Mountain Singers

Back in September we mentioned that back in July we had seen a mens' mountain choir in Cauterets.

This is what they sound like. I hope it's worked.

Obviously it didn't. I'm working on fixing that.

Done. Phew. What a palaver.

Three Surgeons

When we were at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Tours the other day we noticed tree surgeons at work on the huge Cedar of Lebanon (planted 1804) that fills the entry courtyard.

You need a lot of strength to be a tree surgeon. Not only do you have to be able to climb a tree, you have to be able to do it whilst carrying what appears to be your own bodyweight in climbing accoutrements.

Breakfast in Tours

I mentioned yesterday that on Monday we had a nice breakfast in Tours. That was in a café/pâtisserie/salon de thé /chocolaterie/confiserie called Aux Délices des Beaux Arts which can be found here.

The view is good, the pastries and coffee are nice, and the man behind the counter will insist on taking your photo as soon as a camera appears.

We didn't have any of the following, but they look too good not to show you

Le Dolmen de la Grotte aux Fées

We had a day off in Tours on Monday. We started off with a slow breakfast in a nice café, and followed that with a stroll around the cathedral and a visit to the Musée des Beaux Arts.

After some shopping and a bite of lunch we went for a little explore, ending up in a field north of Tours.

Le Dolmen de la Grotte aux Fées was built overnight by a team of fairies. Either that or it's three huge stones which were balanced on 8 smaller stones about 7000 years ago by a neolithic community as a communal burial chamber. But by "smaller" we're talking huge, and by "three huge stones" we're talking properly massive. It's estimated the whole ensemble of stones weighs over 88 tonnes. It's over 11 metres long, divided into two chambers, and shards of worked stone were found in the soil inside. One of the stones is a polisoir, a hard stone used for grinding and sharpening stone axes.

It's proper big!

It can be found here. 

Look Out For Drone Flies in the Touraine Loire Valley

The drone fly Eristalis tenax (Fr. Eristale gluante) is an inoffensive species of fly disguised as a honey bee. It is the most abundant Eristalis species in Europe and as it feeds on the nectar of many species of plant it has a role in pollination. Like several other species of hover fly, the drone fly may make a long distance migration twice a year.

They are nimble flyers and capable of hovering on the spot. If they are attacked one of their defensive mechanisms is to whiz around and around their enemy.

Their larvae are known as rat-tailed maggots and live in shallow stagnant water full of rotting vegetation. The 'rat-tail' is in fact their rear mounted breathing siphon.

The Wait is Almost Over

The chapel of Saint-Hubert, patron saint of hunters, was built in 1493 by Charles VIII on the foundations of the old oratory of the chateau of Amboise which was built by his father, Louis XI. The chapel was intended for the private use of the king.

On 2nd May 1519 Leonardo da Vinci died in Amboise. He had expressed a wished to be buried in Amboise, and his tomb was in a now demolished church in the chateau grounds. When the demolition happened, the tomb (or at least, the coffin) was moved to the chapel.

For the last two and a half years the chapel has been under wraps whilst being restored, but that program is now almost finished. We've written about the restoration, before - here about the carvings, and here about the carpentry.

This is what it looks like from the street below the chateau. The chapel's reopening is on the 16th of June, and anticipation is starting to rise.

At the moment the most effective view is from des Tanneures, the large public car park.