Tuesday: One Last Chateau and Some Good News

For the good news, you have to read the other post I did. It was all too much to put into one.

I wish everyone reading this could picture the scene I'm in. The only wifi in the camping resort we're staying in is in the bar/restaurant. I head up here every night for an hour or so to try to use their pathetically slow internet to get a few things done. I can either sit in the freezing cold open air area, or come in the closed off part. Clearly I'm picking the warm area--and tonight it's karaoke night. So there's a few French families here belting out "Say You, Say Me" and "Thriller". Fun times.

We went to the Chateau de Compiegne today. It was a house used for a variety of kings, queens, emperors, etc. I loved the house, but I think my favorite part was the tour guide you can see in the left side of this photo:

When we first got to the chateau, we had to wait 15 minutes to go in since we got there during the 1 1/2 hour lunch break. People really like their lunch breaks here. When the time came, a tour guide went through the door to the “apartments”--but motioned that we weren’t allowed to follow and closed the door behind him. A second guide left the door open--so we tentatively went through.

As we made our way through, we saw the first guide who was eyeing us as we walked past. I felt like we were doing something wrong, but couldn’t tell. Then in the next room, there was a new guide (the one in the photo above). He started following us--making me kind of nervous--and then came up and talked to me while I was taking photos.

I thought I was going to get told not to take pictures, or that we were doing something else wrong. But instead he wanted to guide me to what he clearly thought was an ideal place to take a picture. Then pointed to a certain place. And then he waited while I took the picture. And then guided me to another place that was another favorite spot. And waited while I took the picture.

I think he liked the fact that you would see the fancy bed in the huge mirror. All I know is that this was the shot he wanted me to get. And savor. I expected him to say "That's the one" a la Napoleon Dynamite.

He spoke very little English, but clearly loved the building that he watched over and was using everything he had to share it with us. And he loved photography, since he said “nikon” to me and pointed to my camera (I have a canon) and then at himself. He continued on with us through each of the rooms he was watching over, sharing with us in his broken English the beautiful details and history. And showing me the very best places to take pictures. And waiting while I took them.

So much better than the angry museum guard from Paris. But maybe he wouldn’t have been so nice had we brought Andrew along...