Castle & Wine 2025

Day 1 Sunday 25/5

We landed Paris early in the morning and like last time, Airport VIP Service was waiting for us just as we exited from the bridge. One young woman is from Mongolia Country who has come to France for 13 years. They picked up all our luggages and we were outside in 3 minutes. Then we rode all the way to North of Caen.

On the way we had lunch box again but this time the packing is very nice.

In Caen we go straight to the Memorial de Caen. Not much interest in the second world war but the Memorial building is good.

Then we went to Bayeux to see the famous Bayeux Tapestry. It was made in the 11 century dedicated to William the Conqueror. In fact it is not a tapestry because it is not woven like a carpet. It is an embroidery. We are lucky because the museum will be closed for two years in September for a major renovation. The audio guide was quite good though unfortunately photo was not allowed.

King Edward of England at that time who had French blood and spoke French.

Guillaume is the French for William. After he became King of England the royal family, nobles and upper classes in England spoke French for 3 centuries

Nearby is the Bayeux cathedral. At first glance we recognised the mix of Roman and Gothic architecture elements but the details were far richer.

From this angle it is obvious that the main structure is Gothic but the copper dome is Roman. But the copper dome was built later, the architect wanted to blend in a Roman style dome in the Gothic period

Like here the lower part is Gothic whereas the upper part is Roman. Usually it is the reverse. When the older Roman church upper part is destroyed people rebuild the upper part using newer Gothic style.

Cathedral is the church run by the bishop. It comes from the word Cathedra, meaning the throne of the Bishop. So in every cathedral there is a cathedra.

The cathedra in Bayeux Cathedral with the code of arms of the Bishop

The chancel structure is the oldest now 13 century

This stained glass is also from 13 century

Wish those who married here will stay together till old 執子之手與子偕老

There are several unusual stained glass which changes colour when seen from different angles. These are dichroic glass from NASA. They shields spacecraft instruments from cosmic radiation and protects human vision from unfiltered sunlight in space.

Old city wall, so the cathedral is at the edge of the old city.

At the crypt of the cathedral we could see an array of instruments used by the angels. One of the angle is playing double flute, obviously from the image of the Greek god Marsyas, playing a double-barrelled flute.

As we strolled along the town of Bayeux our guide pointed out a special wall decoration to us. She said it was Myonic wall and very expensive. They used pebbles to decorate the outer wall – Pebble Dash. So in the narrow sense it is just an outer decorative panel of the wall using pebbles and it should not be expensive. But Myonic wall usually refer to the whole system of wall insulation and not merely the outer decorative layer so it is expensive.

Myonic wall with pebbles decorative outer layer

On second floor the pebbles are more beautiful

We also saw some buildings having exterior staircases built in a spiral fashion but covered with a hexagonal wall. To maximise the space they built a rectangular room above the staircase. To support the weight of the room and to smooth out the change from hexagonal wall to rectangular wall they used Squinches.

Then we strolled to the Cooker street (or Cook street?)

At that time people threw all the rubbish down to the road so there was a drainage system. Even so no one walk in the middle of the road but only walk on both sides of it. Hence we have the term pavement

Ordinary people ate to survive but the Nobles were eating fancy food. Some of the children of nobles came to restaurants here to cook. At that time the restaurants were called Inn. Soon people loved those fancy food and they became very popular. This is the dawn of French Gastronomy

Then we checked in to our first hotel Chateau d’Audrieu. A 5 star hotel with a huge garden though many of us grumbled about the insufficient lighting of the room.

We have our first dinner in Bistrot of our hotel

Day 2 Monday 26/5

We went to Mount St Michel in the morning. It was quite a long way up the hill to see the Abbey but our guide met us in the middle of the hill. She kindly showed us some details so we had enough rest and eventually everyone could make it to the top.

The date this Abbey turned into a prison

These circular indentations are not natural. They represent stars like those in the cupola

Signature of the workman responsible for making these stone path

The cloister of the Abbey. Usually the pillars on both sides are arranged symmetrically but here it is in a zigzag manner

To fetch supplies to the Abbey at the time it was a prison. They used this pulley system. Several prisoners ran inside the huge wheel, like hamsters , to generate the pull

Rope and chain from the wheel through the wall

The image displays a fresco known as “The Three Living and the Three Dead” (Les Trois Vifs et les Trois Morts) found within the Church of Saint-Pierre at Mont Saint-Michel.
This fresco depicts a moralizing tale popular in medieval art, illustrating the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death. It typically shows three young, vibrant noblemen encountering three decaying corpses, often accompanied by a dialogue or inscription highlighting the vanity of earthly pursuits and the importance of preparing for the afterlife.

To conclude the morning we had lunch at La Mère Poulard restaurant which is close to the entrance. It had a long queue for the ground floor but we were up in the second floor so no problem at all.

In the afternoon we went to the D Day landing beaches. First stop at Longues-sur-Mer for the famous battery of Longues-sur-Mer, built by the Germans, was subjected to intense aerial and naval bombing.

There were 4 of these pillboxes in that beach built with thick concrete to withstand bombing. To fire a cannon there was a need for large openings but it would be an easy target. Hence the German deviced these inverted steps roof to minimise the exposure.

After the D Day the allies left many explosives in these pillboxes but did not set them off. A few days later a massive explosion occurred in the night time in one pillbox. The local believed that the explosives were ignited by cooking by the guards. Even after the explosion, the roof was still intact.

After that we took a break to visit a vineyard of apple cider. Normandy is famous for apple so naturally they make apple cider.

Really enlightening because some cider have alcohol level up to 17%

And some are up to 40%, what an eye opening experience

Then we returned to the landing beaches again. The previous seaside resort of Arromanches-les-Bains was inextricably linked with the liberation of western Europe following D-Day.

They created a harbour for the fleet using huge stone ridges

Remains of stone ridges are still visible

Note the rough sea outside the stone ridges and the calm inner harbour

As it is getting late we had to cut short the tour but the guide was very nice to show the photos of 3 Chinese soldiers taking part on the landing battle on the D Day.

Lam Ping Yu was a Chinese naval officer and sent to Britain for training. After training he was deployed to the D Day landing troop. No one knew about him at that time until his diary was discovered in HK.

Huang Tingxin was another Chinese naval officer sent to Britain for training. At that time 24 officers were sent. After training he was also deployed to the landing troop.

His name should be Randall Ching, a Chinese American who took part in the D Day landing . He went back to US and lived up to 95 years old. He had received many medals and his supporters had
petitioned the French government to induct Ching into its prestigious Legion of Honor, France’s top award for military and civil merit.

Then we went back to our hotel to have dinner in Le Séran restaurant.

Day 3, Tuesday the 27/5

After breakfast we went to another traditional aera of France, well-known to be the Heart of the former Monarchy, the Touraine Region and its main city, Tours.

Typical buildings in Tours: timber framed stone buildings

Place Plumereau, now it is quiet in the morning but would be vibrant in the evening

Along the street we saw many ‘small’ buildings but we got inside one of them…….

Behind the door was a garden with 5 blocks of buildings

This is the craftsman building with the tale telling pair of hands

On the lower floor there we saw the double mullioned windows with cross bar, providing good lighting

At top of the doom stood St Martin with hands in Benediction blessing

Then we checked in our second hotel of the trip. It is a small 5 stars hotel in the town so the garden is small but the rooms are very good and the staff are young and good too. Very impressive.

Then we went to discover a small vineyard Domaine I’Ouche Gaillard. A small organic vineyard but the interesting point is that the cellars are all built inside the caves. We also had dinner in a cave but frankly speaking food was just ……..

Day 4 Wednesday 28/5

In the morning we went to City of Blois, birth place of 3 Kings of France. We visited the magnificent Chateau of Chambord.

The style is said to be French and Italian. We can recognise the French style by the Mansard roof. Tall dark grey roof to expand the artic space. At that time space in the artic was not taxed.

Double helix staircase so that people can’t see each other except in certain breaks

F for Francis the first and his favourite Salamander

Then we have lunch at a one star restaurant, Ezia Restaurant.

After lunch we went to visit the Chateau d’ Amboise. It is more or less another chateau except for the grave of Da Vinci.

The small chapel which house the grave of Da Vinci

Da Vinci was buried here in the garden before moved to the chapel

This painting in the in the Amboise was not the original one. Below is the original painting.

***Francis I Receives the Last Breaths of Leonardo da Vinci***

We entered the chateau through climbing a slanting street but we exited through the road for the horses.

Then we went to a boat ride on the Loire River. We could watch the beautiful landscape along the shores and enjoyed some cheese, cold cuts and local wine.

Then we check into a 4 Star hotel, Le Chateau de Pray. It is smaller but still has a lovely garden. The only thing we didn’t like was the very high 4 pillar bed.

Initially we thought the snacks on the boat was our dinner but we went out for dinner right after checking in to les Arpents restaurant.

Day 5 Thursday 29/5

In the morning we went to the Chateau de Villandry which is famous for its huge and beautiful gardens. The family still live here so with subsidies from the government, the chateau and gardens are in a very good condition.

Like many chateau in Europe there are some
Chinese collections here too. But this room is built in an Islamic style with this fascinating caisson ceiling. Star is a common motif in Islamic art and usually it is a 8 pointed stars made by overlapping 2 squares. Here the stars are the less commonly seen 10 pointed ones, probably signifying calculations or fullness and completeness like our Chinese 十全十美

Then we went to Chinon and had lunch at Les Annes 30 restaurants. We ate outside but there were sun umbrella to shade us.

After lunch we went to Cave Montplaisir for a wine tasting at the cave for the wines from Chinon appellation.

In the afternoon we continued to Fontervraud to discover the Royal Abbey of Fontervraud. The king of England, Henry II, his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine and their son, King Richard the Lionheart were all buried here at the end of the 12th century.

There are several large bells in the garden and we are allowed to ring them. For this large one it takes some effort to do so.

Initially no one knew what this building was but later studies revealed that it was a kitchen

Then we were back to our hotel to have dinner at restaurant Orangerie at our hotel. We started the dinner with apéritif outside and here we met Sebastian for the first time

After that we went inside to continue dinner in a nice pirate room

Day 6 Friday 30/5

We drove a long way to the city of Cluny near Lyon. Before going to the Abbey we had lunch near by at La Halle de I’ Abbeye

All the food looked red under the red umbrella

The red me to show the blue window blinds which can keep the mosquito away because they don’t like blue colour, according to Kiki

Then we went into the Cluny Abbey. It was constructed in the Romanesque architectural style, with three churches built in succession from the 4th to the early 12th centuries. The earliest basilicawas the world’s largest church until the St. Peter’s Basilica construction began in Rome

Jean de Bourbon chapel dated 15th century

These capitals on top of the original pillars was over 10 M high. Now shown to public on much lower pillars.

Our guide told us there were some treasures excavated from the Abbey infirmary. I have digged up a few:

The abbey was dedicated to St Paul and St Peter so their relics were once here but were gone during the revolution but one urn survived

This signet ring is large so has to be worn over gloved hands, must have belonged to an abbot or a bishop. Note that the figure represents Hercules, muscular man with a staff.

Then we visited Chateau de Fuisse’ for wine tasting. It is owned by the Vincent family for 5 generations since 1862.

From there we continued to the city of Lyon. Our 5 Star hotel Villa Florentine is located up in the hill so our large tour bus could not go up. We had to change to small cars. It was a former monastery converted to a luxurious hotel and offer a magnificent panorama view of the city below.

That night we had dinner in our hotel, Les Terrasses de Lyon restaurant, one star restaurant. The view is also stunning.

Day 7, Saturday 31/5

In the morning we went to the les Halles – temple of gastronomy for wine and food tasting and then back to hotel for rest. We didn’t have lunch because of the food tasting in the whole morning.

And of course we won’t miss out the deserts

After a rest in our hotel we took a walk to the city again for a tour of the old city and visit a silk shop.

But just a narrow passage through private blocks

After obtaining the secret of making silk, the Europeans didn’t stop at that and they made velvet. So in the paintings many royals and nobles wore velvet.

For dinner we had our first 3 stars restaurant by Paul Bocuse (though recently one star was taken off). We were honoured to have the privilege of visiting the cellar and the kitchen.

Mesmerising wine cellar, grand and intimidating

They won’t ignore the minor details, this is butter but unfortunately it is unsalted

Here comes the best chickens, cooked embedded in a cow’s stomach

Then cut open to serve but the stomach was discarded to our disappointment

Just a little frothy vegetable with the chicken

For those who don’t take cheese they are given 3 sorbets

Day 8 Sunday 1/6

In the morning we went to Tain I’ Hermitage, in the heart of the Rhone Valley. First to the famous M. Chapoutier. It’s wine production every year is in terms of millions and they are making new ventures like whiskey and beers

Every one wondered why he needed to use a candle to our the wine into a decanter. He said it was use the illuminate the bottle neck so as to avoid pouring turbid part of the wine, 👍🏼👍🏼

We had lunch at Le Millesimes restaurant. We ate outside beside a road lined with plane trees or sycamore trees. With the breeze and tall neat rows of trees, couldn’t have ask for more.

Then we went to a small vineyard to discover Chateauneuf du Pape.

To conclude our visit Horace came up with a fine piece of Chinese expression and written down by Hermia

In the evening we checked in another 5 star hotel Le Prieure’ Baumaniere in Avignon. Actually it was not our initial booking but due to a change of staff our rooms were gone and they recommended this one to us. It turned out to be a disaster, some rooms were not up to standard and service was poor. The 1 star restaurant didn’t know that we had booked and paid for the dinner. Many other minor arrangements were also below expectations from a 5 star hotel.

Day 9 Monday 2/6

After breakfast we went to L’Isle la Sorgue to visit the Abbaye de Senanque. Unfortunately we were 2 weeks earlier and missed the blooming lavender, a famous view of the abbey.

The ‘grass land’ in front of it is all lavender

Then we have lunch at the La Table de la Bastide, famous restaurant of Airelles Domaine in Gordes with an amazing view of the Luberon area

This was the hotel we had booked but missed

After lunch we went to a typical village of Apt to visit a family owned Lavender distillery, the Agnels. Overtime 5 generations succeed one another and still running strong.

On the right is what we know as Labender and in the left is the taller Lavendin . For one kg of the oil we need 30 L of raw lavender oil and 70 L of raw lavendin oil, so lavendin is cheaper but can be used for cleaning and disinfection

Mini model of distillery for demonstration

While walking to our restaurant for dinner we had a quick Look of Palais des Papes (Pope’s palace)

La Fourxhette restaurant for dinner. Quite a cosy restaurant and we took the white and red wine they mixed by themselves.

Day 10 Tuesday 3/6

After breakfast we went to see the famous Pont du Gard, jewel of the Roman engineering, built to bring fresh water to Nimes in 40 BC. At a height of 49 M it is highest in the world.

But just 2 the lowest one is a walking bridge built later

There are many stony protrusions seen. They are for scaffolding work for maintenance and repair

Then we continued to the Glanum Heritage Site. First we saw the mausoleum of Juli. In its base there are 4 reliefs depicting various war events

Then there is the triumphal arch of Glanum , although many parts were not preserved but the roof with hexagonal compartments are still clearly seen

We have similar patterns used in China though just rhomboid instead of hexagonal.

Then we went into the Glanum’s monumental centre, a huge archaeological site, because there was no guide, just managed to recognise a few from the internet.

Mask which spouted water into the swimming pool (1st century BC).

Votive stones devoted to Hercules, guardian of the spring.

A circular fountain in the Hellenic style, 2nd–1st century BC

The House of the Antae, a Hellenistic-style residence with a peristyle of Tuscan columns and a basin to capture rainwater.

Close up of the Tuscan columns and the basin

Then we have lunch at Vallon de Valrugues (VV) and then departure to Les Baux de Provence

In the afternoon we visited the Carriere des Valrugues to see a light show inside a cave. It is a series of light show of the impressionist artist. We saw Monet and Rousseau this turn and here we met Kiki’s sister and her husband. A fine and sophisticated couple. After the light show Philip took us to visit a hill village, nice view and we enjoyed the short walk very much.

There is a movie: *Jean de Florette. Haven’t seen it but I like the Chinese name:*
戀戀山城：永遠的普羅旺斯

That night we checked into another 5 star hotel, Baumaniere, the same group as the last one that we had a lot of complaints but this one was much better and we were all very satisfied. We had dinner at I’Ousteau de Baumaniere. Although it is run by the hotel but it is not inside and the hotel provided shuttle car to take us there. This 3 star restaurant is very nice with good food. One interesting item is the bread pairing, not the usual wine pairing.

The razor clams were surprisingly good, just cooked and remained juicy and smooth

The bread pairing with razor clams came with a crispy rice chip

A thin piece of beef with onion inside, much like Japanese Teppanyaki

The eggshell was so cleanly cut without cracks. We were wondering how they cut it until the chef gave the answer: cut by laser!

Day 11 Wednesday 4/6

Today we went to Arles, a UNESCO site, nicknamed the Little Rome of the Gauls. First we visited the Church of St Trophime, Arles 12-15 century.

In the tympanum above the west door there is Christ with the 4 evangelist: St Matthew the angle, St Mark the lion, St Luke the ox, and John the eagle.

In the left hand side is the death of St Peter, the small man representing the soul leaving his body.

The last judgment, the chained bad guys went to hell

Then we visited the Roman theatre and the Roman amphitheater. Theatre is smaller with a semi circular seating arrangement with a stage, so mainly for theatrical performances. Amphitheater is larger with an elliptical or circular seating surrounding an arena. The arena is often flat sandy area where the events toke place. So amphitheater is for more violent public events such as gladiatorial contests, hunting or public executions.

Then we strolled the old town of Arles where Van Gough had spent sometime and cut off his ear in here.

The cafe was not yellow but only yellow under the light. It is now painted yellow for the obvious reason. Meanwhile it is for sale.

The hospital where Van Gough stayed for a while after cutting his own ear off but the little house with blue roof was not seen.

Obviously it was removed later as we can see the trace of the roof top.

This monument for Frédéric Mistral is located at the Place du Forum in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône, France). Frédéric Mistral was a writer who received the Nobel Prize in 1904. Arles is famous because of him.

Afterwards we left for Nimes and have lunch at restaurant Au Plaisir Des Halles

After lunch we met the guide from the morning to start the city tour of Nimes. First we saw the modern statue of Antoninus whose family was here.

Modern statue of Antoninus Pius in Nîmes whose family came from Nemausus, Nîmes

Carree means square in French but in those days there was no term for rectangle so every thing four sided were called square . This temple is rectangular rather than square

Usually the pediment and freize above the columns are well decorated. The decoration here in the pediment was not seen, may be destroyed. In the freize there was nothing too but we saw many small holes. Sometimes they have words in this area and later these words are deciphered as below;

So this temple was dedicated to 2 life people at that time

Just next to Maison Carree is the Museum of Contemporary Art of Nimes, built by the famous British architect Norman Foster. So old and new buildings together create a contrasting view of Nimes and become a popular scene.

Another subtle presentation of old and new

Denims actually originated here in Nimes

The city of Nîmes, in France, has a unique and interesting symbol: a crocodile chained to a palm tree. This symbol is not a random choice, but rather a representation of Roman history and a local emblem.

The crocodile and palm tree were depicted on Roman coins minted in Nîmes to commemorate the Roman victory over Egypt in the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.

4 crocodiles specimen hung in the city hall. In the 16th century, King Francis I officially adopted the crocodile as the city’s coat of arms.

To conclude the city tour we went to the amphitheater of Nimes. It is slightly bigger than the one in Arles.

After leaving Nimes we took a long trip to Carcassonne and checked in to Hotel de la Cite. This hotel was rebuilt from the palace of the bishop and just next to Cathedral of Carcassonne and overlooks the lower town. The whole old town is a UNESCO site and we lived right in a UNESCO site! We had a late dinner before going to our rooms.

We are inside the inner wall of the city!

Cathedral Carcassonne

Some glimpses of the old city

After the city tour we went to Chateau de Pennautier at the heart of AOP Cabarde. After wine tasting we have lunch there.

In the afternoon we went to the Gouffre de Cabrespine. It is giant chasm and is one of the ten most beautiful caves in Europe.

That night we went to a sort of remote village for dinner in a one star restaurant Le Puits du Tresor. Food was great and the chef came to have photos with us.

Day 13 Friday 6/6

From Carcassonne we went to Toulouse. First stop in the morning was the Airbus factory. It is so huge that it looks like a city per se. 60 % of the people in Toulouse work here and there are over a thousand pilots employed. Such a large scale ‘factory’ is beyond my imagination. We toured the site by a coach but no photos were allowed. Then we watched an assembly line from a room and the guide gave a short talk. We learn some planes now are made from carbon fibre which is stronger and lighter. However it is not an electric conductor so there is no protection from lightning, hence a thin layer of copper is added for this purpose, the theory being known as Faraday cage effect.

We have lunch in the town known as La Ville Rose, the pink town, because they used pink bricks for the buildings, not stone. It is a well known antique restaurant, La Brasserie des Beaux Arts.

After lunch we met our guide for the tour of the pink city

Here bricks were used instead of stones because they didn’t have much stones. The beautifully carved decoration is not stone too, just mud. Because of the colour of the bricks it is called the pink city.

Here white bricks were used to imitate stone building

In Jacobin convent, the alter is not at the end opposite of the entrance but at the middle, rather unusual architecture.

Basilica St Sernin

The tower is almost identical to that of Jacobin convent but the tip is still preserved

The alter is in the traditional position. The painting in the dome is Jesus with the 4 evangelists.

Toulouse has a historical connection to a bull through the martyrdom of its first bishop, Saint Saturnin. Legend states that he was tied to a bull and dragged through the city, leading to his death. We can still see bulls in the church

Finally a group photo in front of the town hall in the city centre

Then we walked to the river side and then checked in our last hotel of this trip. A luxurious 5 star hotel.

Then we went to restaurant ACTE II, a new one star restaurant with a young chef. Yannick Delpech got his first Michelin Star as he was just 24 and his second at 32 years old. The restaurant was in a quiet suburb, rather like those private kitchens in HK.

Day 14 Thursday 5/6

We left after breakfast for a long road trip back to Paris and then we departed and on our own way back. Again we had packed lunch on the road. It was less appealing than the beginning one but after 2 weeks of heavy food, a lighter meal was a good idea. Thank you Kiki so much for all the hard work and thank you everyone for the companionship in this enjoyable trip.

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