Chateau de Dree and bike rides

August 26-30, 2012

Weather has been mixed over the last several days, but we still were able to get in some good rides.

At the urging of our host we packed up the bikes on Sunday and drove into Lyon.  Lyon is the place where the Saone and the Rhone rivers converge.  There is a little island in between the two rivers just before they meet.  While in town we walked around the old city, looking at the statues, the opera, the Hotel Dieu, the rivers and parks.  Then we got our bikes from the car and rode the bicycle path along the river, crossing the bridge onto the island.  We rode to the big park at the tip of the island where we set out our tablecloth, wine goblets, bread and cheese and had our lunch as we watched the big, white swans float by.  There was lots of traffic heading north, mostly Dutch and Belgian license plates, heading home at the end of their summer holidays.

We enjoyed our earlier ride on the back side of our hill, through cow country so much that we did it again on Monday.  But this time, instead of riding up the steep side of the hill we rode around the end of the range, from St. Point down to Bourgvilain, north to St. Cecile and again traversed up the hillside to Tramayes.  This was a better route and more fun to ride.

A bit about the terrain near our house--this region has about 5 parallel rows of hills, each between 800 and 1000 feet high, with nice river valleys in between.  The spread between the rows of hills is about 2 or 3 miles as the crow flies and the rows seem to be about 8 miles long.  Our house sits on the east side of one of the rows of hills.  Cows seem to be the main crop on our hill, but just a row or two to the west is the very famous area of Pouilly Fuisse, where the grapes for the famous white wines are grown.  It is beautiful scenery to just drive around the vineyards.

The next day we drove into Macon and rode along the river on the Voie Verte from Macon to St. Albain.  Even though rain was predicted we did not get wet.  We met a couple from the Netherlands.  The woman had a bike with an battery-operated motor, so we talked to them a bit and Don took some photos.  We might consider something like this if my arthritis gets worse, but they are very heavy to pack, and also, we are not sure how the TSA will treat the battery pack, so right now it is just a discussion.

We made a visit to the archeological site at Solutre.  This is a famous rock formation in the Pouilly Fuisse region, surrounded by vineyards.  There is an active archeological dig here and many remains of horses and humanoids have been found here.  The lore is that early man would herd the wild horses over the edge of the cliff and then use the hides, hooves and meat, but that story has been debunked by the archeologists now.  However, this was an area where herds of horses were hunted and slaughtered by early man.

During the rest of the week we did a few more bike rides and then we went to visit another chateau.  I loved the Chateau de Dree and highly recommend it for a visit.  The chateau, built in 1620, has had several owners.  Now it is privately owned and has been refurbished with authentic wall coverings and flooring, and furnished in antiques from the 18th century.  The furniture, dishware, silverware, carpets, chandeliers and decor are all authentic and the chateau is lovely and furnished beautifully.  I especially enjoyed the Dresden china collection and the beautiful table in the formal entry made of inlaid woods.

On the first floor we visited the servants quarters and kitchen.  The head chef had a bedroom right above the kitchen, with a little window looking down on the kitchen and also the servants hall, so he could check and see that his staff were working and not goofing off.    Then we walked around to the dining room, the formal entry hall, and the king's room.  Every chateau had to have a special room set aside for the king, richly furnished and nicely appointed, just in case he decided to stop by.  The south wing of the house was for the owners and their guests and we visited studies, sitting rooms, several bedrooms and the chapel.  The tour was very informative and we were able to visit all but the 4 private bedrooms of the owners, who were there.

Outside we visited the folly, the ice house, the butcher's kitchen, the bath house, and the stables.  In addition, the gardens are very lovely, with a large rose garden, a topiary garden and a boxwood garden trimmed into beautiful lacy designs.  The topiaries were clipped with precision and Don marveled over the yew "balls"  that were as smooth as a putting green.  There were two large, graceful fountains in the gardens with naiads by Jean de Bologne, the artist who did the figures for the famous Neptune fountain in Florence.

I highly recommend a visit here.