Where have you been? What have you seen?
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By Dave W
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#1788593
Château de Chenonceau?

Gorgeous place. Some fascinating hints around as to how that building was perhaps sometimes used by la Resistance during the Vichy stages of the war. I'd love to know more detail on that - any idea of sources for me to dig out, Rob?
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#1788601
I think some Googling is required

The first thing I turned up was this

https://thefunambulist.net/architectura ... uring-wwii

Also

In World War II, Chenonceau played an important role in the French Resistance. On June 22, 1940, France lost a decisive battle that cut the country in two. The line of demarcation between Nazi-controlled France and free France ran along the Cher River. The far side of the bridge was Nazi controlled. The chateau side was free. Although German guards patrolled the river, Simone Meunier unlocked the doors to the gallery whenever the patrols were out of sight, helping hundreds of Jews and French villagers to escape.


Which of course is wholly inaccurate as to which part was in occupied territory

Rob P
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By 2Donkeys
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#1788617
Rob P wrote:
Which of course is wholly inaccurate as to which part was in occupied territory

Rob P


It is also inaccurate as to the lady's name. She was Simone Menier, owner of the chateau during the war and 'Chief Nurse' during its use as a hospital. The Menier family, still owns the chateau today, and are perhaps best known, in France at least, for their chocolates.
Last edited by 2Donkeys on Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Dave W
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#1788621
Rob P wrote:I think some Googling is required

I've done that, both just now and after our first visit to Chenonceau a few years ago. What comes up are only rather short descriptions and hints at what went on.

I was hoping that you might know sources of some more detailed histories.

2Donkeys wrote:The Menier family, still owns the chateau today, and are perhaps best known, in France at least, for their chocolates.

I first heard of the family because one of their old factories is now a London theatre. :)
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By 2Donkeys
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#1788623
@Dave W
I have been told by aged Tours locals that there may be an element of overstatement in the stories of the castle and its use as a portal between Vichy France and the occupied zone. Whilst it may have happened, it certainly wasn't on any kind of scale.
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#1788627
2Donkeys wrote: ... there may be an element of overstatement in the stories of the castle and its use as a portal between Vichy France and the occupied zone. Whilst it may have happened, it certainly wasn't on any kind of scale.


The truth, however, is hard to determine—what the Resistance was, what it accomplished, who its members were, how big and effective or small and ineffective it was—because the France of World War II had one large piece of dirty linen waving in the wind: Alone among the countries of Europe overrun by the Wehrmacht, France chose to collaborate actively with the enemy, and the French people became deeply ashamed of that choice as soon as the Allies liberated them. The country compensated for that shame by sometimes exaggerating the accomplishments of those partisans who did propagandize, spy upon, sabotage and even openly fight the Germans.

“The French, understandably, reacted [after liberation] to their ordeal by retreating into a myth,” writes Ian Ousby in Occupation: The Ordeal of France, 1940–1944. “A myth of a people united in hostility to the Nazi occupiers, of a nation of résistants.” In truth France was far from a nation of resisters. Anti-Nazi partisans in Yugoslavia, Poland and Greece were far more effective and constituted a substantially higher percentage of the population of each country. As Time described Marcel Ophul’s Resistance-debunking 1969 documentary The Sorrow and the Pity, the film “tries to puncture the bourgeois myth— or protectively askew memory—that allows France generally to act as if hardly any Frenchmen collaborated with the Germans.”


Rob P

https://www.historynet.com/french-resis ... istant.htm
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#1788667
Out and About

The gite is very seductive and as such we spent a lot of time in the courtyard / garden, and little time travelling. We had planned to pop down to Bordeaux and catch up with Skydriller and Susan, but that plan unravelled. However we did make some road outings, nothing more than about thirty miles from base.

Firstly there was a lovely dinner with two fellow pilots, one of them not unknown here. Stunning venue, fabulous food but I'm afraid service that even Basil and Manuel could better on a bad day. Chateau d'Artigny, hang your head in shame.

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I'm sorry but painting it in the colours of the Union Jack doesn't make up for sitting down to eat at just before 8.00pm and getting the coffees not far short of midnight. (But the food was delicious)

Then, of course, there was the Château de Chenonceau touched upon earlier. It wasn't a totally comfortable visit if you are trying to distance with its small corridors and crowd of visitors. But certainly a sight not to be missed, next time from a hot air balloon I think.

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One thing about Covid-19. It makes selfies a total waste of time.

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The rail service locally is very good and not hugely expensive. Our trip to Tours was strain-free.

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Amazing station, lovely town that's well worth a visit.

Yet another river, this time the Loire itself

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And a humungous cathedral

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Later in the week we headed off in the opposite direction under Peugeot power to the zoo.

The ZooParc de Beauval proudly proclaims itself to be the fourth most attractive zoo in the world. Quite who awarded it that status is unclear, but something we had earmarked for a long morning followed by a leisurely bistro lunch turned into a full day of 'firsts' for us.

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We realised, talking about it later, that neither of us had ever actually seem a B+W Panda before. They are so familiar, but rare

On a personal note, I am a Red Panda fan. The monochrome versions just don't cut it for me.

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And then there's the Koala cub (?). A double first, despite the fact Sandra lived in Australia all her childhood.

The Park is enormous, with a cable car and giant tropical house. It's not cheap to buy a ticket, but it is great value. There are about a dozen possible eating venues on site, from on-the-hoof grazing to the full restaurant French-style.

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Finally, a mention for the best little restaurant of the trip. Just a short swim from the airfield, or ten minutes by Bippee is the Two Caves.

Now @Iceman and myself have form for Caves, though that involved three of them in St Omer. This one is a family run restaurant that offers a warm welcome, good simple local food, well cooked and service that could be an object lesson to some nearby chateau

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Just the one cave in use at this time

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But they have a spare for emergencies

So to sum up, as far as I can see this is an ideal aviators' holiday. My co-owner who has many friends in France used it as a base for airborne outings, and has booked two weeks this year. We holidayed as above in the gite and local area

The weeks sensibly run Monday to Monday giving we VFR pilots a lot of travel flexibility, and the gite owners are very negotiable this year in terms of the duration of stay, but have reduced capacity as they are allowing space between bookings for more thorough cleaning.

The saga of the return trip will follow, but that's a totally different story for a totally different part of the forum.

Rob P

(c) all text and pictures are copyright Words And Actions Ltd 2020
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1788723
2Donkeys wrote:
Rob P wrote:
Which of course is wholly inaccurate as to which part was in occupied territory

Rob P


It is also inaccurate as to the lady's name. She was Simone Menier, owner of the chateau during the war and 'Chief Nurse' during its use as a hospital. The Menier family, still owns the chateau today, and are perhaps best known, in France at least, for their chocolates.


When I was in school in France in 1956-7 , mid afternoon we were served up a lump of baguette with a strip of dark Chocolat Menier up the middle

.Forerunner of Pain au Chocolat I guess.

Peter
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