How We Discovered the Real Treasures of France

How We Discovered the Real Treasures of France

By Jeffrey M. Bowen

  On a recent trip to France, my wife and I realized that its impressive places and works of art came alive when we took a closer look at the stories of their creators.   Here are three of those stories about people whose historical dimensions gave purpose to our travels.  

In May of 1770 a 14-year-old winsome teenager named Antoine was escorted to France by an entourage of 57 carriages and 376 horses.  Awaiting was her future husband, a 15-year-old named Louis, the king’s grandson and heir apparent to the throne.   Soon known formally as Marie Antoinette, the young Austrian beauty had ash-blond hair, grayish blue eyes, and a radiant complexion.  She was lighthearted, frivolous and extravagant.  The public immediately embraced her like a latter-day rock star.   

Before long Marie learned how to celebrate wealth.  She thrived on the social whirl while her subjects increasingly suffered from high taxes and poor harvests.  Nor did she understand her public’s growing demand for democracy.  Although she never did say “Let them eat cake”, Marie was rather unfairly vilified and blamed for her country’s bankrupt treasury.  Just 23 years after her coronation, France’s last queen was publicly humiliated, beheaded and thrown into a commoner’s grave.   By 1793 her fairy tale became a tragedy beset by revolution.

  Nearly a century later, as the centennial celebration of that revolution neared, a unique wrought iron framework was taking shape on the city’s military parade ground of Paris.  Nowadays known as the Eiffel Tower, the so-called Iron Lady was roundly denounced as ugly, oversized, and likely to collapse.   Few believed it would be permanent.  But its talented designer, Gustav Eiffel, insisted the 984-foot tower would stand strong against the winds of time and serve as an enduring tribute to his country’s economic and technological rejuvenation.  Tragically, in the next century the limits of that renewal would be sorely tested twice in world wars.

     

 Gaston Huet was one of thousands of French and British soldiers trapped between Hitler’s Wehrmacht and the sea at the northwestern corner of France in May of 1940.   His home was the Loire Valley, and his lifelong commitment was to his vineyard in Vouvray.  Both would become an impossible dream over the next five years as Huet and his mates tried to survive in a POW camp for 4,000 officers in Silesia, Germany. 

After returning starved and near death from the war, Huet’s first words were, “The vines, what about the vines?” This legendary vintner went on to become one of France’s greatest winemakers as well as the mayor of Vouvray for 46 years.

The story of Gaston Huet reflects the extraordinary survival of French wines and vineyards despite the stubborn efforts of the Nazis to steal, secretly store, or transport back to Germany millions of bottles of the yields of France.   However, by sealing their precious wines behind brick walls in cellars, burying them underground in family gardens, and storing them in caves, or as a last recourse diluting them and giving Nazis the dregs, the French winemakers preserved their best wines for posterity.     

  France’s love for wine grapes is unquenchable.  Today the country produces

seven billion bottles annually across seven different wine-producing regions.  Rules for growing are strictly enforced by the state so that top quality is preserved.  Anyone who travels the rural roads of France, just as we did on our trip, must come away believing that vineyards and wine are the heart and soul of France.

Our trip included dining in Paris on the lower platform restaurant of the Eiffel Tower.  Coincidentally, the restaurants and elevators above us were closed due to 50 mile-per-hour gales.  Even though we felt a slight sway, we silently thanked Gustav Eiffel for building a monument that welcomes the winds.    

Finally, our visit to the City of Light would have been incomplete without a visit to Versailles, which is really comprised of the palace, gardens, and on the same grounds just outside the city, a magical chateau called the Petit Trianon.  This Disney-like fantasy land was really Marie Antoinette’s private domain, given by her husband as a hideaway.  There she and her companions could isolate themselves from the prying eyes of the hoi polloi and enjoy magnificent décor, musical plays, and a unique hamlet with quaint cottages, ponds, and endless flower gardens.  Marie and her friends loved the idea of pretending to farm.  

Our trip reached beyond the stunningly elaborate décor of Versailles, the dominating Iron Lady of Paris, and miles of vineyards.  No question, the sheer natural beauty of the landscape and cultural sites were a delight.   But our experience was more deeply enriched by characters who told us their stories.   The individuals I have introduced -- Marie Antoinette, Gustav Eiffel, and Gaston Huet – embody the destinies, accomplishments, and fates that reflect the real treasures of France.