What a wonderful stay we have had at Appartement12 in Charleville-Mézières. We had a lovely host, stellar accommodation, great breakfast, a space for our tandem and location..location! We are staying in the heart of this historic city. When we go out the door, we are on a wide pedestrian street in the historic centre. One could stay here a week and never lack for something to do or see. Our host is a pro…she knows how to provide what you need before you ask, and you instantly feel at home. Somehow we communicated….she spoke very quickly in French and we would respond in English hoping we were on the same wavelength. Occasionally her puzzled look would reduce us to laughter and all was good…I think!
Our room is on the top floor of this historic old building…the windows in our bedroom/bathroom are new additions…positioned on a slant due to the roofline and have a mechanism that allows you to open them wide providing great views across the inner city skyline.
From our bathroom we get a good view of the Cathedral and super accoustics of the clock chiming every 15 minutes. Our host warned us that some have complained about the clock, but we found the sounds quite musical and pleasant.
Karen PoretTo Charmaine RuppoltAgreed! It is one of the plus points of touring Europe..Never tiring..no pun intended :) Reply to this comment 2 months ago
A native and beloved native of Charleville Mezieres is the poet Arthur Rimbaud. He was born here in 1854 and is known for his surreal themes and influence on modern literature and arts. An interesting life…known to be a free spirit and libertine, he produced the bulk of his writing before the age of 20 and then travelled the 3 continents as a merchant and explorer. His writing had an impact on writers such as Samuel Beckett and Paul Verlaine. Throughout the city, you can see how proud they are of Rimbaud with his likeness frequently shown and a Museum devoted to his life and work.
Appartement12 has two rooms for rent and this well stocked kitchen is shared.
Charleville Mezieres has a strong cultural core with many events ongoing . One of these annual events is the La Marionnette Festival. Charleville is renowned in the world for its marionettes. We had a few marionettes in our suite…one is featured in the photo above and Pinocchio was hanging above the staircase to our bedroom.
Charleville is renowned worldwide for puppetry and the poet Rimbaud. There are museums devoted to both. Rimbaud’s relatively brief time as a writer and his death at the young age of 35 had a huge impact on many, including counter culture figures like Kerouac, William Burroughs and Bob Dylan.
Our lovely host…merci beaucoup pour votre hospitality.
We were so relieved that we could store our bike on the ground level of the building with easy access at the street level. Our accommodation is two floors up. At one point our host was having trouble understanding me and she bent over the railing, called down to her neighbour (who speaks English) one floor down and before I knew it, his head appeared and he cheerfully called the translation up to me. The joys of travelling!
Our kitchen was the second floor up above the door and our bedroom was one floor above that with slanted windows, giving us an open view to the sky and surroundings..
This prominent statue of Charles de Conzacue is in the centre of town on the pedestrian walkway. The city of Charleville was built by Conzacue, an Italian aristocrat and his plan was to counter the growing influence of Protestantism in the nearby city of Sedan by populating this new town with Catholics.
We are enjoying the graceful architecture in France…tall oversized front doors and windows framed with stonework, metalwork forming balconies, brick fronts, etc.
We are heading in the direction of Givet, the last city in France on the Meuse River heading north. We will be there in two days. It is hard to believe we will soon be in Belgium.
Canada Geese and their young families are everywhere along the ride today. It is raining throughout the day and very cold. Looking forward to reaching our destination Haybes, but still a way to go. Mama is warning us to stay at a distance. We recognize the signs when she speaks to us with her mouth open and her tongue visible.
Wow, the signs with dates on them are showing the flood levels of the Meuse River at this location. This makes us recall our situation earlier on this trip on the Moselle when we woke up to flooded bikeways and the local roads. The Meuse and the Moselle are both at very high levels this spring. The daily rain is not helping.
Mary Ellen went for a walk to find the public bathroom. It wasn’t there, but this cat caught her eye. The cat did not look to impressed to see ME and was very motivated to get away from her.
…and up she jumped with her eyes focussed on the opening in the stone fence. She was successful and popped through the hole and to safety on the other side. The atheleticism of cats is amazing.
Michael HutchingEnjoying reading about your Meuse ride which we did north to south in 2018. It seemed quite a remote are in places. We remember that bridge well on a very rainy day! Bonne route! Michael & Ann Hutching Reply to this comment 3 months ago
Karen PoretWe have had two days of NO rain in the past 3 weeks in Belgium and now in the Netherlands. Very daunting but keep going on…it’s the “new normal” of climate change… Reply to this comment 2 months ago
This was a very interesting experience. You could see on the rock walls where it had been carved out by hand in places. It was also a pretty wet experience as large water droplets came down from the ceiling.
This famous attraction is popular but we decided it’s not for us. You shoot through the air on a cable for 1.2 km at a speed of over 100 km per hour for 30 euros.. We’ll stick to our slower mode of travel…a bicycle.
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