secret password: américain

It seems that if you visit French places that are normally closed to the public - the grounds of a private château, for example - telling someone that you have an American with you gets you pretty far. The first time I was in Amiens with the education delegation, Philip managed to convince someone to let us drive to the parvis de la cathédrale so we could watch the son et lumière from the car, warm and dry. Today, after a nice lunch with the France-Etats-Unis club, I was treated to a tour of my region by Jacques, one of the members. At the Château de Wailly, he told the gardienne that he had une américaine with him, and we were allowed to walk around the grounds and take pictures. Jacques ran into the pharmacie in Conty to check on movie tickets for the Rotary-sponsored avant première of a film next week, and his pharmacist-friend came out to the car to meet me. Bruno, who I'm told is le meilleur pharmacien de la Somme, directed us to the woman up the road who had keys to the church; I overheard Jacques telling her he had an American in the car, and he quickly returned with the keys and a brochure. While I'm sure she lets others visit the church as well, I felt as if we had special treatment.

Things I learned today:

• In Prouzel, the château is owned by the mayor of the village. Next to the château is an equestrian center. The mayor, who is Le Baron de Lépine, is part of the family of the famous Concours Lépine, where inventors can show off their new creations.
• The Château de Wailly has an interesting story. It was nearly destroyed during the French Revolution, but half of it has since been rebuilt. The ruins of the Roman-inspired écuries, or stables, are both sad and beautiful at the same time. The costs of maintaining a château and its grounds are surely expensive, and most families live in just one wing so as to cut down on heating costs.
• France has more forests than it did before the Revolution. At that time, all the wood was needed for building houses and keeping them warm. Forests were a thing de luxe; only the rich could afford to have woods.
• Jacques also explained that for a time, only the aristocracy were permitted to have pigeonniers for carrier pigeons. I think I must investigate this further, and find more pigeon houses to photograph.