A French weekend of surprises for Thame Twinning
THE highlights of this year?s annual exchange visit to Thame?s twin town near Paris, included vanishing bones, the return of a stolen heart, shark for dinner and a parking ticket – all just part of the experiencing of another culture that enriches the amicable and treasured relationship that has grown between Thame and Montesson over the past eight years.
A WARM WELCOME
A group of 38 Thamensians, including two families with young children going for the first time, left Thame early on Friday morning and headed for the Channel tunnel crossing to France, to spend the weekend with host families in Montesson. Leaving behind the chilly wind of England, the visitors arrived to find Autumn sunshine and a warm welcome from the Mayor of Montesson, Jean Francois Bel, and the President of the Montesson Twinning Committee, Sylvie Bruzet, before going off with their respective hosts for dinner and hopefully, a good night?s sleep in preparation for the weekend?s programme of activities ? and surprises.
SHARK FOR DINNER AND ? WHERE HAVE ALL THE BONES GONE?
Dinner, depending on the host, varied from traditional French cuisine, Vietnamese food and in one case, shark, selected from the surprising range of choices on offer from Montesson?s latest new shop, a proper Fishmonger!
Saturday, September 19, began with a short coach trip, in the capable hands of Motts Coaches? driver, Trevor, to one of the less sophisticated but vibrant Parisian suburbs, St Denis, and the famous Basilique Saint Denis, the burial place of the kings, queens and nobles of the various ruling dynasties of France, up to the last, the Bourbons. (ED. Why do they have a biscuit named after them? Answers on a postcard please, though an email would suffice)
Surprisingly however, most of the tombs are in fact empty these days, having been broken into and their contents taken away or thrown into a communal pit of quick lime and buried in a near-by cemetery by French revolutionaries in 1793. The remains of a few of the illustrious victims have been found elsewhere since and reinstated in their rightful burial places. These include the much maligned and unfortunate Queen of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, whose meagre remains, with those of her husband, were found, returned to the crypt of St Denis and re-consecrated in 1815.
The heart of the young Louise XVII, stolen by the doctor who carried out his autopsy and then lost for hundreds of years, turned up recently and after DNA testing confirmed it as 99% certain of being authentic, is now on display in a glass bottle in the crypt at St Denis.
IS IT TRUE THAT ONCE YOU?VE SEEN ONE TOMB??..?
from the surprising variety of the poses of the sculptured persons on the many tombs at the Basilique St Denis, it was clear to see that there?s a lot of fascinating symbolism portrayed there about the inhabitant; whether their feet rested on lions (monarchs), on a plain slab representing the ground or perhaps resting on dogs, representing faithfulness. Even what they hold in their hands (a staff, a sword) and what the other hand is doing, i.e. clasping their royal robes for instance, was intended to illustrate the ranking and perhaps even something of the nature of the once living body within.
PINTS, POUNDS, POINTY BALLS AND ROCKMUSIC
After a very welcome lunch in a near-by restaurant, the group strolled along an historic route along streets that certainly seemed to have seen better days, to the very modern Stade de France, the only stadium in the world to have hosted both a Football World Cup final and a Rugby World Cup final. The history of the area of St Denis was engraved on standing slabs along the way, each one with a perspex cut out section containing a relevant artifact, such as a medieveal shoe, or an historic letter. From one of these came the surprising discovery that the French used pints as a measure of liquid, long before they changed to litres, and learned from a guests later that they still do sometimes ? and pounds and half pounds!
As well as being able to be reconfigured to host track and field events, the Stade de France has held many of the world?s top rock bands who have played to the 80,000 capacity crowds here. These include U2 and The Rolling Stones and autographed guitars belonging to many rock legends are on display in the exhibition hall of the stadium.
A NASTY SURPRISE
On the group?s arrival back at the coach, which had been parked in all good faith in an apparent parking place alloted for coaches in St Denis, it was discovered that the an over-enthusiastic traffic gendarme or traffic warden had slapped a parking ticket on the windscreen. However, the intrepid and not-to-be-triffled-with President of Montesson Twinning, had already been in touch with the authorities on her mobile phone and told them in no uncertain terms that her guests from England had been unfairly treated and sorted the matter out.
That evening, after a Reception for the traditional eating of the p
