December 2017 – A Traveling Fool

December 31, 2017January 14, 2018

Lexington, Concord & Paul Revere or “Paul Did Not Ride Alone (and a good thing too)”

As part of a trip that Mom and I made to Boston in the fall of 2000, our day tour to Lexington and Concord started in Cambridge, Massachusetts — home of both MIT and Harvard. Harvard was not actually founded by John Harvard. It was named after him because he died and left them a lot of money in 1638. We walked around the campus a bit and drove by the building that George Washington had used as his headquarters when he was commander of the Continental Army as we headed out of town on our way to Lexington.

When Paul Revere galloped off from Boston to warn people of what was about to happen, he was not the only rider. A fella named William Dawes was also sounding the alarm. They didn’t say “the Redcoats are coming”, but “The Regulars are out!” I guess the first one just sounded more dramatic than what they really said, so that was what was passed down. Just shows that there were folks who played a little fast and loose with the facts even back then.

Here is my account of what happened on April 19, 1775, interwoven with what we did on our tour of Lexington and Concord:

When Paul Revere alerted the Militia men at Lexington, they sent out a couple of riders to confirm that what Revere had said was true. The first one returned saying that it was a false alarm, so the Militia (Lexington didn’t have any Minute Men — they were all regular Militia) discharged their weapons before entering Buckman Tavern to wait for the second rider to return (and have a couple pints while waiting). Our first stop at Lexington was Lexington Green. Buckman Tavern was right next to the Green, so this is where we went next.

At the time, you could only see the interior of the tavern on a guided tour. Our timing was not good. We had just missed joining a tour and wouldn’t be there long enough for the next one, so we missed seeing the interior entirely.

Revere had also visited the Hancock-Clark House where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were hanging out and suggested that they relocate themselves elsewhere. We walked down to this house after Buckman Tavern. Here too, there were guided tours only once per hour to see the interior. So we missed out on that too. We returned to Lexington Green.

After leaving Lexington, Paul Revere met up with William Dawes in Lincoln. There, they also met a Doctor Samuel Prescott, who decided to ride with them to Concord. Shortly after setting off, they encountered a patrol of Regulars. Prescott and Dawes escaped, but Revere was captured. He was released a short time later, minus his horse. So he walked back to Lexington. There he found Hancock and Adams still debating at the Hancock-Clark House and encouraged them once again to leave town. This time they did as he suggested.

Shortly after Hancock and Adams left Lexington, a man named Lowell alerted Revere to the fact that Hancock’s trunk, with all sorts of important papers, was in the attic of Buckman Tavern. Revere and Lowell arrived at the Tavern at about the same time as the second rider with the news that Revere had been correct.

On the Regular’s march up from Boston, roughly 279 of them had taken a wrong turn at the fork in the road and had headed straight for Lexington Green instead of taking the Concord Road. This wayward group arrived in Lexington just as the Militia Men were coming out of Buckman Tavern and gathering on the Green. At that same moment, Revere and Lowell were high-tailing it out of the Tavern with the trunk, across the edge of the Green and into the woods.

Only about 36 of Colonel John Parker’s 77 Militia Men were there and Colonel Parker realized they were greatly out numbered. So when the Regulars told them to disperse, he ordered his men to do so. As they were dispersing, someone shot off a pistol and the Regulars began firing at the Militia. Eight were killed and nine more wounded (the wounded were taken to Munroe Tavern, which was used as a field hospital). Then the commander of the Regulars regained control of his troops and they set off for Concord.

Meanwhile, back with the riders, Dawes and Prescott: on the way to Concord, William Dawes fell off of his horse. So he never made it there either. It was a very good thing that he and Revere had been joined by Doctor Prescott as he was the only one of the three to actually make it to Concord and sound the alarm there.

When Prescott reached Concord, he rode to the Old Manse and informed William Emerson (a minister and grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson) of what was happening. Emerson then alerted Colonel James Barrett, who gathered his Minute Men, who waited on the hills while the Regulars explored the town. The Regulars set a fire that generated a great deal of smoke and the Minute Men thought they were burning the town. So they came down from the hills and lined up on the north side of the North Bridge.

We took the same route from Lexington to Concord that the Regulars had taken and made a small tour of the town before arriving at the North Bridge. We saw The Wayside (which was owned by author Nathaniel Hawthorne and rented by the Alcott family when Louisa was a girl), Orchard House (where Louisa May Alcott wrote “Little Women”), Ralph Waldo Emerson’s house, the “bullet hole” house, and the Old Manse. The North Bridge was a very short walk from the Old Manse.

The Regulars lined up on the south side of the North Bridge and that was where “the shot heard ‘round the world” took place.

After we viewed the North Bridge, we went up into the hills above, where the Minute Men had been waiting while the Regulars explored the town. Then we explored Colonel Barrett’s house, which was much as it had been in 1775. He had a farm there up above the town.

While at Lexington, the skirmish had been quite one-sided with the Regulars only losing one person, Concord was a different story. It was the official first battle of the American Revolution and the Regulars were outnumbered and out maneuvered by the Minute Men, who were pretty much stunned by their own victory. The Regulars decided to retreat to Boston.

All the way from Concord to Lexington, the Militia and Minute Men used guerilla tactics and trounced the Regulars. However, back in Lexington, re-enforcements were waiting. Otherwise, the Regulars likely would have been wiped out. The re-enforcements got the rest of them back as far as Bunker Hill, where another battle took place two months later.

Some of the events of the pre-dawn hours of April 19, 1775, are rather comical — some of the British Regulars took a wrong turn; William Dawes fell off his horse; neither one of the main riders made it to Concord (it was a guy they picked up along the way who completed the ride); Paul Revere and a fella named Lowell were hot-footing it out of Buckman Tavern with a chest full of important papers just as the errant Regulars arrived in Lexington (instead of Concord where they were supposed to go). But this is history. These were real people and this is what happened.

To me, it’s absolutely fascinating to stand at Lexington Green, knowing where the Militia Men were standing and from where the Regulars were arriving, and envision Revere and Lowell hauling that trunk from the tavern into the woods and picturing everything else that was happening at the same time. Then, at Concord, we could stand up on the hill and imagine what the Minute Men could see as well as stand down at the bridge at each end, and imagine what was going on for both the Minute Men and the Regulars.

All in all, the colonial Militia Men and Minute Men had 49 killed, 39 wounded and 5 missing, while the Regulars had 73 killed, 174 wounded and 53 missing. In hindsight, perhaps the Regulars should have just called it a day and returned to England right then and there. But there was a lot more that needed to happen and it was still another year before the Declaration of Independence would be written.

The Wayside (Nathaniel Hawthorne’s home)

The Old Manse (William Emerson’s home at the time of the American Revolution)

Battle Road — where the Colonists and the Regulars skirmished all the way back from Concord to Lexington

December 17, 2017

Normandy

Mont Saint Michel has always intrigued me. It is an Abbey that looks like a fortress, built, beginning in 966, on several levels on an island off the coast of Normandy. The Bishop of Avranches, named Aubert had a dream, back in 708, in which he was visited by the archangel Michael who gave him instructions on where to build a church dedicated to him. He left his fingerprint on Aubert’s forehead as a sign that it wasn’t just a dream. Aubert’s skull is in a museum and actually has an indentation that looks like a fingerprint.

Aubert built a church on the summit of the island, which was torn down when work on the Abbey began. It is amazing how they were able to get all of the materials needed to build the Abbey up to the top of that rock. Even today it is a very steep climb. Our tour director took us up a road winding around the outer portion of the island, which was not quite as steep as the road through the village. It is the road taken by anyone servicing the Abbey — the back door, so to speak. Mom and I took the long, steep, cobbled circuit up to the top at a pace that was leisurely enough that we could still breathe, but fast enough to not take us all day. We were still able to join the local guide’s tour of the Abbey just seconds after he began and saw everything we wanted to see.

There was talk that when Mont St Michel was a prison, it was where the “Man in the Iron Mask” spent his days. But Mont St Michel wasn’t a prison until the late 18^th century and the “Man in the Iron Mask” lived in the 17^th century. There is, however, a treadwheel that was used when the Abbey was a prison. Prisoners would walk on the wheel in order to raise supplies up to the prison.

After visiting the Abbey, we had free time to explore the village on our way back down. Didn’t find a shop to get a real sword or dagger, but I did find a replica of a Roman dagger in a shop on the road down to the bottom of the mount. It hangs out in my family room with other real and replica swords, daggers and pistols. I do have in interesting 18^th century French dagger pistol. It looks like a dagger, but has a single-shot pistol hidden behind the blade. It was definitely made for a right-handed person as a lefty (like me) couldn’t keep the pistol part concealed while holding it in their left hand. It appears to have been created for pirates and other devious persons.

Near the gate to the village was a communal restroom. It was open air and accommodated all genders. The only semblance of privacy was if you actually went into a stall and closed the partial door. Otherwise, you were out in public. While waiting in line, I remember the complete look of panic on one man’s face as he stood at the trough that was a urinal.

Normandy is also where the D-Day landings took place. One of the things about seeing Omaha Beach in person is that you wonder how anyone survived. The Germans were up on the cliffs above the beach, shooting down on the Americans as they landed in their amphibious craft and scrambled to make it onto the beach and then up those same cliffs. It had to have been hell on earth for the landing troops. Omaha was the beach with the largest number of casualties, but five beaches were involved. Omaha and Utah were the American beaches; Juno was Canadian; Gold and Sword were British.

Our tour began at the D-Day Museum in Caen. At the time of the invasion, Caen was totally flattened by bombs. After touring the museum, we had lunch before moving on to where the invasion took place. During lunch, we sat with a student from Fordham University whose sister lived in the same block I used to live in when I lived in NYC.

From Caen, we drove through Bayeaux (of tapestry fame) to Pointe du Hoc. This was a location high on the cliffs that had been occupied by the Germans. Roughly 200 American troops had the mission of scaling the cliffs and capturing what was up there. By the time it was over, 125 of the Americans were dead. So it was very hard fought. The bunkers and the bomb craters were left just as they were at the time of the invasion. According to the guide, a large number of the dead were also left there. Most of the bunkers were sealed up since they were tombs. There was one that was left open for us to tour. Utah Beach can be seen from the cliffs.

It was raining heavily while we were at Pointe du Hoc and kept up a pretty steady rain the entire day. It was a good thing that we had long raincoats with zip-out linings and hoods. Mom had an umbrella, which she would try to hold over me from time to time. I don’t carry an umbrella on those kinds of trips since I haven’t mastered how to hold onto one and still take photos and/or videos.

From Pointe du Hoc, we visited Omaha Beach. Some of the obstacles on the beach and a couple of landing craft are still there. This helps to give an idea of the way things were at the time. The American Cemetery is up on the cliffs overlooking the beach.

We went by some of the other beaches on our way to Arromanches, where we checked out the false harbor that the British built there. Much of it is still there. One of the villages has a dummy on a parachute hanging from a church steeple as a memorial to the paratroopers who participated in D-Day.

Once the Allies fought their way off the beaches, up the cliffs, and inland, they didn’t have it any easier. The farms in the area were divided by hedgerows and ditches, which made it very difficult for the Allies to advance with their tanks and other vehicles. One thing about viewing the location of a more modern battle is that not that much is different, so it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to envision what it was like. When I stood on Omaha Beach and looked over the edge of the cliff at Pointe du Hoc, I couldn’t help but admiring the Allied troops that faced those overwhelming obstacles and persevered anyway. They had to have been terrified. But, isn’t that the definition of heroism?

A relief depicting Aubert’s dream inside of Mont St Michel

Bunkers and blockhouses at Pointe du Hoc

The American Cemetery on the cliffs above Omaha Beach

December 10, 2017

Fontainebleau &Versailles

Always a fan of castles, I have been blessed to be able to tour many castles, palaces and great houses throughout Europe and the Middle East. For the most part, they are all different. Two of the largest and most lavish have been Fontainebleau and Versailles in France. Both palaces were originally built as hunting lodges for the kings of France. So they were never owned by a member of the nobility or clergy and then confiscated by the king.

Of the two, I liked Fontainebleau the best. It was on more of a human scale than Versailles despite the fact that the building is actually more sprawling. Walking through it, I didn’t feel as likely to get lost as I did in Versailles. The layout of the rooms seemed to make more sense and the rooms themselves seemed smaller — cozier. Fontainebleau is also the older of the two, having been built in the 12^th century and then enlarged and turned into a palace by Francis I in the early 16^th century.

The palace has several items that had belonged to Napoleon as this was his last residence before he was deposed and exiled to Elba. He gave his farewell to the Old Guard from the horseshoe staircase outside of the palace. He had also imprisoned Pope Pius VII at Fontainebleau. When you look at the photo of the exterior of the palace, below, you can see the horseshoe staircase. The photo of Napoleon’s bedchamber I have included has a set of steps next to the bed. He was even shorter than I am at 5’2”. Maybe that’s why he was so feisty.

Versailles was initially built by King Louis XIII in 1624, then expanded between 1661 – 1715. The photos that are usually seen of the palace show fountains and/or gardens with elegant facades in the background. The original portion of the palace is central and on three sides of a courtyard. This is also the main entrance. The photo I have included here is of that portion of the palace. The fountains weren’t working on the day we were there, so I didn’t get any of those classic photos with the fountains gushing.

We had a whole day at Versailles, so had plenty of time to tour the main palace plus the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon. The Hamlet (a little peasant village created at the request of Marie Antoinette) was closed as it had been heavily damaged during a severe storm the prior December. Thousands of trees in the area had been uprooted. Winds at the Eiffel Tower had been recorded as high as 134 mph.

The Grand Trianon had been built by Louis XIV as a retreat for himself and his mistress. Subsequent kings often used it for the same purpose. But it was also used as a guest house for long-staying royal guests.

The Petit Trianon was originally built by Louis XV for his mistress, Madame de Pompadour. But she died before it was completed. Her successor, Madame du Barry lived there instead, followed by Louis XVI’s queen, Marie Antoinette. It became Marie Antoinette’s favorite retreat. During the Revolution, it was while she was at the Petit Trianon that she was taken captive before being imprisoned at l’Conciergerie in Paris.

During the Revolution, all of Versailles — the Palace, the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon, the Hamlet — were ransacked and the furniture sold. Only the theatre survived. That was likely because it was a small, separate building, hidden by trees, that was most likely overlooked. It is the only building on the property that has survived intact from the 18^th century, with no updates or restorations.

Napoleon mainly used Fontainebleau, although he did fix and up and use parts of Versailles, such as the Grand Trianon. But the main palace was sorely neglected. It wasn’t until the 1950s (when its potential as a tourist attraction was realized) that the palace began to be restored. I’m very glad it was. Versailles is very different from most other palaces I have visited. The closest to it that I have seen so far is the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia (now the Hermitage Museum).

Fontainebleau (note the horseshoe staircase)

Napoleon’s bedroom at Fontainebleau (note the stepping stool)

The original part of the Palace at Versailles (also the main entrance). The queen’s apartments are to the left and the king’s to the right. The Hall of Mirrors is to the rear of the middle section.

The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles

A bedchamber in the Grand Trianon at Versailles

December 3, 2017

Chateaux & Artists

On a day trip to the Loire Valley, our first stop was Chateau d’Amboise. It was perched high on a cliff over the Loire River. What became after this visit, one of my favorite chateaux, Amboise was originally built some time before 900. Confiscated by the monarchy in the 1434, in 1498, King Charles VIII died at Amboise after hitting his head on a door lintel. That must have been quite a blow. But then, the door lintels are all made of stone.

One of the interesting features of the place is an enormous circular entrance from below the castle up to the courtyard. It was designed to allow horses and carriages to climb up a cobbled, interior road inside of a tower. Sometimes though, during revelries accompanied by a great deal of alcohol, people would race their horses up and down the circular entrance. I have to say that I’m surprised nobody lost their life during one of those races.

King Francis I invited Leonardo da Vinci to come and live at Amboise. He gave him a house in town called Clos Lucé. Da Vinci died at Amboise in 1519 and was buried in the chapel on the grounds of the chateau.

King Henry II and his wife, Catherine de Medici, raised their children at Amboise, including the future Francis II and his wife, Mary Queen of Scots. They were married in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris as teenagers (Francis was fourteen and Mary sixteen), but had been raised together at Amboise from the time that Mary was six and Francis was four. Francis became king at the age of fifteen, when his father died while jousting. He only reigned for a little over a year before he died.

Next was Chateau de Chenonceau, which had been built 1514 – 1522 on the foundation of an old mill and later extended to span the River Cher. King Henry II seized it from its owner and gave it to his mistress, Diana (who was twenty years his senior — atta girl, Diana!). Once Henry died, his queen, Catherine de Medici, took the chateau from Diana and gave her Chateau Chaumont instead. Fortunately for Chenonceau, its owner at the time of the Revolution, Madame Dupin, was popular with the people, so it wasn’t destroyed.

The third chateau we visited was Chateau de Chambord, which was built as a hunting lodge for Francis I 1519 – 1547. It has over 200 rooms plus a double circular staircase in the center of the house and two outdoor circular staircases in the courtyard. The building was never fully completed and was emptied of its furniture during the Revolution. Then, it was abandoned for many years. The majority of the rooms are still empty, although some have been furnished with pieces from museums. During World War II, much of the art from the Louvre (including the Mona Lisa) was stored at Chambord for safe keeping. We were allowed to go up on the roof, which was like its own little village.

Another day trip was to the town where Van Gogh died and the town where Monet lived. Auvers-sur-Oise was where Vincent Van Gogh spent the last two months of his life and painted 70 to 80 paintings. Our tour began with the church, where we saw the graves of Vincent and his brother, Theo, side by side. We back-tracked from the church to the field where Van Gogh shot himself in the chest. From there, we followed the route that he would have taken from the field back to the inn where Van Gogh had his room (and where he died after the fatal gunshot wound).

Theories abound as to just what was wrong with Vincent Van Gogh. Some have said mental illnesses of various kinds. Some have said Menieres (which is a balance disorder) and some have said Tinitis (which is a ringing in the ears and often exists with Menieres). Nobody really knows. But it seems so sad that someone so very talented suffered so badly. He also never had much financial success during this lifetime.

Traveling to Giverny, we began with lunch at the American Impressionist Museum. We also viewed the paintings there, which included several masterpieces.

Quite a contrast with Van Gogh, Claude Monet was very successful during his lifetime and his house and gardens at Giverny (to which he moved in 1883) reflected that success. The house was pink with green shutters on the outside and blue, white and yellow inside. It had a cottage feel to it — albeit a large cottage. Mom was so taken with the bright and sunny interior that she changed the color palette of her bedroom to the same blue, white and yellow of Monet’s house.

The gardens were extensive — not only those surrounding the house, but the water gardens as well. These were reached through a tunnel under the road that ran between them. This was where Monet had painted all those famous waterlily paintings.

Claude Monet was the artist who had given the Impressionist movement its name with his 1872 painting titled “Impression, Sunrise”. As a result, he was one of the most prosperous of the Impressionists as well as one of the most prolific.

The Orangery in the Tuilleries in Paris was closed for restoration, so we were unable to see the huge waterlilies paintings on display there. Something for a future visit.