July 10: Provins, France
Dear Friends and Relatives,
A travel itinerary can be played with the very day of its usage, and I am very glad we played with this day and refashioned it completely. We were going to go to the Cluny Museum of Medieval art, but also had in mind the Cathedral of Chartres. However, Jean, Paula’s husband and a Frenchman, put forth a new candidate last night which I never heard of before: Provins, about an hour outside Paris (in the Ile-de-France area, and once the third largest city in France and a bastion of walls and ramparts from the Middle Ages. I jumped on that bandwagon immediately, as we had tickets for the whole round trip in advance. We got on at Gard du Nord train station, and in one stop changed the metro to Gard de l’Est train station, where we caught a train to Longeville and then a bus to Provins, where we proceeded to walk the entire town, watch a raptor show, and have lunch and later a gelato, and then explored more of Provins before returning to Paris at around 7:00 p.m.
The city still has its dome and fortress, ramparts and a medieval layout, all quite equal to the French Medieval town of Carcassonne and the German Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbuehl. The town is divided into an upper and lower town, divided by a canal. Foreign visitors have not discovered it yet, and the place is not crowded all. Most of the people who were there were the French themselves.
The site was occupied as early as 5000 BC, and the first mention of the city was in 822. The relics of a saint (Ayoul) which were sent to Provins, marked its importance as a religious center. In the 11th c. The Counts of Champagne moved heir capital to Provins. Under their rule, the town became famous for the medieval fairs that took place there. Traders came from Germany, Flanders, Lombardy, Provence and Catalonia. Provins had its own weights and measurements, currency and cloth industry. The ramparts were built in the 12th and 13th centuries to protect merchants, bankers and artisans and defend the road to Paris, which ran through the town. Religious orders established themselves in Provins as well.
The decline of the city was as sudden as its rise, and Paris soon eclipsed Provins. Heavy taxes, the Black Death, and the Hundred Years’ War decimated the city. It was occupied by the English in 1417 and 1432; Henry IV of France captured it in 1585, and during the French Revolution, the churches and religious organizations were severely dealt with. Cossacks were In Provins in 1814; the Prussians in 1871, and the Germans from 1940-1944.
One more note of interest: Provins was a picturesque setting for 19th century writers such as Victor Hugo, Lamartine, Sainte-Beuve, and Balzac, who had Provins as his setting in his novel “Pierette.”
We spent most of the day walking up and down and climbing the stairs of the city. Picturesque is the word describing it. I took so many photographs that my phone almost ran out of juice, so it is charging now in order that I might send pictures via Facebook in the next hour or so. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant and sat outside. The restaurant was P’tit Rest’o, and there I had some foie gras on baguettes, a piece of chicken with mushroom sauce, and a handful of extraordinary French fries. Afterwards we attended “Les Aigles des Ramparts,” a falconry show in which knights and ladies dressed the part and alternately showed off the eagles, falcons and owls, riding in on caparisoned horses, and expounded Medieval portry. Great show about 45 minutes in duration. Afterwards we viewed the birds in their habitat and then continued in what turned out to be a route covering most of the town. As it was very hot at the falconry show, and the sun almost succeeded in frying everyone. We decided to get some gelato afterwards—I had some amaretto ice cream which was excellent and acted as a kind of inner air conditioner.
I want to make mention of one church interior we visited in Provins—the Eglise St. Quiriace. A historical fact made this church stand out as special. It is here that Joan of Arc and Charles VII heard Mass as they made their way through Champagne in the year 1429!
By the way we got to the train/bus station, we were running. Temperatures were still hot, and the closer we got to Paris, the more passengers got in the train. Finally, we got to Gare du Nord and then walked back. Dinner tonight consisted of Lamb biryani takeout and an apple pie which Kai made. During dinner we watched part of the movie “Le Bossu.” At this point we are exhausted and about to go to bed. Tomorrow, Kay, Paula and I are off to Chartres. More later—too tired now! As ever, SV
A travel itinerary can be played with the very day of its usage, and I am very glad we played with this day and refashioned it completely. We were going to go to the Cluny Museum of Medieval art, but also had in mind the Cathedral of Chartres. However, Jean, Paula’s husband and a Frenchman, put forth a new candidate last night which I never heard of before: Provins, about an hour outside Paris (in the Ile-de-France area, and once the third largest city in France and a bastion of walls and ramparts from the Middle Ages. I jumped on that bandwagon immediately, as we had tickets for the whole round trip in advance. We got on at Gard du Nord train station, and in one stop changed the metro to Gard de l’Est train station, where we caught a train to Longeville and then a bus to Provins, where we proceeded to walk the entire town, watch a raptor show, and have lunch and later a gelato, and then explored more of Provins before returning to Paris at around 7:00 p.m.
The city still has its dome and fortress, ramparts and a medieval layout, all quite equal to the French Medieval town of Carcassonne and the German Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbuehl. The town is divided into an upper and lower town, divided by a canal. Foreign visitors have not discovered it yet, and the place is not crowded all. Most of the people who were there were the French themselves.
The site was occupied as early as 5000 BC, and the first mention of the city was in 822. The relics of a saint (Ayoul) which were sent to Provins, marked its importance as a religious center. In the 11th c. The Counts of Champagne moved heir capital to Provins. Under their rule, the town became famous for the medieval fairs that took place there. Traders came from Germany, Flanders, Lombardy, Provence and Catalonia. Provins had its own weights and measurements, currency and cloth industry. The ramparts were built in the 12th and 13th centuries to protect merchants, bankers and artisans and defend the road to Paris, which ran through the town. Religious orders established themselves in Provins as well.
The decline of the city was as sudden as its rise, and Paris soon eclipsed Provins. Heavy taxes, the Black Death, and the Hundred Years’ War decimated the city. It was occupied by the English in 1417 and 1432; Henry IV of France captured it in 1585, and during the French Revolution, the churches and religious organizations were severely dealt with. Cossacks were In Provins in 1814; the Prussians in 1871, and the Germans from 1940-1944.
One more note of interest: Provins was a picturesque setting for 19th century writers such as Victor Hugo, Lamartine, Sainte-Beuve, and Balzac, who had Provins as his setting in his novel “Pierette.”
We spent most of the day walking up and down and climbing the stairs of the city. Picturesque is the word describing it. I took so many photographs that my phone almost ran out of juice, so it is charging now in order that I might send pictures via Facebook in the next hour or so. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant and sat outside. The restaurant was P’tit Rest’o, and there I had some foie gras on baguettes, a piece of chicken with mushroom sauce, and a handful of extraordinary French fries. Afterwards we attended “Les Aigles des Ramparts,” a falconry show in which knights and ladies dressed the part and alternately showed off the eagles, falcons and owls, riding in on caparisoned horses, and expounded Medieval portry. Great show about 45 minutes in duration. Afterwards we viewed the birds in their habitat and then continued in what turned out to be a route covering most of the town. As it was very hot at the falconry show, and the sun almost succeeded in frying everyone. We decided to get some gelato afterwards—I had some amaretto ice cream which was excellent and acted as a kind of inner air conditioner.
I want to make mention of one church interior we visited in Provins—the Eglise St. Quiriace. A historical fact made this church stand out as special. It is here that Joan of Arc and Charles VII heard Mass as they made their way through Champagne in the year 1429!
By the way we got to the train/bus station, we were running. Temperatures were still hot, and the closer we got to Paris, the more passengers got in the train. Finally, we got to Gare du Nord and then walked back. Dinner tonight consisted of Lamb biryani takeout and an apple pie which Kai made. During dinner we watched part of the movie “Le Bossu.” At this point we are exhausted and about to go to bed. Tomorrow, Kay, Paula and I are off to Chartres. More later—too tired now! As ever, SV
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