So, of course with that resolution in mind, Blogger decided to take a short holiday and absented itself for about 36 hours! Anyway it's back now and this is the kick-off post.
This post Travels with a sketchbook in France (2009) provides the overview of the trip and the links to the blog posts I wrote back in 2009.
Below is the outline of my trip to the Touraine - although I didn't realise that was what it was called until I got there.
It's a very old name and dates back to when a Gallic Tribe in Pre-Roman Gaul - called the Turones - were in charge of the area. The town of Tours is named after them also. The old province was abolished in the French Revolution and the area I was visiting is now called the
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| A map of the Touraine extracted from 1771 Bonne Map of Poitou, Touraine and Anjou, France |
The Touraine is celebrated for its wine and its castles - and we saw a few! Here is the missing itinerary - complete with lots of visits to Châteaux and some pretty spectacular gardens.
Monday 5th October - a visit to Château d'Azay-le-Rideau and two sketches of the gardens at Château de VillandryThis is the area of our stay - right click the picture below to see a larger version
Tuesday 6th October - a visit to Chinon - where there is a château which I skipped to do a sketch of people lunching in the sunshine under the trees in the town square in Dejeuner sous l'arbres. Followed by a visit to The Château d'Ussé which is the castle which apparently inspired Perrault's tale La Belle au Bois dormant (maybe better known as Sleeping Beauty)
Wednesday 7th October - a visit to market and medieval part of Tours in the morning, sketching over lunch with fellow Sketcherciser and Watermarks member Ronell van Wyk and another sketch of the chateau garden. You can read Ronell's post about this on her blog in Katherine in Touraine
Thursday 8th October - a sketch of the Château de Chenonceau
Friday 9th October - we travelled back to Paris, dropped off the car, my sister and niece headed off to L'aeroport Charles de Gaulle to go back to Australia and I took the Metro to La Mouette to visit the Musée Marmottan. Two sketches of Monet paintings of the water garden and one sketch while having a quick snack before boarding the Eurostar to come back to London - to be met by "he who must not be bored while I sketch"!
Chinon to Chenonceau - the valleys of the Loire and Cher
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oh the Marmottan is one of my favourite museums in Paris :>)
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