas and the tower of the Chaine) were also places of detention between the 16C and 18C for the Huguenots and foreign sailors. They then become military prisons in the 19C. The Lantern Tower was used to disarm the boats upstream of the port and was a lighthouse. The boutiques of the Chaîne and Saint-Nicolas towers offer throughout the year a wide range of books, products for young and old. The shops are free access and are open 7 days a week during the opening hours of the towers.

The tour de la Chaîne or tower of the Chain  is  20 meters today, from the base of the parapet. It has a diameter of 16 meters and its wall is 3.50 meters thick. It was surmounted by a capuche, or roof in the form of a slate peppered roof, which, rebuilt several times at different heights, The tower was crowned with battlements with cruciform loopholes, with machicolations.

The salle d’accueil (reception room) is the only one to have resisted the episode of the Fronde (local wars). The Grande salle (great hall), with its chimney, was in the 14C the reception room of the tower. The stairs, leading to the third level (4^th US) , are vaulted into segmental cradle. The salle du capitaine (Captain’s room) originally, the room was a space reserved for the captain of the tower. The salle suspendue (suspended room) . It materializes one of the levels that disappeared during the collapse of the tower in 1651. The main building was the guardhouse that was built in the wall connecting the petite tour de la Chaîne  (small tower of the chain) to the Grosse tour de la Chaîne (big tower of the chain). François Rabelais evokes the chain closing the old port in his book, Pantagruel!.

The Tour de la Chaîne is from this tower that was maneuvered the chain, fixed in the tower Saint-Nicolas on the other bank, so as to prohibit access to the port. In fact, there were two towers of the Chain at this spot: a small tower of the Chain which sheltered the capstan serving to stretch the chain; a big tower of the Chain intended to lodge the captain of the tower, his family and the garrison; the two towers are interconnected by a two-level gallery. The precise date of construction is unknown perhaps between 1378 and 1380 or between 1382 and 1390. A captain lives there until 1472 , and from 1472, the tower becomes the residence of the governor of the city.

The Tour de la Chaîne  hosts a café which occupies the second level and the high bastion or terrace. The entrance is at the level of the wall. The first level, there is a  model of the city of yesteryear, access to the room was from the port. Unlike the two other towers of the port, the tower of the Chain did not find its vocation of museum until  very late. For this purpose, the restoration of the third level of the tower was undertaken in 1998. The space allows to host an exhibition on the Huguenot past of the city. At the fourth level of the tower  it is certain that it existed formerly, no trace could allow to reconstitute it in the identical today. This lack of reference has made a very contemporary choice with a suspended floor that seems to float at the top of the tower. Devoted to a museum, the tower can be visit all year long.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here are

Official National Monument Tours of La Rochelle

Tourist office of La Rochelle on the towers

There you go this is an amazing tower and well worth the visit to La Rochelle, a beautiful city indeed.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!