Chateau Courbon
Italy or Bust! (Part 1)
As I publish this from a secure undisclosed location, we have been on the road for the past two weeks. We left Brittany on April 1 and headed for Italy for an almost 5 week vacation. Wait a minute!… I have been on vacation for 2 ½ years! OK then, we have been on a trip. Over the past several months we set up 3 home exchanges in all corners of Italy so we are traveling the length and breadth of the country. Down one side of the coast and up the other, crisscrossing as we go.
We started off at the Chateau La Roche Courbon on our way to Bordeaux, from the northwest to the southeast corner of France. Built in 1475 it was turned into a pretty respectable private residence where the older current owners occupy the third floor while we minions visit the rest of the place. On the same grounds of this privately owned chateau are Neanderthal Grottos in the cliff sides. Essentially, they are 50,000-year-old condos.
Knowing that there is so much that we could see and only so much time to see it in, we decided that a good way to start would be to peruse the list of World Heritage Sites (WHS) and see what we could find along the way. After all, these folks have an unlimited budget to see all the very best places in the world and it seemed foolhardy not to take advantage of it. Besides, we have been awed by their choices in the past, having visited 67 of them to date.
Wham-O! We struck gold. At our niece Christine’s suggestion, the next day in Bordeaux we visited two sites that are part of the Pilgrim routes of Santiago de Compostella; The Basalillica Saint Michel (who else!) and The Saint Andre Cathedral. (WHS # 68) It is just around the corner from ‘Pont de Pierre”, the stone bridge commissioned by Napoleon. The afternoon was spent up the road at the medieval fortified city of Carcassonne. (WHS # 69)
Heading south the following day, we were in “Aigue Morte”, yet another medieval fortified city on the Mediterranean and onto the “Midi Canal” (WHS #70). Driving east down the French Riviera past Antibes, we proceeded past Nice, Monaco and into Italy. Continuing down by Genoa and Pisa on the Italian Riviera, we stayed in Calci at a B&B in an olive grove where we have been offered an opportunity to return during harvest time and help. (Would that count as a job?) Moving on to Florence, we visited the “Duomo”, a many figured multi colored marble façade cathedral and the “Ponte Vecchio”, a series of gold shops situated on a bridge that crosses the river.
Naples was a disappointment to us. It is a filthy, garbage strewn, graffiti covered, overcrowded, dingy city that reminded us a lot of similar areas of Mexico. We stayed in a place that from the outside gave us the creeps, but once admitted to the inner courtyard it was a different world. It almost made us feel guilty. (Well, nobody is perfect)
As long as I am going all negative on you here, this is probably a good time to let loose on the only other aspect of Italy that did not sit well with us. We found that to date (remember, we are only half way through this trip), the drivers in the north and central Italy are the worse we have seen in any country. The drivers in the major cities of France are quite similar but here it is far more widespread. It is like they are in a permanent state of road rage and think nothing of all but running each other off the road or driving in two lanes simultaneously. It seems like signaling lane changes is illegal and they become furious when a car is in the passing lane and they come barreling down the road at well in excess of a 100 MPH and have to slow down, flashing their headlights like crazy to get them to move over. We have hardly ever seen police on the highways, no speed limits are posted and no one is ever stopped. It’s like the Wild West out here. Old style black smoke belching diesel trucks and cars are still a common sight.
We nasty non Kyoto protocol signing Americans are just put zing down the highway, doing our best to reduce our carbon footprint, hugging trees here and there to offset our share of ozone depleting emissions while these guys act like yahoos.
Driving further south past Bari on the Adriatic coast, we went south to Lecci and to our first home exchange in Santa Maria al Bagno. Everyone knows that Italy is shaped like a boot. Well, we are in the bottom of the heel. It is a gorgeous area with our bedroom window facing the Ionian Sea 150 feet away (50 meters) and the ruins of a medieval fortification seen in the photo. This is only the first home exchange for both of our families but we think we are going to love it. We are not confined to a room or two as in a B&B. We have a whole house with a large garden including a fully equipped outdoor kitchen in addition to the main kitchen in the house.
The second day here was Good Friday, so we went to Galipoli to see the Easter procession. Wow! What an event. It lasts from 6PM till dawn with hundreds of men in traditional robes reenacting Christ’s death march, many carrying large heavy floats representing the Stations of the Cross, very slowly and silently through the town streets. This is a serious Catholic stronghold with many people doing the sign of the cross as they walk by a church.
The family we exchanged this home with has been around with home cooked meals and local pastries. They also had us spend a day at Easter with their family nearby. (Their principal residence is 20 minutes away) You may wonder what on earth there is to see in this outer Mongolia part of Italy but it is quite prosperous and very Italian in the sense that we have barely squeezed but a few words of English out of anyone anywhere. The area reminds me of what I think Greece will look like.
We have been here for 10 days so among our day trips we took the time to go to Bari. Six months ago, I had contacted the Canadian Department of Veteran Affairs to ask for my father’s military records (my father was Canadian) so I could try to find specific information about his war service in Bari as a radar repairman. They told me they would get right on it and hoped to have the information to me by April 2008, a full year after I would return from this trip. Gee, thanks.
So I was on my own. We went to the military airbase in Bari but so much has changed over 60 years and so much of what was going on was temporary and scattered all over the area that it was impossible to pinpoint where he had been exactly. Nevertheless, we took in the area to try to get a flavor of what he would have seen. For one thing we could just make out the Albanian coastline from the top of the hill. I also wondered if he took the time on days off to visit anyone of the three World Heritage sights within spitting distance Of Bari. We sure did.
The first was Sassi di Madera, (WHS # 71). It is “the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement…the first inhabited zone dates from the Palaeolithic period”. Simply put, it is an entire community built in dug out caves on a hillside. In 1952 the government evicted the last 15,000 people still living in them because of sanitary conditions. By the way, it was here that Mel Gibson’s recent film “The Passion of the Christ” was shot.
The second was the Trulli di Alberobello (WHS # 72). These are homes or storage buildings that are round with gray, stone, cone shaped roofs. (And you thought our Dome was weird!) They are common in the immediate area but found nowhere else in the world. We actually have one in the yard of the home we are in here.
The third was Castel del Monte (WHS # 73). Built in 1240 by Frederick II as a hunting lodge shortly before he was excommunicated. He was the big dog in the area until one army or another took all his toys away.
Other notable sites were the Grottoes of Castellana. Quite impressive really, they were in the same category as ‘Mammoth Caves’ in Kentucky or ‘Carlsbad Caverns’ in Arizona. It had a couple of underground chambers that were larger than a football field and up to 150 feet high (50 meters). Very cool.
Next, we head for the mountains of Cosenza (just above Sicily)
To be continued….
Blacksmithing 2.0
You might have thought I was exaggerating a few months ago when I told you that our village blacksmith’s forge was like the set out of a horror movie or a torture chamber so I have decided to let you judge for yourself. (double click on any of the photos for a real good view)I have been futzing around with my forging lessons a few hours here and there for the past couple of months now and ---ok, I am no speed demon. I was asking my blacksmithing ‘teacher’ if he thought I would ever finish my project and he said “Of course you will! It will be done in 07”.
Wondering if he really thought it would take me a whole year to finish it, he turned and I heard him quietly mutter under his breath “3007”. Well, I am here to tell you that a full 999 years ahead of schedule, I am done. These were the elaborate door ‘hinges’ I had set out to forge for our main entry door at the Island. They are not actually hinges as we typically think of them but the decorative scrollwork that would be attached to them to support the heavy door. [Pics to be seen in June 07 Epistle when they are installed at the Bee] The boss was quite pleased with the outcome, so she has gone on a forging binge assigning me a number of projects for items both here and at Honey Bee.
Wondering if he really thought it would take me a whole year to finish it, he turned and I heard him quietly mutter under his breath “3007”. Well, I am here to tell you that a full 999 years ahead of schedule, I am done. These were the elaborate door ‘hinges’ I had set out to forge for our main entry door at the Island. They are not actually hinges as we typically think of them but the decorative scrollwork that would be attached to them to support the heavy door. [Pics to be seen in June 07 Epistle when they are installed at the Bee] The boss was quite pleased with the outcome, so she has gone on a forging binge assigning me a number of projects for items both here and at Honey Bee.
Last May before we left, I wrote about commissioning our fireplace implements from our Blacksmith. I told him in no uncertain terms that we wanted serious tools and didn’t want ‘girly man’ equipment. Every inch of it would need to be forged and that the deadline was December 1, 2006 when we arrived. He agreed.
We arrived as planned and he had the andirons ‘almost’ finished while the tools, spark shield and wood rack had yet to be started.
The fireplace tool set will not be finished until we return next December. The one thing I have learned from the French is that if they agree to a drop dead, cast in concrete, draw a line in the dirt, no if’s-and’s- or but’s deadline, the one thing you can be absolutely sure of is that it won’t be ready on time. The work though, speaks for itself. The andirons alone are 114 pounds of steel and would make a medieval fireplace proud. You can just feel the testosterone flying about the room when you have a roaring fire going. The picture is a little deceiving because the fireplace opening is 4 X 4 feet.
Knowing just enough to be dangerous but not nearly enough to be any good, I have decided to skip the required 40 years experience needed to master the art of blacksmithing and go straight to the advanced course. I was recently introduced to a young guy who is a graduate of the school of “Ferronnier d’Art”(Artistic blacksmithing). My older instructor is certainly an artist but he has primarily worked on farm equipment and big pieces like entry gates and window grates. My younger teacher had a studio set up for ‘artsy-fartsy’ forging. These are true art studio pieces that have been forged. This should be very interesting…. We meet when we were referred to him as the ‘go-to-guy’ to have a forged entry lighting fixture commissioned for the house. As we cannot have any garden art like in California, this is a one of a kind piece that he will make over the next 7 months for our entry. It is, well, ‘oh-so-French’. Photo to be available in December 07 Epistle.
Construction updates
I have not mentioned anything about projects for some time and I thought I would bring you up to date. I have been puttering out in the garage and our terrace because the weather has been so mild. First on the agenda was re finishing the cement block walls [inside and outside the garage] with a hand troweled mortar coating. 
Next was installing a new door from the garage to the courtyard. After was punching through the garage block wall, where I turned the Sauna to face the courtyard so that when we are sitting in it, our view is of the deck and the gorgeous church square. I installed an electrically retracted security door to roll down in front of it when not in use. Then, I sealed the smooth finished cement wall for Janice to paint a “trompe-l’oeil” as seen in the accompanied photo. [Check out the traditional saints niche above the arbor] 
Next, I re-pointed the stone wall, built the arbor, installed the trellis and decked the area in Brazilian Ipe hardwood complete with deck mounted lights and a recessed planter box for a typically French crossed willow planting. Once done, I was assigned to lay floor tile in our second bathroom. I am now ready to get back to work on our Master bedroom / bathroom in the attic. We hope to have it ready so that upon our return next December we can have it carpeted and move in the new furniture.
Next was installing a new door from the garage to the courtyard. After was punching through the garage block wall, where I turned the Sauna to face the courtyard so that when we are sitting in it, our view is of the deck and the gorgeous church square. I installed an electrically retracted security door to roll down in front of it when not in use. Then, I sealed the smooth finished cement wall for Janice to paint a “trompe-l’oeil” as seen in the accompanied photo. [Check out the traditional saints niche above the arbor] 
Next, I re-pointed the stone wall, built the arbor, installed the trellis and decked the area in Brazilian Ipe hardwood complete with deck mounted lights and a recessed planter box for a typically French crossed willow planting. Once done, I was assigned to lay floor tile in our second bathroom. I am now ready to get back to work on our Master bedroom / bathroom in the attic. We hope to have it ready so that upon our return next December we can have it carpeted and move in the new furniture.
Last winter I bored you to tears with the endless drama regarding the construction of our stone fireplace. We had our inaugural baptism of fire just before we left when we got a call from our neighbor next door telling us that there was smoke in his attic (we had some too) Seems that there were tiny cracks in the chimney wall in the upper reaches that allowed the smoke to permeate through the walls. To our horror and my utter shame, we now had a beautiful fireplace that I had spent months hand cutting the stone for but could not have a fire in. We decided to deal with it upon our return in December.
When we arrived, I immediately built a metal funnel to put above the trap, connected it to a stainless steel flue to contain the smoke. The good news was that there was no more smoke in our attics. The bad news was that the chimney no longer drew properly and we now had smoke all through the house.
Having gone this far we decided to have a wind driven smoke extractor (you know the kind that spin with the breeze) installed. It didn’t work either. By now you should know that the saga had a happy ending or I wouldn’t be telling you about it.
The last straw was to have an electric smoke extractor installed and it worked like a champ. It is just like the one over your cook top only this is the big daddy commercial version designed to operate with the high temperatures emitting from a fireplace. Proof positive that if you persist (and throw enough money at a problem) you can usually succeed.
Little Christopher
Our little guy is still in hospital and mom, Amy, and dad, Vance, are relaying to be with him. Brother Wes has arrived in the nick of time and is taking over their guest cabin and keeping up with sisters and brother Alex while mom and dad are spending their time with hospital staff learning how to correctly take care of Christopher’s trach etc. As soon as 24 hour nursing staff signs up for home care, they all will head home at last. So far, one nurse is ready to show up, more are needed. This is surely a time of faith, hope and prayers all around for the Lindor family. Little Madeline sums it all up “ I am glad God gave baby Christopher to our family”, what a 5 year old wonder. We keep faithful that Christopher will not need his feeding tube indefinitely, but will be busy growing out of this need, as well as the tracheotomy. God is able and thank you so for all of your heart-felt prayers for the whole family.
