Day 6-8 Europe Trip - Loire Valley

Welcome to days 6-8 of our vacation!

But first, some of you have asked about the book publishing I've mentioned here & there. You can see what we've been up to by visiting http://www.integralarchive.org/vie-books.htm, but to make a long story short several hundred admirers of the author Jack Vance spent years collecting, digitizing, restoring and publishing his oeuvre in a 44-volume integral edition. Some 600 book sets were printed for subscribers world-wide, including Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (who has has declared Vance to be his favorite author) along with much less glamorous people like me. If you visit integralarchive be sure to click on the 'First Chapters' link to see what all the fuss was about!

A monthly electronic newsletter called Cosmopolis accompanied the Vance Integral Edition (VIE) project. The newsletters provided progress updates, essays on Vance's work, and discussion of various topics via letters-to-the-editor. After publication of the book sets was finished, some of the VIE volunteers resolved to publish the newsletters as well; this is what I was discussing with Stefania Zacco and Sr. Giuseppe Biffi in Milan.

The Editor-in-Chief of the VIE is an expatriate American painter and sculptor named Paul Rhoads who lives near the western Loire town of Chinon. After savoring the sights, sounds and--yes!--tastes of the Italian Riviera, Margaret and I made our way back to Milan by train and caught a flight to Paris. From there we rented a car and perigrinated to Chinon to visit Paul, with only a slight unintentional detour through the crowded fringes of Paris at rush-hour.

Roses surround the door to Paul's cottage in Sammarcolles, ten kilometers south of Chinon. The gargoyle perched on the wall is an original creation, and fully functional.

In connection with our visit we had Paul paint portraits of Margaret and me. Here Paul studies Margaret's classical good looks in his studio; the fortunate canvas stands ready.

The first few strokes...

Voila! Soft background, engmatic smile: a modern Mona Lisa.

Here is the painting of me taking shape. Sitting for a portrait is more than a little disconcerting. The artist peers from around his canvas: squinting, grimacing, muttering. The subject sits on a chair still as a statue for hours. If he has tilted his head to the right slightly more than is comfortable for a three-hour period, too bad! The tilt must be maintained, sore neck muscles notwithstanding. All the while the subject wonders about the flare of his nostrils, the conspicuousness of his double chin, the latitude of his hair-line. And he is acutely aware that there is no Photoshop for oil paintings. But for us it all came out well in the end.

The happy couple drying in famous Loire Valley sunlight.

In between sessions in the studio we visited Chateau du St. Louand, the childhood home of Paul's French wife Genevieve. St. Louand sits on several park-like acres a few kms outside Chinon. We four ambled through the gardens and admired the irises that Genevieve, also a painter, can bring to life so well with her brushes.

The vinyards of St. Louand are said to produce some of the best red wine in the Loire, though we did not put this claim to the test!

A typical street in Chinon. Margaret and I spent an enchanting few hours strolling through the town and exploring the fortress on the bluff above it.

Flower boxes on Rue Voltaire.

This may well be the world's most beautiful public restroom. Through the arched doorway an ancient tunnel delves beneath the battlements--you can just make out the top of the crenellated fortress wall above the trees. The commode occupies the first twenty feet or so of the tunnel, beyond which a wrought iron grate blocks further entry (at least to restroom patrons; ghosts, apparently, can pass through into the darkness at will.) A fragrant, flowering tree spreads across the cobblestone courtyard; in the early 15th century the first French parliament met on the upper floor of the building to the left. Such impressive atmosphere more than compensates for a complete lack of toilet paper.

Ramparts of the fortress, or 'Chateau du Chinon'.

A view of Chinon and the placid Vienne river from the fortress. Chinon is a quiet backwater now but it once was the capital from which Henry II ruled all of England and France. A few years later, in 1429, a young farm-girl named Joan of Arc came to Chinon and inspired Charles VII to eject the English from their country. The town seems frozen in time, a maze of cobblestone streets and medieval buildings, their slate roofs and white limestone walls a marked contrast to the Cinque Terre's vibrant pastels.

The French do not produce great ice-cream, but their bakeries are world class. This is the display case of a particularly charming boulangerie/patisserie on Rue Voltaire in Chinon. The language barrier turns out not to be a problem: you simply point at various confections and say "un" at each one, the girl behind the counter wraps your selections and piles the lot into a large paper bag, you hand over a strangely-colored bill and get a few odd coins in return, and everyone is happy!

Celebrating Margaret's birthday at an outdoor table.

The excessively charming village of Marcay (pron. 'mar-say'), half-way between Chinon and our host's cottage.

Chateau du Marcay. Locals apply the term 'chateau' to the largest house in a given town, so while some of the Loire chateaux are huge and extravagant--'palaces' in every sense of the word--some, like St. Louand, are really just large country homes.

Paul made this lovely painting of a rose plucked from the bush by his door. Margaret complimented the painting, and Paul generously made her a gift of it for her birthday.

An evening view of Paul's comfortable cottage, and of the table and chairs beneath the Linden tree where we spent many pleasant hours munching cheese and contemplating "our pathways of golden glory down the fading corridors of time." (Jack Vance, Lurulu)

Next: we trade the pastoral climes of Chinon for Paris' bustling elegance.