It's a bit like giving you a hundred euros to spend. One hundred kilometers to go and breathe. A gem! All deconfined neurons, I put my hand on a Michelin map of the surroundings of Paris. It dates from 1986, but Versailles to the west, Vaux-le-Vicomte to the southeast, the Abbey of Royaumont to the north or Fontainebleau to the south are unlikely to have changed places.
I told Olivier, the photographer, that we were going to Provins. Provins is medieval, so a bit at home. My name means vassal of vassal. A landowner who played it serious. In the legend of the Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot falls in love with the daughter of a vavasseur. And all that, 91.2 km, if I believe the distance displayed by my phone!
The C3 of the newspaper rutile under the sun. At the fork in Place de Catalogne, in the 14th century, Olivier pointed to a sign for me. "You see, if you leave here by bike, you can go to Mont-Saint-Michel, but take a left. "
In Joinville-le-Pont, the softness of the banks of the Marne
The first stage will be Joinville-le-Pont (Val-de-Marne). During the non-coronavirus period, we dine there on sunny days with family or lovers at La Goulue or at the Mascot, on the banks of the Marne. Their terraces lean slightly overhanging the side of the boats which doze in the marina. Precisely, Yacine is on the bridge of his, the "Orca II". Yacine is the head waiter. It's been four years since he dropped anchor here. "I have everything on board," he explains: a shower, a toilet, a washing machine, enough to make me eat ... "
Near the navigation school center, the promenade along the water opens up into a romantic little park shaded by weeping willows. The houses which border it must have cost candy. They alternate architectural whims. There is even one, all niches outside, which takes itself for a fortified castle. Our medieval equipment begins well.
In Brie-Comte-Robert, water hens, chickens and beautiful chickens
Head for the next stopover. Brie-Comte-Robert (Seine-et-Marne) is waiting for us. You have to cross the Marne twice to take the Nationale 19. A glance, passing through Marolles, at the Grosbois domain and its long blond alley. Trotters train there year round. To reach Brie, you have to pay a tithe: the commercial area, as awful as the city is charming. It takes its name from that of the brother of Louis VII, count of Dreux.
The great Escape
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Its heart of old stones is wrapped around the ruins of the castle where Jeanne d'Evreux, Queen of France and Navarre, breathed her last in 1371. Covid forces, the gates of this space transformed into a park are closed but you can, all around, enjoy the moat. Roses play to make up their hair in clear water. The water hens welcome you by honking your horn. They are out with their young.
In Brie, the tall, beautiful and steeped in history Saint-Etienne church provides heavenly food. But let's move from the altarpiece to the table. In the square, the market has reopened. It will now be held again every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. In a white apron, Arnaldo Rendeiro, a butcher, is the king of the pan-fried nipple. “You have to cut it into slices, with garlic and parsley. Frédéric Boulajeri is poultry farmer. The happiness of seeing his first customers again can be seen on his face. For the photo, he grabs a chicken of controlled designation. I note that it is the first chicken that we come across, and it is he who is controlled.
In Rampillon, Saint-Eliphe watches over its two regions
Let's get back on the road. Olivier, to whom these stories of a pacifier and a good beak made him hungry, gobbles up a sandwich. While he stings a digestive and masked snooze on the passenger seat, I stung towards Rampillon. The landscape draws flat lines far from the eye. From time to time poppy bushes emerge. It is as if nature found was sending kisses to the traveler. Here is Rampillon, the hinge of Ile-de-France and Champagne. His farm bodies bulge their biceps.
Specialists in medieval architecture come from all over the world to admire the Saint-Eliphe church, built by the Templars. It dates from the 13th century. Its porch is made of wood. The eardrum welcomes all the apostles. It is one of the most famous sculpted works of medieval art. A circular defense tower is called Tour aux Miches, probably because it was to serve as a pantry. Suddenly, Olivier remembers that he has another sandwich in his bag.
In Cessoy-en-Montois, carp love each other with tender love
Here we are again in this landscape without a hitch that is suddenly embellished by two long hedges of foliage. They are the frame of a mirror. That, on the commune of Cessoy-en-Montois, of the communal pond. The place reopened on May 11. On March 15, he should have returned to fishing competitions, but the party fell apart.
Retired property manager, Jacques has stretched two lines. Three is the maximum on pain of being aligned. Legs stretched out between his canes, he has no illusions. The fishing will not be miraculous. Carp, tench and bream, he explains, are busy breeding and laying eggs in the reeds. They prefer a soul mate to a hook. Two other figures share the banks of the 2,500 m2 of the body of water. In other words, social distancing is widely respected.
In Provins, the haberdashery rewinds its memories…
Finally, let's push the stopper towards Provins, whose chapters, as we called the assemblies of religious, will provide us in majesty the last of this walk. Because Provins is heavy. On the facade of the Town Hall, a commemorative plaque testifies to this. In 2002, the town was listed in the presence of Jacques Chirac as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Unlike the surrounding countryside, Provins looks into the terrain. It has a ground floor, with its Notre-Dame-du-Val Tower, a royal nest for birds, and a first floor, the upper town. Its highlight is the delicious Brébans garden. From the center, it's a 20 minute walk, including a climb.
In Provins, at 29 rue du Val, the city's main shopping street, a storefront catches the eye. It is that of a haberdashery. Her name is Welcome. Today, haberdashery is like shoemaking or hardware, it breathes the past. They are in their juice. Placarded on the door, a golden yellow poster nevertheless resonates with the news: "Repairing sewing machines". I detect a hidden message there.
… And unrolls local products
Marie and Emmanuel took over the shop ten years ago. One thing leading to another, they tell me that, yes, the health crisis has revived sewing, although, insists Emmanuel, "we have never stopped sewing" in homes in Provence as much as in France. On the other hand, the haberdashery no longer feeds her man. The Internet shears wool on his back. “We come to our place to find out about the price of a model, we then buy it on the Internet for 10 euros cheaper and we come back to have the instructions explained to us! "
To ward off these mishaps and not to break the thread of commerce, the house, open all year 7 days a week, has transformed into what my fellow photographer Olivier, while taking the couple's photo, describes as " concept-store ". We sell everything there. Breton whiskey, beer with porcini mushrooms, poppy liqueur from Nemours but also "seventy kinds of herbal tea", fine lingerie, clothes that will delight theater companies when they put on shows and all kinds of 'other items that are to the haberdashery what the pie is to the charcuterie pâtissière.
Central street, echoes of a rich past
There is not all three something to discover. History and archeology society has done it right. In the central street, the nineteenth-century chansonnier Pierre Dupont, "the poet of the peasants", lived in this house. Higher was born the French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon, who died in 1571, "the most famous seafarer of his time". There, Henry I of Champagne, known as the Liberal, installed the hotel-god in the palace of the Countesses of Blois and Champagne.
Do not miss, on the right, the sloping street of Blancs-Manteaux. She is… all budding. Finally a green flow which deserves its name! Finally at the top, go to greet the collegiate church of Saint-Quiriace where Joan of Arc and Charles VII heard mass there in 1429. As it looks like at the time of the Tour aux Miches, in tourism, a few people do not eat bread.
See also
The Saint-Etienne church of Brie-Comte-Robert
The Saint-Etienne church, open to visitors, is very bright. Its construction was launched around 1190 and was completed around the middle of the 14th century. The Hundred Years War passed there. Its restoration dates from the 16th century. The spire was added around 1750. In 1793, the building served as the Republic's fodder store. On the periphery of its rosette of the choir are represented the twelve months of the year.
The Caesar Tower in the upper town of Provins
A 12th century keep which served as a prison. The surrounding wall at the base was added by the English during the Hundred Years War. It is the only octagonal dungeon with a square base known. The upper town would have been transformed into a stronghold under the Roman occupation, hence the name of its most famous tower.
Life in roses
The rose is bursting at the moment with all its beauty in Provins. Brought back from the crusades by Thibaut de Champagne, it also bears the name of the city. When life resumes its course, you have to discover, on the heights, the Roseraie de Provins - usually open from April to 11 November - its tea room, its sale of roses and its 3 hectare rose garden. Contact: laroseraiedeprovins@gmail.com.