Montauban. Our Final Destination.
These are the continuing voyages of the Flying-Brick ‘Gnome’. Although, not continuing much longer...
Chapter 28: Bloody Foreigners...
After yesterday’s rather depressing news from France (my apologies for that) today has turned out to be much more upbeat. Several bits of good news have come my way, including the news that some of Annick’s family are coming to help us out the first week of next January (thank you soooo much Jean-Ro & Maïté).
The bad news is that this means that there may be another Gnome-Trek blog coming to you before you know it!
Anyway, on with the story...
Back in Montrésor, time was tight. The total lockdown of France was to start in less than two days. We had to return early so that our brave family (Jean-Blaise & Jacqueline), entrusted with my elderly loved one (no, not Annick) could return to Paris before the axe fell.
This trip has certainly been full of ups and downs, highs and lows. So much so that I could even write a blog about it. Frankly, I could have done without the low bits. I mean, come on, did they really have to happen? It had passed through my mind that perhaps there was someone up there who had a personal grudge against me. Not that I subscribe to that kind of nonsense, but it makes you think doesn’t it? I mean, what if there was some kind of supreme being up there? With bugger all going on on our remote planet, he’d be bound to pick me out personally for retribution wouldn’t he? Sod the starving children, pants to the pandemic, bollocks to Brexit, let me concentrate my malevolence upon this puny excuse of a human being.
Of course, the other alternative is to persuade the gullible to spend their hard-earned dosh on things like this, the Church of St John the Baptist. Money well spent...
Here’s an interesting thing. Montrésor, the last stop on our tortured path, was the home of several exiles from Poland in the nineteenth century. They did the place up nice as was their want. They were fully accepted into the local community, in exactly the opposite way that we accept exiles in the good old UK. There, we tend not to call them persecuted exiles. We tend to call them bloody foreigners. The fact that the average UK citizen is descended from bloody foreigners seems to have passed us by.
Below is the old Keep, the original Chateau de Montrésor. It was built around a thousand years ago and is starting to show its age. The house in front did not attempt to match styles.
It does kind of make the house look like it has a power station built on its back.
About 400 years later (doesn’t time fly) a new chateau was built inside the walls of the keep. This castle was to be the last thing we had time to visit before heading home into lockdown. Luckily for all you kind people, you'll be able to read all about it in tomorrow's exciting chapter cunningly called Chapter 29...
Fear not dear readers, we are nearly done!
All good entertaining stuff Phil. (I think my family tree started in Ethiopia). What can we look forward to next please? How about an animal tour of your private zoo, with interesting bits on each species, or genus? Just an idea. I need continuing entertainment please, and look forward to your daily blog installments.
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