La journée du Studium

There are around 15 researchers affiliated with le Studium, some of whom currently work in Tours and the rest of whom work in Orléans. They arrive at different times of the year and stay in France for varying lengths of time. Because these researchers work in a broad range of fields and don't ordinarily interact with one another very much, the folks who run the Studium organized an all-day social event on June 22 to bring us all together. In the picture are three of the main forces behind the Studium: Paul Vigny, the president, is on the left; Maryse Fauquembergue, who runs the day-to-day operations at the CNRS campus in Orléans, is on the right; and Michèle Scherer, the administrative assistant, is in the middle.

[Because he was not present on June 22, we should also mention Yves Duranthon, another Studium employee, because he and Michèle are the two who have borne the brunt of our many cries for help: Michèle has aided with countless administrative details and Yves is the guy who can repair anything who comes to our apartment when something needs to be fixed. This picture Molly took in March of Yves next to Maryse is the only picture we could find of him. Except for a second picture she took at about the same time that is sort of a close-up of his ear.]

Anyway, back to "la journée du Studium." We all loaded into a bus in the morning and drove to a spot not too far from Tours called Azay-le-Rideau, where we visited the nearby Vallée Troglodytique des Goupillières. This site includes a series of caves that were inhabited from the middle ages until about a century ago by families who farmed the land nearby and for whom the caves offered protection, largely from other people it seems. (They also owned animals, though presumably different ones than those shown here.) It rained on us a small bit while we were here, but by lunchtime the skies had cleared and we were treated to beautiful weather the rest of the day.

The guy who originally discovered some of these caves as a 10-year-old, then later inherited the land and opened it to the public, is shown here describing them. Michèle is doing quite a good job of translating into English for the many non-French-speakers in the group, including Dave's parents, who happened to be in France at the time and who were invited by Michèle and Maryse to come along with the group. There are several other American Studium researchers -- in addition to the fact that literally every adult in the group except the bus drivers spoke English -- so Dave's parents had a lot of people to talk to and had a fantastic time all day long.

After the caves, we went back into Azay-le-Rideau for a very nice lunch at a restaurant there. Betsy was a bit tired, and she eventually fell asleep in Cricket's arms. She even stayed asleep after we dumped her in a quiet corner of the restaurant so that Cricket could eat her lunch.

After lunch, all of us (including a reinvigorated Betsy) walked to the 16th-century chateau at Azay-le-Rideau, where we got a guided tour.
As our guide explained to us, entertaining guests at your fabulous chateau was really a novelty in the early sixteenth century at the dawn of the Renaissance, since chateaus had served largely defensive purposes up to that point. In this picture, Maryse Fauquemberge and Paul Vigny had sneaked up the staircase to "greet" all of us from a second-floor balcony overlooking the main entrance, just as the residents might have done nearly 500 years ago. (NB: Here, "second-floor" is used in the American sense; in France and most places in Europe it seems, the level one floor above ground level would be called the first floor.) You can also see the salamander (below Maryse), the symbol of Francois I, and the ermine (below Paul), the symbol of Francois' first wife Claude.

From Azay-le-Rideau, we drove to Villandry, where we stopped at yet another chateau. This one is renowned for its extensive gardens, some of which are shown here. (Try typing "Villandry" into google maps sometime and notice how easy it is to find the gardens from the air!) The French are very big on meticulously manicured gardens, but some of the ones at Villandry are a bit novel because they consist largely of vegetables -- though admittedly it's hard to make out the varieties of lettuce and herbs in the upper sections of this photo.

We had quite a bit of time before the evening hors d'oeurves to simply wander in the garden, which the kids and grownups alike enjoyed immensely. At one point, we all found a fountain and decided to put our feet in. It's not clear that you were supposed to do this, but it was not explicitly forbidden and the rule in France seems to be that that which is not explicitly forbidden (and sometimes that which is) is fair game.

After we had all had a light dinner in a lovely grassy area of the garden, Paul Vigny said a few words and then he and Maryse presented some nice gifts to the families of those researchers (like us) who were nearing the end of their time in France. The last two pictures are of Cricket reading to Betsy from one of the books we'd just received and Molly thanking Professor Vigny.