Abiyoyo is a song adapted by Pete Seeger. He appeared on Reading Rainbow with Levar Burton of later Star Trek Fame to perform it. This song and this version became the absolute favourite of the Montreal kids, and they ask to watch it at every opportunity.
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Fast Forward to 2017, France:
In most other small to medium French towns, morning is a quiet time when we get a calm second look at things without the hubbub of the previous late afternoon. But in Fontainebleau even quite early in the morning there was still a lot of the traffic that had so bugged me the day before. We don't think this is people commuting to Paris, so maybe it's just the density of the whole near to Paris area.
Our hotel - with our room facing the camera on the second floor
We began with a trip to our "favourite" bakery. The breakfast at the hotel had been ok, but no surplus. So we wanted to snap up the best sandwiches at the bakery. At the same time we went for more of those chaussons prunes. We mentioned how good they were to the lady and she said they were an invention of her husband the baker. We realized that actually they are almost the same as Hamentaschen - a treat from the Jewish holiday of Purim.
The Chateau when we got there, unlike the roads, was suitably deserted. Partly that was because we got the time wrong and arrived half an hour early to get into the buildings. Instead we walked around outside and tried to figure out which section was which, using our little pamphlet. We were only partly successful, because the thing has been added to and changed so many times that there is no underlying order to it.
We did find ourselves out back beside one of several lakes. This offered a nice image of moored rowboats. Also, for the first time we saw actual large fish.It would be tempting but no doubt highly dangerous to poach some of these while royals were still in charge.
While admission to the buildings had been free yesterday, today it was back to 11.50. Oh well.
One of the first things we came to was the spot where they rent period costumes. Some of the little bits were also for sale, so we were able to pick up some little pieces for some of the kids. We were pretty excited about that.
Bedchambers were all of course very elaborate. It was very noticeable how short all the beds were. All also had cylindrical bolsters for pillows. We hate that when we hit them in hotels.
The gift shop featured lots of books on all aspects of the site and the French monarchy. I bought a history of France, but we instantly mailed it home. It will have to wait for long Winter's nights in Canada to get read.
We have seen the series of plates with instructions on how to be a good little prince or princess in other chateaux. Dodie thinks I should have this one, can't think why.
We were able to visit the Chateau because we had now drawn near enough to Paris that it seemed we had a little time to burn. In fact, since our next stop was to just be at nearby Melun, we threw in a curve, just to add a little interest. Instead of heading over to Melun after the Chateau we set off in the opposite direction, back the way we had come, with the plan of returning to the Loing river and following it to the Seine. Then we would follow the Seine around to Melun. All that was pretty legitimate sounding, because what it really was was returning to EV3 and carrying on with it.
The problem was that we misestimated the distance for going around the long way, and we also forgot about how slow it can be trying to follow gravel or single track when that is all that is on offer beside the rivers. To this we can add getting lost, because much as EV3 seems to have the route pegged, there are really not that many signs and getting through is not all that simple.
So we found ourselves through the afternoon either on gravel or single track, or trying to forge a route on road to get away from the gravel or single track. At one point, the only way through was across a graveyard. Fortunately the gates, once we tried them, were open.
Despite our various efforts we found ourselves with evening not that far off and the hotel we had booked very far off. So we began to try a little more extreme tactics. We set off on a shortcut road, but that turned out to be straight uphill on rough cobbles. We had to slowly push our way out of that bright idea.
Then there was using low numbered D roads to cut down the distance. Nope. With drivers the way they are here, even D roads are nerve racking. so eventually we went back to the river (the Seine!) and were pleased to find well paved pathway there. That is, until the pathway turned to roadway and the sun set.
So now here we were, bowling along, with all lights and flashers on, on increasingly busy roads. The only advantage - you can really see the GPS well in the dark!
As we passed by Melun there were occasionally bike lanes provided, a real plus, but other times we were on the sidewalk, or forced onto the road.
A short cut took us back through the forest. With evening falling, lots of hunters were exiting to pack it in. As with the fishermen, we did not see any actual results for their efforts.
That's how our little afternoon cakewalk to the next stop turned into a desperate night ride in traffic. Even now as I type this in the "Budget Hotel" I have no real idea of where I am. Dodie is about the same. All around is traffic and there is no sense of being in any neighbourhood. I'm sure the GPS is right on top of it, though. Someone has to be!
