After a week of driving and knowing I’m neglecting you guys I’m slowly on my way back home. Driving through Bretagne was a blast and I’ve had to readjust my opinions about French people - in my mind they can be very stern but here they are all super duper friendly and even speak English. Did France change in the past 14 years or is this part of France different somehow?
Today I visited Chateau de Serrant where Louis XV had his chambers. The bottom floor of the Chateau had undergone some restorations, the floor of Louis XV not yet. It showed lots of traces of living. Damaged carpets, threads hanging from the fabrics on the chairs, falling paint. I thought it was interesting why we want to restore these kinds of places. Seeing really how people lived and the traces they left - even as rich as these people might have been back then - or seeing how they lived when all was new and fresh?
I found it refreshing to see that what must have been some big money spending fall apart due to heavy use. The carpets weren’t replaced like we might do nowadays because we can order everything online or buy cheap at IKEA anyway.
Just my random thoughts from the road.
In two days I’m back to give you all the attention you deserve again :-)
And yes, that’s me standing on the same carpet Louis XV walked on when he wanted to go to bed. The same! Not a replaced or enhanced version.