If you have read my blog, you will realise the many spots in our world I have been whether for business or pleasure , already count 81 countries. Worked and lived in 5, and been to places not too many would like to go or dare to.
This is the same in my belle France. No its not always YSL and Mouton-Rothschild, and even in pretty Paris there are places not recommended to go such as Chapelle but I have been to these places too. One of them was in my beloved Yvelines dept 78 in the Ïle de France region in hot or chaud Les Mureaux.
Even thus it has some interesting stories such as been the birthplace of French aviation and today houses the EADS complex (equivalent European of NASA).
It sits right on the expressway A13 exit 7 to 9 and on the A15 exit Les Mureaux. It has a train station that goes directly to St Lazare in Paris and a bus terminal with buses to Versailles for example.
It has a normal nice Church of St Pierre et St Paul which succeeds the one built under Henri IV. In 1890, Father Duval decided to build a new church larger than the previous one and preceded by a square. Construction ended in 1896 with the bell tower.
The Church St Pierre et St Paul in Les Mureaux: https://lesmureaux.info/item/eglise-saint-pierre-saint-paul/
What struck me the most here is the wonderful park and castle right in this working class city.
The current Château de Becheville, which dates from the middle of the 19C, was built in the style of the Second Empire. The roof is slate. The symmetrical facade has a brick facing. Stones adorn the chains and the windows. In the rooms with high ceilings, the windows with seated dogs and oils-de-boeuf, the tapestries and the mirrors still bear witness to the Empire style. The wall paneling is inspired by Pompeii with Roman head in a medallion, motifs of flowers and animals such as dove,and butterflies, frieze of flowers surrounding the room. There is also a hunting room and a music room. The castle has an oil on canvas entitled L’Automne or Le Repos après la chasse, (the Fall or the rest after the hunt) which was restored at the end of the 20C. This is an old copy of a work by François Boucher dating from 1734 and now missing the original. In the same room, there is another painting representing a rider watering his horses from a fountain. An alignment of small coat racks reminds us that the castle was once transformed into a school. A wooded park, which initially covered 22 hectares, faces the castle. A cooler was used to store provisions. Frequented by the writer Stendhal in 1811, remodeled in the 19C, it now houses the Gabriel-Fauré Conservatory.
The Castle and park of Becheville info is here: https://lesmureaux.info/item/parc-et-chateau-de-becheville/
The city of Les Mureaux on the park here: https://www.lesmureaux.fr/Parc-de-B%c3%a8cheville/15041/
Walking around Les Mureaux a bit you see the main shopping commercial street of Rue Paul Doumer; this is full of shops and restos going all the way to the train station.
The other is the Rue Maurice Berteaux that comes from the above all the way into the more residential areas connecting with the road D14 that takes you to the A13.
Hope you enjoy this off the beaten path tour of the real France from yours truly. Les Mureaux may not have much now but it was an important city of France in the days of early aviation. From the Aero Club Roger Janin here is more of the aerodrome in French: http://www.ac-rogerjanin.com/index.php/leclub/l-aerodrome
And the city of Les Mureaux on the history of aviation and aeronatics here: https://www.lesmureaux.fr/Les-Mureaux,-ville-d-air-et-d-espace/15033/
Hope you can have a moment to stop here on your way from Paris to Normandy and see the aviation history in Les Mureaux. Enjoy it
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!
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