I am 100% city girl, but every once and a while, it's nice to see some pastures and the odd vache. My program here in Paris took us on a bus trip to see Barbizon, Courances, and then to dinner in Dannemois.
Barbizon is a small town about 45 minutes from Paris. It's known primarily as the original site of the Barbizon school of painting: the school was all about pre-Impressionist retreat from Academic-favored city/people subjects and historical paintings. The painters had a love for nature.
Frankly, the Auberge was deathly dull (the only cool part was the rough sketches left on the walls from the artists who stayed there): I am not a huge fan on the Barbizon school. The paintings from the time are very dark and sort of not interesting. Of course, they were extremely important to the evolution of art taking place around that time, which eventually became Impressionism. I was more impressed by the quaint little town with its ivy-covered stone.
After Barbizon, we followed the road down to Courances, to see its Louis XIII-era chateau.
Courances is beaaautiful-- I absolutely loved the stately grounds and the reflecting ponds. The leaves are beginning to fall and change colors here, and sometimes they would land directly in fountains and create an even more beautiful effect.
Our program director has an in with the Marquise of the chateau, so we got a very nice personalized tour. I really loved it there.
Later, we had a delicious kir and dinner at a small restaurant in Dannemois. We ate paté, duck with figs, and apple crumble, all to the sound of jazz elevator music from a small live band.
Pictures and a report from Sunday's trip to Giverny will be up soon!
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