FSRA, Herisson, France - June 11, 2011

From its beginnings in 1930s California, when acned young bloods began racing each other light to light, Hot Rodding has matured into an international hobby. The Model T Ford was in vogue when the fad began and since then all manner of roadsters have been lovingly transformed to the will of the owner. Hot Rods were formally organized in the US in 1940 followed by Australia in the 1960s then Britain and Sweden in the 1980s.
In 1991 La France Street Rod Association (FSRA) was established bringing together fans of Hot Rodding in France and promoting it to the public. Since 1992 FSRA has organized national and regional events and it just so happened that a group drove through Herisson while we were there. If you like to see these alter-ego automobiles check them out here.

Hérisson, France - June 12, 2011

 Hérisson is a delightful town located in the Allier department of the Auvergne region in central France. The river Aumance, a tributary of the Cher, flows through the town and eventually the Cher joins the River Loire and so to the Atlantic ocean.
Dominating Hérisson are the castle ruins, visible from almost everywhere in town. Built by the Dukes of Bourbon in the 14th century to oversee river traffic, the castle was first taken by Louis XI in the 15th century, changed hands again in the 17th century before finally being dismantled by Cardinal Mazarin and converted to  a stone quarry.
At the time of our visit the castle was beginning to be restored but was still open to the public free of charge. Worth the climb to inspect the architectural detail and get some different views across town. Refurbishment is expected to be complete in about two years.

The literal translation of Hérisson is hedgehog which accounts for the city crest shown here. The low key gift shop in town has all manner of hedgehog centric souvenirs including some fine ceramic pieces.
Check out these other pictures.

Charroux, France - June 11, 2011

Charroux is a fortified village of about 320 people in the Allier department of the Auvergne region in west central France. At 1360 feet altitude the village flourished in the renaissance period, led by its wine making and leather tanning industries. The Saint Jean Baptiste Church in the middle of the village has a curiously truncated bell tower although there is no explanation offered for the uniquely stubby steeple.
In 785 CE a Benedictine abbey was founded in Charroux by Roger, Count of Limoges. The abbey church was rebuilt in the 11th century to become one of the largest Romanesque churches in Christendom at 413 feet long. Following the death of Richard the Lionheart, King of England and Duke of Aquitaine in April 1199, the king's brain was buried at Charroux Abbey. In 1762 the abbey was abandoned and following the French Revolution the buildings were sold and were partly demolished to form a racecourse. The only remaining structure of the church is the 11th-century lantern tower, known as the Charlemagne Tower. Pictures here.

Nevers, France - June 10, 2011

Nevers, a community in the Nièvre department of the Bourgogne region, first appears in written history as Noviodunum, which in 52 BCE, was upgraded to a depot by Julius Caesar. By the end of the 5th century it became the seat of a bishopric and the city later obtained charters in 1194 and in 1231.
The most important religious building in the city is the Cathédrale of Saint Cyr-Sainte Julitte, dedicated to Saint Quiricus and Saint Julietta. The cathedral is actually a combination of two buildings, and possesses two apses - the apse and transept at the west end are the remains of a Romanesque church, while the nave and eastern apse are in the Gothic style and belong to the 14th century.
Today, Nevers manufactures porcelain, agricultural implements, chemical manures, glue, boilers and iron goods, boots and shoes and fur garments, and has distilleries, tanneries and dye works - a really diverse range of light manufacture. More pictures.

Sancerre, France - June 10, 2011

Our 2011 French tour was loosely based on a book called "The 100 most Beautiful Villages in France". The visit to Druyes-les-Belle-Fontaines had been a little unsettling in this regard since the book had completely missed the castle and its appurtenances - a key part of the experience.

Sancerre too, was somewhat disappointing. True, it is old and has played a part in much European history but it is somewhat drab having endured a utilitarian makeover while the main square has been transformed into a curious sidewalk cafe-like dais.
A natural 700 feet high fortress, Sancerre was a feudal possession of the Counts of Champagne who built a chateau on the hill in 1152 complete with ramparts to protect the city. The fortified city repelled the English forces twice during the Hundred Years' War but much of the surrounding area was destroyed by the forces of Edward, the Black Prince.
A mansion in the style of Louis XII was built on the ruins of the original Chateau in 1874 by Mlle de Crussol d'Uzès which, during World War I, became the site of a military hospital. The population of Sancerre has declined steadily over the past two centuries, from 2500 in 1810 to less than 1700 today. More pictures and commentary here.

Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines, France - June 9, 2011

From Clamecy it was but a pleasant 10 mile drive back into the Yonne department to the tiny community of Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines. With a population of about 300, Druyes is about 600 feet above sea level and is actually two places - the village down by the river and the city around the castle on the hill.The suffix "les-Belles-Fontaines" refers to the springs that feed the river in the village.

In the third century, St. Martin of Tours stopped by Druyes to convert the people who quickly returned to pagan worship after he left. It was not until the sixth century that St. Romain, a disciple of St. Benedict settled here in a cave and whose piety resulted in the creation of a monastery around 543.
The Castle and surrounding city is a snapshot of the Middle Ages right in the heart of Burgundy. It was built in the second half of the twelfth century by the Count of Nevers and made famous by Peter of Courtenay and his daughter the Countess Mahaut. From the fourteenth century, Druyes went into decline. The castle passed successively through the hands of the Counts of Flanders, the Dukes of Burgundy, the family of Cleves House and Mantua.
Finally, in 1735, the Duke of Nevers sold it to Louis Druyes Damascus , Marquis of Anlezy and the life of the Castle effectively ended. See more pictures of this unique community.

Clamecy, France - June 8, 2011

Still in the Burgundy region we had traveled into the Nièvre department to stop at a small campsite by the Canal de Nivernais a mile or so outside of Clamecy. Documents from 634 CE refer to the settlement of Clamiciacus which then belonged to the bishops of Auxerre.
During the Hundred Years War, Clamecy was sacked and then substantially rebuilt during the 14th century. In the 16th century it prospered as the origin of the 'Flottage du bois', by which lumber from the Morvan forests was floated down river to Paris, a process that continued until the 1923.
Clamecy underwent a typical concentric French development cycle beginning with the 13th to 16th century core of remarkably intact houses surrounded by 19th century houses and buildings and fringed with 20th century developments forming an outer ring. The principal downtown building is the church of St Martin which dates progressively from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries and was classified as a historic monument in 1840. The church was not open to the public.
Once the site of saw-mills, boot and shoes factories and chemical production, most of which vanished in the first decades of the 20th century, Clamecy is now largely dependent on tourism, agriculture and the output of a few industrial units on the edge of town. Many of the declining population of 4,500 people commute to larger cities such as Auxerre and Paris for employment. More views here.

Vézelay, Burgundy France - June 8 2011

Yonne is a department of the Burgundy region of central France (somewhat akin to a County within a State in the USA) and Vézelay is a community of less than 500 people in the Yonne department. It is a highly defensible hilltop town and for this reason has been populated since ancient times.
In the 9th century the Benedictines were given land to build a monastery and in the 11th century the current Basilica of St Magdelene was built. Both the town and the Basilica are UNESCO World Heritage sites and are a significant pilgrim destination as well as a major starting point for pilgrims on the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade at Vézelay in 1146 and in 1189, the Frankish and English factions of the Third Crusade met at Vézelay before officially departing for the Holy Land. Vézelay is surrounded by vineyards and produce a range of mostly white wines, predominantly based on the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Melon de Bourgogne grape varieties. More pictures here.

Noyers, France - June 8, 2011

Noyers, or Noyers-sur-Serein as it is sometimes grandly called, is another "Udder" town almost completely enclosed by an udder shaped loop of the river Serein - a great defensive aid. Home to around 750 people Noyers is in the Yonne department of the Burgundy region in north-central France.
While the origins of Noyers are unclear the present name was certainly around at the end of the 12th century when Hugues de Noyers, bishop of Auxerre, built a massive fortified castle at the north end of town. The castle was beleaguered by Blanche de Castille’s troops in 1217 and resisted successfully surviving in fact until 1599 when King Henry IV finally dismantled it.
Historically, wine and grain were the main products of the area supplemented by walnut and cherry trade. Agriculture remains the mainstay of the area with considerable consolidation of farms and much mechanization.
Pretty much a textbook north central France village - more pictures here.

Troyes, France - June 7, 2011

Located on the river Seine about 93 miles southeast of Paris and sporting numerous 16th century half-timbered houses, Troyes has been around since the Roman times. Known then as Augustobona Tricassium, Troyes is today the capital of the Aube department in north-central France and stands at the hub of highways leading to Reims, Langres (and eventually Milan), Poitiers, Autun and Orléans.
Late in the Roman cycle the settlement atrophied and became known simply as Tricassae, the origin of French Troyes from the number three. Interesting illustrated history here.
Louis the Stammerer received the imperial crown from the hands of Pope John VIII in 878  at Troyes and at the end of the ninth century the Counts of Champagne chose Troyes as their capital which it remained until the Revolution. During the Middle Ages, it was an important trading town and the concept of troy weight used today in gold trading was born here. Click for more pictures.

Boiry Notre Dame, France - June 5, 2011

After picking up our little camper van, Penny Pilote, in Numansdorp, NL, we usually raid the local grocery store and then go hell for leather out of Holland, across Belgium to reach the tranquility and relative normalcy of northern France. This trip was no exception - provisioned up at Albert Heins and a few hours of forgettable freeway behind us, we arrived at La Paille Haute (The High Straw) in Boiry Notre Dame by mid-afternoon.
Boiry-Notre-Dame is a tiny town in the Pas-de Calais Department of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. At an altitude of about 270 feet and occupying less than 2.5 square miles, it is home to a little over 400 souls. This quiet farming village is about 10 miles southeast of Arras, has a school, a Marie (Mayor's place), a church and a memorial to yet more glorious dead. The church of St.Vaast was rebuilt in the 1920's after being destroyed in WWI. Click here for more pictures.

2012 POA Election at Florida Grande

I feel honored to have been nominated as one of this year's candidates for the position of POA Director. Whoever prevails at next Thursday's meeting will have the responsibility of being your eyes, ears and voice in our dealings with the new developer and the outside world.
Since many of you have little or no idea of who I am, I have included a brief biography below.

"If you chat with me you might guess I was not born in the US, but in England. Marian and I met in the mid-fifties in a cycling club in England and we have been running around together ever since - the last 50+ years as a married couple.

In the seventies we had an opportunity to come to the US and promptly did just that. We emigrated with our three daughters and became US citizens in the early eighties. Our daughters have since rewarded us with six grandkids, two great-grandsons and another two "on the way".

After adjusting to our new way of life, we had the great good fortune to live the American dream, eventually retiring in 2006. We began motor-homing in a Pace Arrow in 1991 and have worked through a variety of vehicles over the last 20 years. At the present time we RV about 8 months each year - 5 or 6 in the US and 2 or 3 in Europe. 

We have lived in Indiana for the last 16 years and spend time there in between our travels. Early in 2010, while roaming around Florida in our RV, we stumbled across Florida Grande, bought a lot and the rest is history." 

Don't forget however, the POA Election is like any other election - if you want to be represented, you must choose your candidate and then vote!
Even if you are not on site you can still vote. Print the POA Proxy Ballot that was included with the Notice of Meeting letter that was emailed to you on March 15th. Fill this form out and mail it immediately to:

Florida Grande POA 

9675 SE 49th Terrace,

Webster, FL 33597 

We currently have a great opportunity to move the park forward and rekindle the original vision - let's not waste it!

Pete

Getting there, Part 9 - Canterbury, England - May 31, 2011

The next port that we stopped at was Dover and the plan had been to meet Michelle and Nick there, clump around town for a while and then have a life shortening Fish and Chip lunch. We had visited Dover fairly recently finding not much of interest and Nick, who had been stationed there at one time, couldn't come up with any fresh delights either. So, pleasant surprise, we were scooped up and taken to Canterbury, about fifteen miles inland.
Canterbury is an historic English cathedral city in the county of Kent and lies on the River Stour. After the Kingdom of Kent's conversion to Christianity in 597CE, St Augustine founded an episcopal see in the city and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, a position that now heads the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Thomas Becket's murder at Canterbury Cathedral in 1170CE led to the cathedral becoming a place of pilgrimage for Christians worldwide. It was this pilgrimage that provided the theme for Geoffery Chaucer's 14th-century literary classic The Canterbury Tales.
For more pictures around this historic city, click here.

Getting there, Part 8 - Cherbourg, France - May 30, 2011

Next stop on the cruise was Cherbourg-Octeville in the Manche department of Normandy. With a population of a little over 40,000 the area is largely dependent on the port operations and a French Navy arsenal.
The Cotentin Peninsula, with current day Cherbourg at its head, was first conquered by the Vikings and later, during the Seven Years' War, briefly occupied by a British force in 1758. Napoleon had the harbour fortified to prevent further British incursions although the works that began in 1784 were not completed until long after Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Cherbourg was also the first, and as it turned out, the only stop that the Titanic ever made after it left Southampton, England in April 1912.
In WWII, the Battle of Cherbourg was fought following the Normandy Invasion in June 1944 and ended with the capture of the city on 30 June. We had visited Cherbourg previously in our camper-van and limited this visit to a cursory stroll around the main features. More pictures here.

Getting there, Part 7 - Liverpool, England - May 28, 2011

Still wending our way eastward towards Rotterdam in Holland, we had now reached the shores of England or at least the seven miles of docks at Liverpool, birth place of the Beatles. From the time that we lived in England our memories of Liverpool were of dock strikes, industrial action in car plants hastening the demise of the British auto industry and a general 19th century aura of dreary and depressed neighborhoods housing folk who worked in Dickensian gloom. In short we had low expectations.
How wrong we were! Despite a cool, gray day with occasional rain we thoroughly enjoyed a lengthy trek around this exciting metropolis. Modernization and reclamation of the dock area along with an eclectic profusion of striking architecture have resulted in a vibrant and bustling city with few reminders of the drab times of yesteryear.

Liverpool was granted borough status in 1207, and the original seven streets of the settlement can still be identified within the "commercial district". In 2006 Liverpool was visited by 625,000 international visitors alone, making it the fourth most visited city in the United Kingdom and the ninety-first most visited on earth.
Hope Street connects Liverpool's two cathedrals; Liverpool Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral as well as being home to a large part of the University of Liverpool's main campus.
Liverpool is one of the few cities in the world where ocean going liners can berth in the city center, providing a spectacular addition to the waterfront skyline.

For more pictures of this vibrant city, click here.

Getting there, Part 6 - Dublin, Ireland - May 27, 2011

In 2010, eighty-six cruise ships visited Dublin, smaller vessels coming up the river Liffey to dock close to the city, larger vessels like the Rotterdam berthing at Alexandra Quay, a mile or so down river. Alexandra Quay is now Ireland's largest port and handles approximately two-thirds of the country's imports and exports. The original medieval port, close to Christ Church Cathedral in the city center slowly lost impetus with the transition to containerization and larger ships in the late 20th century.
Roll-on/roll-off ferries run regularly across the Irish Sea to Holyhead in Wales and Liverpool in England, with the largest car ferry in the world, the MV Ulysses, carrying up to 2000 passengers each trip on the Holyhead route.
Famous as the birthplace both of Guinness Stout and Irish Whiskey, Dublin, with its population of over half a million is both the capital and the largest city of Ireland although it did little to impress us. The regional unemployment rate is almost 15% and Dublin itself is set to break 14%. Combined with the country's recent bankruptcy and bail-out by the EU, the economy is at a low ebb with many vacant retail spaces and few signs of prosperity anywhere around the city center.
Some views about town are here.

Getting there, Part 5 - Cobh, Ireland - May 26, 2011

Cobh, pronounced Cove, actually sits on Great Island in Cork Harbor, one of the largest natural harbors in the world. The largest island in the harbor, Great Island has a population of about 10,000 which includes the town of Cobh with its man made harbor large enough for smaller cruise ships. Available excursions, organized with the cruise lines, include Cork, Blarney Castle, Waterford, Killarney and other local attractions. We chose to stay in town which itself has been witness to much history.
For a start, Cobh was the Titanic's last port of call on its fatal maiden voyage in 1912 and, just a few years later during WWI, the Germans sunk the Lusitania off of its shore. Downtown, just a few block from where the Rotterdam was moored, are memorials marking these events.
Cobh was also the embarkation point for 2-1/2 million Irish citizens emigrating to the United States or Australia. Irish immigration to the US in both the 17th and 18th centuries was around 100,000 and then, as first canal building and then railroad construction produced huge demands for labor in the 19th century, the numbers soared into the millions. The first immigrants processed at Ellis Island started their journey to a new life from Cobh.
Our day was cool, blustery and sometimes wet but interesting nonetheless. See here for pictures.

Getting there, Part 4, The Sugar Rush - May 28, 2011

On the last night of our divinely leisurely trip to Rotterdam on the Rotterdam, a special event was staged - Dessert Extravaganza! Dozens and dozens of creative cakes, pastries, canapes, sundaes, pies, fruits, custards, puddings all augmented by chocolate fountains, whipped cream, ice cream - you name it and it was probably there.
Believe it or not, we actually passed this event up although we did stop by earlier in the evening to witness the set up. Having been spoiled for more than two weeks in the restaurants of Holland America we knew we were going to have our work cut out over the next couple of weeks trying to get ourselves back up to speed for our walkabouts, and a visit to this orgy of confection would have made matters just that much worse! Here are some peeks at the pleasures we forwent.

Getting there, Part 3 - May 18, 2011

In 1972, Ted Arison, an Israeli-American entrepreneur bought the retired Canadian Ocean Liner, Empress of Canada, renamed it Mardi Gras and thus was born Carnival Cruise Lines. After a money-losing start the operation found its mark, added a couple more ships, went public in 1987 and never looked back.

Carnival is now the largest cruise operator in the world comprising eleven major brands, about 100 ships and more than 160,000 berths. Subsidiaries include Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises and Seabourn Cruise Line. The combined brands of Carnival Corporation control more than half of the total worldwide cruise market.
Check out these pictures to see where the 2,000 gallons of milk, 15,000 pounds of beef and 26 tons of vegetables actually go.

Getting there, Part 2 - May 16, 2011

There has been an SS Rotterdam in the Holland America Line since 1872 when the first, rigged for both steam and sail, entered service. Fourteen years later a shiny new SS Rotterdam replaced the original but this one too was sold off eleven years later to make way for number three in 1897. This third version in turn was sold in 1906 to another line and was ultimately sunk by a German U-Boat in 1918.
Its replacement, the fourth SS Rotterdam, was commissioned in 1908 and served until WWII before being scrapped in 1940.
There was then a hiatus until 1958 when Rotterdam the fifth sailed onto the scene - still as an SS (Steam Ship). Number five went on to roam the oceans of the world for almost forty years before being retired to make way for number six in 1997. This latest in the line was the MS (Motor Ship) Rotterdam which quickly became our favorite boat ever. More snaps are right here.