01-OCT-2007
Pretty flowers
Just another picture from Turenne..
01-OCT-2007
Turenne restaurant
There's an upper village centre on the hillside, with a couple of shops and 2 restaurants. This one wasn't open on Monday....
01-OCT-2007
The Tower
In fact, everything was closed, even the castle itself. We discovered that most businesses and attractions in France keep interesting hours. In Turenne, that meant everything was basically closed on Monday, and when they were open...they would be closed from 12-2 every afternoon for lunch. In any event, Mona and I couldn't explore the castle and tower on Monday in Turenne.
French Business Hours
Having everything closed was a new experience for Mona and me. On Sunday in Brive, there were absolutely no restaurants open for dinner in the evening. We wandered all over looking for someplace, and finally came to a little bistro that had a bunch of people standing around the bar, and little children playing in the street. THe place had a decidely rough look about it, but we gave it a try. I asked the bartender if they served food. He answered...in French, but totally different French than I had ever heard. I said "Je ne comprend pas" and he talked again. Still didn't understand. Then he went and got another guy from the corner. This fellow looked just like the criminals in those french-language movies...really swarthy, a half-drunk look, and a cigarette. But...he did manage to make us understand that they had food. In fact, they had an Indian chicken plate if we wanted it. Mona and I both ordered that. We sat outside on the street-side chairs, and watched and listened as various people came out to yell at the 2 little girls. Apparently, there was 1 mother, a couple of fathers, and unrelated people. Very entertaining. I came to the conclusion that we were in an Algerian gang's restaurant. Since nobody can contradict me, that's my story....
Nothing open in Turenne
Then we got to Turenne on Monday, and the same thing! Everything was closed! We had hiked all the way up the Rock to the chateau and tower only to find the gates closed and locked...oh well, la vie francaise!
We met another couple at the entrance to the tower. They were from Australia and hiking around the area, doing what's called a randonnee. They had been caught unaware of the closed businesses as well.
Mona and I walked back down to the upper village, and found 1 place open. It was the creperie, and we went in for lunch. The dining-room was amazing, being an old coffered room with a round ceiling of brick. It looked like an old wine cellar. We had a great lunch, and decided we were going to have to stay in Turenne tonight, because we couldn't miss the tower and chateau.
We talked to the woman in the restaurant, and lo and behold! she operated the bed and breakfast next door! She offered to show us the rooms available, and we went to take a look. Fantastic place! We said we'd take a room.
Meanwhile, the Australian couple had showed up at the creperie, too. It was the only place open, after all. We talked to them a bit more, then said that since we were basing ourselves here for the night, we would be happy to take them around with us to explore in our car. They happily joined us, and that's how we met Jules and Robyn Powell of Australia.
01-OCT-2007
La Collegiale Notre-Dame et Saint Pantaleon
Turenne's history revolves around the Vicomte de Turenne and the church. Turenne was a a protestant village and refuge during the Reformation which occurred in the 1500's, then became Catholic during the contra-reformation of the late 1500's into 1600's. The Vicomte installed the Capucin order of monks into cloisters in Turenne, and the Collegiale was built during that time as well. In this picture, you can see the altar. It was installed in the church in 1678. If you'd like to see all the detail, just click on the picture, then go to the bootom of the screen and select "original". Once you're done looking, just click on the "large" selection at the bottom of the picture again.
01-OCT-2007
More Stained Glass
Here's another addition to my stained glass collection. I'm discovering there is a real art to taking pictures of stained glass, and I'm NOT an artist...yet. If somone would pay my way for a 6-week tour of churches in Europe, I think I might get it down(grin).
01-OCT-2007
Turenne Stained Glass..done right
I think I captured this one fairly well.
01-OCT-2007
Views inside...and a view outside
The church was built fairly quickly, apparently, and the builders used military architectural technique instead of church technique. That left a fairly plain church on the outside. However, with a view like this, you don't need much of a building to draw your attention..
01-OCT-2007
Views, views, views...
In fact, everywhere you look in this area is a view. Here's one from the upper village looking down at the lower areas.
01-OCT-2007
Everywhere you look...
Like I said, there's something to see everywhere. One of the blurbs about Turenne called it "magical". I thought...oh, sure...now I'm a believer. Of course, I've always been susceptible to things Turenne (grin). This house was high up on the rock, so it's likely to have been a fairly grand home in the 1500's when it was built.
01-OCT-2007
A Little Experimentation time..
If you saw the Lord of the Rings movies, you know what high contrast can do to a scene. It actually makes it very eerie..Well, here's my Lord of the Rings shot.
