Sisteron, FRANCE

La Durance river before the construction works of the Serre-Ponçon reservoir, Alpine region of France

French vintage postcard, mailed in 1915

I know I already talked about this a few years ago but can we again talk about the dumbass map and what it implies about Waidwen's war plans?

I mean what is going on here???

So there's no way in hell that Saint's Rest isn't named for him, so he came through here, on his way to the border. Alright, so far so good. Then he decides to march south to cross a whole ass mountain range instead of just taking the normal road, which is weird, but alright, maybe that pass there at Ondra's boot was well protected and he decided it would take less fighting to get through Cold Morn, which he was right about, so I am willing to accept that. Then he got to Mercy Vale, which is also fine, that is how the road goes. A bit strange considering that his end goal was Twin Elms but whatever, fine, maybe he wanted to take over Fleetbreaker Castle to break resistence. And then... he marched back up north?? To Readceras??? Why the hell is the Godhammer Citadel so far north?? The fuck was he doing there?? Even considering Eothas already knew about the bomb and had for some reason decided this was a good idea (Eothas is unfortunately not known for his great planning or scheming skills), the Readceran army had no reason at all to go there. None. Zilch. Why did the Dyrwood think they could make him? "The fields, maybe they reminded him of his past as a farmer" look Durance, I know you're stupid but even you should be able to tell there's something up there. Also what fields, there's a giant saltwater bay right next to it, what were's you farming there, glasswort?? And while we're at it, what the fuck is Evon Dewr Bridge actually bridging?? It's clearly not the bay, it's much to tiny for that, there's no river anywhere, so why the hell is there a fancy ass bridge???

So, in order to deal with these descrepancies, I propose two things:

#1: This map is in fact diagetic, and was constructed by the in-universe equivalent of Herodot, some guy (likely Aedyran lets be real) who's writing entertainment textbooks for a living and has actually been in the Eastern Reach. He's just kinda heard things and then started drawing in landmarks where he thought they'd look nice. He also has not heard about the Bridge Part of the Godhammer, just the Citadel, explaining why it's just marked as Godhammer Citadel, and he decided to put at the admittdely most logical point of entry into the Dyrwood from Readceras, assuming that's what that was about.

#2: The actual Godhammer Bridge is somewhere southwest of Mercy Vale, crossing the river there, meaning there is a point for a bridge and a reason for Waidwen to want to cross it. Considering timeline issues we'll just assume the river placement is also off, as well as the exact locations of Cold Morn and Mercy Vale.

Thank you for coming to my increasingly unhinged ted talk about a game I love but whose maps I hate (and love).

The Verdon is a 166.5-kilometre-long river in Southeastern France, left tributary of the Durance. Its drainage basin is 2,295 km². The Verdon is best known for its impressive canyon: the Verdon Gorge. Wikipedia

Paul Signac (1863-1935) - Sisteron

Oil on canvas. Painted in 1902.

35.25 x 45.9 inches, 89.5 x 116.5 cm. Estimate: US$4,000,000-6,000,000.

To be sold Bonhams, New York, 14 Dec 2023.

The town of Sisteron is located on the Durance River in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department, and known as 'the Gateway to Provence'. One for the bucket list.

Writing patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

Tagged by @fortune-maiden.

It probably said a lot about the kind of person Shen Qingqiu was that when he awoke to the sight of a white gauzy canopy overhead, perfumed sachets hanging from all four corners, that his first thought was not What a lovely morning! even though it was, since mornings on Cang Qiong Mountain were always exquisite. - In Durance Veil 

The great empire of the Wen stretched from sunup to sundown. From the rigid mountains to the edge of the sea, across lakes and rivers and all through the jianghu, the flaming red sun rose over every house in the land. - The Ghost Robbers of Yunmeng 

One of the imps in Mobile-jun's palace says it, when he doesn't realize Luo Binghe can hear -- doesn't realize just how good his hearing is, enhanced by years of spiritual cultivation training. "Well, I'm just saying, it's a waste of space!" the imp says. - nostrum 

Shen Yuan came back to awareness to the sound of a distant buzzing, threading through a heavy gray fog that seemed to have swallowed him. - Immortal Lamb Crusader Way

It was nice to get out of Golden Scale Tower on a night hunt, and it was nice to spend time with his jiujiu. In fact, those were two of Jin Ling's favorite things! - Bringing Up JC 

Jiang Cheng sat in his father's office, waiting for his siblings to appear in response to his emergency meeting summons. No, damn it all, he had to stop thinking like this. It was his office -- the Sect Leader's office. - (say hello to my) thirty million little friends (Latest chapter, since the first chapter of this item was posted like four years ago.)

Somewhere lost in the clouded annals of myth, in the vague spaces beyond the edges of the map where only dragons lie, in places unknown and untread by mortal feet, (do not pass Go, do not collect $200), in just such a dim and murky place, resides a tavern. - Never Gonna Tell A Lie 3: Sexily Sinister Sorcerer Spree 

Light flared in the darkness, and someone off to his left hissed a warning. Hastily, Sergeant Major Havoc cupped his hand around the match, angling the cigarette between his teeth to light the end of it, and then shook the match out. - Countdown Till Dawn 

A phone rang. The sound was flat and tinny, a default ringtone on a phone that had never been customized, barely ever been touched. - You Only Die Twice 

It was a pleasant day in upstairs rooms of the second-nicest teahouse in the city, because it turned out that the second-nicest teahouse in the city was where a lot of the really bad ideas came from. - Yunmeng Shuangjie Reconciliation Speedrun, Any %, No Yanlis, 8.5k 

Looking over it... As usual there seems to be a divide between comedic fics (which start off with overblown portentiousness, then devolve into something silly) and serious fics, which simply open with a scene description.

One common theme seems to be that a serious story starts on a sudden flare of something -- of light (a match) or sound (a phone rings, or a buzzer sounds) and then orients from that point and goes forward. And Shen Qingqiu's stories seem to consistently start with him waking up, while other POVs don't.

Other than that, I don't see a lot of commonality.

Tagging @cerusee, @nyoomerr, @jingyismom, maybe @tavina-writes if you wanna!

"For a moment Anne’s heart fluttered queerly and for the first time her eyes faltered under Gilbert’s gaze and a rosy flush stained the paleness of her face. It was as if a veil that had hung before her inner consciousness had been lifted, giving to her view a revelation of unsuspected feelings and realities. Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps . . . perhaps . . . love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.

Then the veil dropped again; but the Anne who walked up the dark lane was not quite the same Anne who had driven gaily down it the evening before. The page of girlhood had been turned, as by an unseen finger, and the page of womanhood was before her with all its charm and mystery, its pain and gladness.

Gilbert wisely said nothing more; but in his silence he read the history of the next four years in the light of Anne’s remembered blush. Four years of earnest, happy work . . . and then the guerdon of a useful knowledge gained and a sweet heart won.

Behind them in the garden the little stone house brooded among the shadows. It was lonely but not forsaken. It had not yet done with dreams and laughter and the joy of life; there were to be future summers for the little stone house; meanwhile, it could wait. And over the river in purple durance the echoes bided their time."

~ L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

In Chapter 26, there are again several details in Robin Buss's translation that don't appear in the older translation.

Getting right into it, the old translation opens the chapter with "Such of my readers as have made a pedestrian excursion to the south of France", leaving out an aside in which Dumas mentions that he's made such an excursion himself. (It was in 1834, and he published a travelogue of the journey a few years before The Count of Monte Cristo.)

The old translation leaves out a nice sentence from the description of Caderousse's appearance: "Though his hair had felt the first breath of age, it could not make up its mind to go grey."

While describing Madame Caderousse's constant complaining, the old translation refers to her simply as "his helpmate", while Buss goes for "his better – or certainly bitter – half". I suspect there's a pun in the original French; it's son aigre moitié, which Google Translate renders as "his sour half" with a footnote asking if I meant son autre moitié, "his other half".

Where the old translation has "During the days of his prosperity, not a festivity took place without himself and wife being among the spectators", it's condensing and generalizing: the original French, and Buss's translation, mention two specific Provençal festivities, the ferrades and the procession of the tarasque.

When Caderousse welcomes his guest, says that on such a dreadfully hot day he must be wanting wine, and then apologizes when he realizes the visitor is a priest, the old translation makes it seem like he's apologizing for offering wine. Buss's translation gives him something else to apologize for, having him say: "Would you like some wine? How hot it is! It's a right little strumpet of a day..."

My favorite omission, though, is a sentence from the description of the inn's poor garden. Buss renders it as follows: "All these trees, large or small, are naturally bent in the direction of the mistral, one of the three scourges of Provence, the two others, as you may or may not know, being the River Durance and Parliament."

The Preposterously Pompous Political Parades Of Cincinnati’s Passionately Partisan Past

It must have been something to see: Vine Street, from Fourth Street all the way north to McMicken, filled from curb to curb with a flowing and writhing river of flaming torches bright enough to illuminate the clouds, carried by men proclaiming undying fealty to some candidate or another. Such were Cincinnati’s political parades.

Every couple of years and especially during presidential campaigns, Cincinnati’s political parties rallied the troops, ward by ward, precinct by precinct, to demonstrate the power of their collective voice. Obviously, the opposition could not let such sacrilegious hokum go unchallenged and, according to Frank Grayson, an old-time newspaper man, dissent grew vicious at times:

“There used to be a persevering little cuss living on Abigail street, who was a Democrat of the most virulent stripe. He also had a throwing wing as good as Honus Wagner's ever was. He would hide himself in the mouth of a dark alley. At his feet were a pile of cobble stones. His specialty was the picking off of grand marshals. When the grand factotum would pass the mouth of the alley a cobble stone would come hurtling from it. It would land with the customary dull thud. The grand marshal would flop from his horse and lose all interest in the subsequent proceedings. The crop of grand marshals having been exhausted the little runt started to gather a mess of assistant marshals and the casualty list was voluminous. Finally, four husky Republicans hid in the alley, and they simply shredded the rascal. He still lives. His left leg is stiff.”

Assaults from alley-shrouded assassins were just one of the dangers marchers faced. Terror, according to Grayson, rained from above and torch-bearing party functionaries quickly learned the safest part of the route:

“During those exciting, sizzling, sanguineous presidential campaigns of the long ago a taxpayer who wished to show his neighbors what his politics was, usually made his will out before-hand, and then, torch in hand, he stepped out into the night across the threshold of his home, his lips moving in a silent prayer for protection during the remainder of a tempestuous night. If one lived in a Democratic stronghold or in a Republican one, as the case might have been, he had to take to the middle of the street in order to reach the rendezvous of his fellow patriots. Otherwise wash wringers, bedsteads, flower pots pushed out of windows would descend upon his devoted bean and send him kicking to a little white cot in the hospital.”

The police girded for heavy duty whenever political season blew in, and announced by advertisement in the Enquirer [2 September 1880] that they meant business:

“On application, a sufficient police force will be detailed from Police Head-quarters, Ninth street, to accompany every general political parade or procession, and a number of police will also be detailed in citizen’s dress to mingle with the crowds on the sidewalks, for the purpose of detecting and arresting persons who may engage in the cowardly practice of throwing stones at the procession.”

Since political parties maintained bail funds for springing their incarcerated minions from durance vile, police took the extra precaution of charging stone-throwers with suspicion, making them ineligible for bail until the morning. In addition to rock-lobbers, the cops targeted anyone asking questions during political meetings without permission, “hurrahing” for opposition candidates and other efforts to disrupt the peace.

A common attraction at Cincinnati’s political parades were “transparencies,” large paintings on glass or gauzy fabric, mounted in frames and assembled into cubes, illuminated by an internal torch. Although it would appear that such fragile and flammable provocations made outstanding targets, Grayson claims the best transparencies sarcastically skewered the opposition:

“The transparencies which were carried at intervals throughout the parades were about the last word in insults for those who gloomily gazed upon the passing marchers.”

Parade routes were Odyssean in duration. A typical Republican march, for example originated at party headquarters at Seventh and Freeman in the West End, proceeded east on Seventh to Central, south on Central to Fourth, veering northward on Vine all the way up to McMicken and following McMicken to Central, south on Central to Dayton Street, west on Dayton to Freeman and south to Seventh. That’s close to five miles of tramping, shouting and dodging, all the while drenched in flaming pitch or kerosene. According to Grayson:

“Each ward had its marching club. Some of them were equipped with flambeaux, which, when blown into, would spurt a jet of flame two feet into the air. Others carried pitch fagots and the sap from these would run down and cover their hands, searing and frying as it went, but what cared the gallant bearer? The members of some clubs would have immense shields on their chests conveying words of biting sarcasm for the edification of the common enemy.”

Interestingly, the colors associated with the major parties were the reverse of today’s code:

“Remember the jaunty little caps and capes that the marchers wore? They were made of oil cloth. The caps were patterned on the lines of those worn by the Union army during the Civil War. The capes and caps affected by the Republicans were blue and those of the Democrats were red. Fully caparisoned, an ordinary citizen became a thing apart, serene in the majesty of his conviction that his party was destined to stand between his sweet and lovely land and the hellions of rapacity—which was just another name for the opposing party.”

And don’t look for elephants or donkeys. Thomas Nast’s cartoons popularizing today’s political symbols had yet to catch on. Republicans rallied around the eagle and the Democrats hoisted the rooster.

Cincinnati’s parades attracted some big names in their prime. William McKinley led a parade during his 1896 campaign. William Jennings Bryan’s parade counted 80,000 marchers. Theodore Roosevelt was escorted up Vine Street as were United States Senator John Sherman and his successor Mark Hanna. The last Presidential candidate to make the torchlit journey was Warren G. Harding.

Harding, it will be remembered, was the first United States President to ride to and from his 1921 inauguration by automobile and it was the automobile that killed the political parade. Before 1920, the streets belonged to the people. Spontaneous parades, torchlit and otherwise, were common. After 1920, the streets were surrendered to the internal combustion engine, piloted by drivers who had no patience for partisan parades of any stripe interrupting their commute.

9 Clearest Lakes in France and Italy

France and Italy are both home to some stunningly clear lakes. Here are nine of the clearest lakes in these two countries:

In France:

Lake Annecy (Lac d'Annecy): Located in the French Alps, Lake Annecy is often referred to as the "Pearl of the French Alps." It is known for its crystal-clear waters and is a popular destination for swimming, boating, and water sports.

Lake Geneva (Lac Léman): While Lake Geneva is shared with Switzerland, a significant portion of it is in France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and boasts clear waters surrounded by picturesque landscapes.

Lake Bourget (Lac du Bourget): Situated in the Savoie region, Lake Bourget is the largest natural lake in France. It is known for its pristine waters and is a great spot for swimming and sailing.

Lake Serre-Ponçon: This man-made lake in the French Alps was created by damming the Durance River. The clear blue waters of Lake Serre-Ponçon make it a popular destination for water-based activities.

Lake Salagou (Lac du Salagou): Located in the Hérault department of southern France, Lake Salagou is known for its unique red soil and clear waters. It's a great place for swimming and hiking.

In Italy:

Lake Garda (Lago di Garda): Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy and is renowned for its clear, turquoise waters. It's a popular destination for sailing, windsurfing, and swimming.

Lake Como (Lago di Como): Lake Como is famous for its stunning scenery and clear waters. It is surrounded by charming towns and is a popular spot for boating and relaxation.

Lake Maggiore (Lago Maggiore): Located in northern Italy and partially in Switzerland, Lake Maggiore is known for its crystal-clear waters and the Borromean Islands that dot its surface.

Lake Iseo (Lago d'Iseo): Lake Iseo is one of the lesser-known lakes in northern Italy, but it offers clear waters and a tranquil atmosphere. Monte Isola, the largest lake island in Italy, is a popular destination on the lake.

These lakes in France and Italy offer not only clear waters but also stunning natural beauty, making them excellent destinations for both relaxation and outdoor activities. Remember that water clarity can vary depending on factors such as weather and seasonal conditions, so the clarity of these lakes may change at different times of the year.

Experience White Water Rafting With Cheap Holidays to the French Alps

White water rafting is a fun filled, challenging activity, using a raft or inflatable to navigate a river. The white part of the name refers to the water with a turbulent current, which makes it appear white. In the Alps there is a wide choice of rivers to choose from, which draws people here on cheap holidays. There are relatively mild rivers which are ideal to learn and practice on, to the turbulent fast flowing rivers which are strictly for the more experienced. White Water Rafting has become increasingly popular in recent years as people seek out more exciting experiences on their holidays.

The raft is a boat or inflatable with several air filled chambers, thus making it unsinkable. The skin of the boat is a toughened, rubberised fabric, made to withstand the ripping abilities of the rocks. It usually is big enough for seven passengers rafting guillestre as well as an experienced instructor. He or she is there to advise you on safety procedures and what to do if you fall out of the boat. Rafting is a dangerous sport and is usually restricted to children over the age of 8 years. Every passenger in the boat should be able to swim. At the start of the trip, everyone is issued with a combination jacket and neoprene bootees, life jacket, helmet and a paddle. The journey can last from 90 minutes to 2 hours, depending on what course you take. Travel operators usually incorporate a white water raft experience in their holiday deals and this is always on a safe, practise river.

Serious rafters head to Briancon, in the Cote d'Azur region of south east France. There are many rivers here suitable for rafting, each one unique. Holidaymakers can choose from the Gyronde, the Guil, the Onde, the Rabioux and the Ubaye. A popular spot is the Durance River near its tributary, the Guisane. Most ski resorts have rafting centres nearby which offer instruction to novices. Other popular rafting rivers are the Arve at Chamonix, which is considered cold. This is probably due to the fact that the waters here run off the Mont Blanc glaciers. Many rafters head to the Giffre River at Samoens or the Dranse River between Morzine and Lake Leman. The really experienced try their hand on the terrifying Dora Baltea River in Italy. Definitely not for the faint hearted.

As the taste for extreme sports continues, there are variations on white water rafting which are strictly for the adrenaline junkies. These people seek out cheap flights to come to the Alps to take part in White Water Hot Dogging, which is exactly the same as normal rafting except that you use a three man raft in which to make your descent. White Water Hydro-Speeding is for the most experienced and involves literally surfing down the rapids. Canyoning is become increasingly popular and uses a variety of techniques such as wading, swimming, scrambling, abseiling and rafting to make your way down a turbulent, white water river.

Suspension bridge over the Durance river in Mirabeau, Provence region of southern France

French vintage postcard

Le Crau

Jonathan arrived Saturday and we were lucky enough to spend Sunday in the Crau -- the flat rocky habitat created when the Durance river changed course (several times) or when Zeus was throwing rocks down to help Hercules escape his enemies. Who’s to say?

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  (PAD Le grand état major italien a prétend aujourd'hui que des chasseurs La guerre et le travail des femmes Les autorités fédérales comptent beaucoup Nous lançons aujourd'hui une nouvelle série de Sports Games (Great Baseball, Pour obtenir le mode d'emploi du serveur prononcez le mot «guide». de M Boucher · 2007 · Cité 9fois — L'utilisation de plusieurs dispositifs de mesures sur le terrain. (mode coïncident, central, et offset avec différentes tailles de boucles) 10 juin 1970 — legibility standards, even though the best possible These methods were used in particular when the DURANCE river was. 14 nov. 2013 — Commission du travail et de l'emploi, le lieutenant-gouverneur 612722 Dr. M.P. Redmond Professional 022151 HAMMOND RIVER ANGLING.de H Ayasso · 2010 · Cité 10fois — On s'intéresse dans ce travail aux deux derniers modes d'interaction. Plus précisé- ment, nous détaillons les cas d'imagerie d'atténuation Préampli à transistors AMS-Neve 1073 DPA : 239 photos, 22 discussions dans les forums, 5 prix, 4 avis et 1 vidéo. Note: 4,8 · ‎4avis · ‎2 259,00€ à 2 540,00€ de N Martin · 2013 · Cité 4fois — Ce travail de thèse s'est déroulé à l'Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de. Toulouse (INSA). La thèse a été financée par une bourse 8 déc. 2010 — mode; microphones; supports de données magnétiques vierges, Emploi projeté au CANADA en liaison avec les marchandises. 1,249,461.

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Tuesday 23 October 1838

5 40

10 55

fine morning F60° at 6 50 – off at 7 17 from Orgon hotel de la poste – bed cold but not so bad as at Arles last night too – slept in my red cloak and drawers – double bedded room and salon adjoining for my dressing room – good dinner but the whole house smells strongly of the cabinet d’aisance or of a pigeon-cote – very disagreeable – ploughs as yesterday but one of them with one good sized ass – hoary rocky mountains each side of us (near) till they soon (at 7 ½) open out into wide plain or valley – Cypress hedges as yesterday – at St. Andiol at 8 – poor but very picturesque village – the horses we were to have, only just returned – must wait 10 minutes for them to eat – so off to the church – en passant, stumbled upon the auberge where we were to have slept last night – good smell and appearance of cuisine as if we might have dined pretty well – but it is indeed an auberge (vid. line 14 of this page) de rouliers (waggoners) – went upstairs to look at the rooms – 5 or 6 beds in a room – but one tolerably decent double bedded room where, à la rigueur, we might have slept – a civil pretty girl from the auberge shewed us the way to the church – passed thro’ the nice pretty garden (good walks and an avenue) of the goodish chateau close by the church – large gourds worth 10 sols each – keep over the winter for soup – the girl had her back hair tied in one careless pretty knot on each side her face très coquette, and becoming, and pretty – at a little distance like a sort of ringlet curl – large lowish octagon machicolated church tower – more like chateau than church – very picturesque – neat, tidy, handsome little interior of church – off from St. Andiol at 8 36 – left a calêche that had arrived while we were away, waiting for horses – the mountains (right) les Aplines perhaps 4 or 5 miles distant now at 8 ¾ - whitish sandy soil ‘sablonneux et infertile’  vid. Itinéraire ii. midi. p. 314 St. Andiol

SH:7/ML/E/22/0045

sheep eat mulberry leaves dried vine twigs and grape skins [?] teazles

grow chardons à Carder (teazles, dipsacus) hereabouts and tie up the stalks in bundles for burning – everywhere vine stalks tied up in bundles for burning, and the skins of the grape dried and pressed for burning saw here (St. Andiol) the gathered green mulberry leaves spread out on a largeish square tapis of linen to dry – for fodder for sheep in winter  - From Orgon to St. Andiol vide Itinéraire ii. midi. p. 314

‘on a devant soi la triste chaine de mont calcaires des Alpines, de 400 mètres au-dessus de la mer ; elle court de l’E. a l’O. et finit près de Tarascon’

at 9 10 pass over the long wooden bridge (it took us 4 minutes au pas) over the Durance – very broad, dry, Gavelly bed, and sandy marais covered with young small poplars and the grasses etc. usually growing in such places – and now water enough for a river about as good as the Ouse at York – so little water in the Rhone now about Avignon that the bateau à vapeur can hardly pass – Glimpse of the palace des Papes Avignon at  10 – more straw-stacks, long and low, and narrow – the smearing of mud instead of thatch, laid on a layer of twigs – at 10 6 instead of entering on rase the gate into Avignon, and we drive along the boulevard shaded by large elms (small leaved) – close along under the Machicolated battlemented thickly towered handsome old walls (right) – of the ville – at 10 11 instead of driving under pass close (right) modern quasi triumphal? arch and turn right five avenued boulevard  [?] all along by the river side, and from this arch the towers and projections are machicolated but not the walls also as before – at 10 ¼ at the river side – fine broad river – shallow at present but 70 or more yards broad? for the wooden bridge across it (leading to Remoulins and Pont du Gard) seems to have 15 or 16 arches or spaces 5 or 6 yards wide? between the piliers; and the whole of this breadth is water however shallow it may be – pass by modern arcaded building (right) as if a over waggon-weighing machine, and turn (right) and pass under modern gateway into la ville at 10 20 and immediately alight à l’hotel de l’Euorpe – settled ourselves in a nice comfortable apartment – salon with one bed taken for my room the adjoining double bedded room for A-, and the adjoining handsome spacious carpetted double bedded room (each room parted by a little about 3ft. square yard passage) for our salon – these 3 rooms at 10/. a day without a word – good breakfast and reading the hotel Galignanis’ messenger of 20th instant from 11 to 12 20 – excellent bread here – the excellence began at Carcassonne and has continued ever since tho’ not quite so excellent at Nismes as elsewhere since Carcassonne the honey here the best we have had anywhere - - they did not give us the best of their honey at Narbonne – it was better at Montpellier – and best here – and very good at Perpignan - - Intelligent man au laquais de place and –A and I out at 1 20 – at a little distance from our hotel turn right into la rue Calade (vide Frossard ii. 181/232) – l’eglise des Oratoriens shut – turn (left) into the next street and go into l’eglise de St. Agricole [Agricol] – neat white and brownish-yellow washed church – 2 aisles and side chapels – nave lighted, right (as one looks towards the great altar) – and sham windows, left, fresco-painted – at the cathedral N. D. des Doms, l’église Métropole from 2 to 2 35 – the portico, the 2 fluted columns and tympanum, Corinthian selon moi, said to be Roman –

vide p. 3 little Notice sur N. D. Les Doms. Avignon. Imprimerie de Jacquet et Joudou, Rue St. Marc, 18. 1838 ‘Dans le 1er portique extérieur et à fronton, les colonnes cannelées avec leurs chapiteaux d’ordre Toscan. soutiennent une frise riche en sculpture et fort déliée’

the dome said to be du temps de l’empereur Constantin, the concierge told us                         4 steps of arches from 4 arcades to get up to the foot or commencement of the dome

‘L’autel est éclairé par un dôme  sur quatre rangées d’arcs doubleaux qui s’élèvent graduellement et portent une voute en coupole d’où descend un jour mystérieux –tous les angles présentent des colonnes comme le pourtour de l’église’ p. 9 of the Notice –

none but the clergy allowed to enter the sanctuaire (chancel) –not even the concierge, except when having something to do there – the popes’ white marble chair placed on the left (I look towards the altar) of the chancel – La Chapelle de la resurrection (left on entering recumbent figure of Jeanne comtesse of Provence and queen of Naples, and right recumbent figure of the old bishop) undergoing thorough repair – vide La notice p. 13 speaks of opening an arceau (arch) ‘de la chapelle des Tailleurs à celle de l’annonciation pour n’eu faire qu’une des deux’ to be the ‘nouvelle chapelle de la Sainte vierge’ destined à recevoir la statue sculptée par Pradier, arrived from Paris and standing in her packing case, which chanced to be opened at the moment .:. we got a peep at the virgin and child – good - P- said the concierge the 1st sculpteur of the day in France – the statue an ex voto from the ville – ‘Quand l’étranger demandera l’origine de tout le luxe religieux, on lui répondra qu’il est le témoignage perpétuel de notre dévotion à la vierge. Le cholera avait envahi notre ville; il fut que si elle en était délivrée, on érigerait une statue à la mère du Xst’!!!  Notice sur N.D. des Doms. 13/32 – Dome outside, an octagon tower – 8 Corinthian columns one at each corner, and eight windows  - in arceaux supported by little Corinthian columns – roofed (the couple – en dalle) up to a point, with little globe or ball, surmounted by 2 iron rods shewing the 4 cardinal points, and above them a lightning conductor – this dome might be du temps de l’empereur Constantin – I should like to examine the dome of St. Sophia at Constantinople

vide p. 85 – from the cathedral the point du vue close by – and then at 3 35 at the palais des papes – at 20 or 30 yards distance from the cathedral dome la tour des Romains – formerly six étages, one arched floor above another – now fallen in – it is  a large square tower Machicolated – the top story looking like a lesser square tower on the top of the larger, and leaving a broadish passage between it and the machicolations – not half the walls of this lesser tower remaining -  this tour des Romains very interesting whether, as our laquais de place says, built by the Romans, or not, it is evidently the oldest part of this enormous pile called le palais des papes – it was probably the original donjon-keep it was the prisonne d’état under the popes, and here Rienzo was confined, chained (said our laquais de place the woman concierge that shewed us round knows nothing – her husband à la campagne) to the column in the middle of the ground floor room, perhaps 8 yards square covered by 4 groined arches springing from the side walls and from the column in the middle, and forming the top of this room, and the floor of the next above et ainsi de suite – the stairs (were there about 40 steps?) in the thickness of the wall went up the whole of one side and ½ the other and then opened upon the premier, and from this went up, I think in the same way on the opposite sides – i.e. on the 2 2other sides respectively – et ainsi de suite? windows and smallish fire-places in the 1er 2nde and windows above but I do no remember noticing any means of light and air to the ground floor – this tower reminds me of Macbeths’ tower the castle of Macbeth not far from Elgira [Elgiva?] North Britain – this tour des Romains the last part of the palais shewn interested me most – passed thro’ a long gallery full of soldiers beds and we commenced by the chapelle de l’Inquisition – the fresco-paintings si dégradé, hardly intelligible – the inscription in celtique characters almost worn out? one light not strong enough to shew it very distinctly – went into the chamber in the tour Glacière by a hole cut in the floor of which (said the woman concierge) Jourdan Coupe-tête ordered 20 heads of priests nobles Ladies and children (all ages and sexes) to be cut off and thrown down into the bottom of the tower deep below – the hole being close to one of the side walls, one sees the wall below rubané with broad (about a foot broad or less) black stripes said to be blood of the victims - the tower cleaned out, and the Ossemens removed to the cemetery 8 or 10 years? ago, or since the revolution of July 1830, the

SH:7/ML/E/22/0046

palais having 3 or 4 years been converted into barracks – not yet quite finished – the depôt of the 11th 61st and 62nd (I think she said) regiments now here – and about (from all the 3 regiments) 400 men – saw the 2 salles de ....... where the poor sufferers wrapt in chemise de soufrée (chemises plunged in sulphur) were [berret] on a pile of wood and the salle torture where they were put o the question – the former salle entire, like a tall brick-kiln, but square at the bottom a considerable height (15ft. or more) tops of the angles en conque to deaden the cries of the poor people – the top of the round chimney still blackened with their smoke – the top part of the salle de torture gone, but enough left to shew that this papal temple of Moloch was like the other – holes remain in the wall to which I suppose the iron or what not rings were fixed to which the victims were fastened while undergoing the torture – the little oven still remains in the wall where the iron was heated to burn them with – we passed thro’ the salle brulée (now the magasin, the clothing store, of the regimental depots) to the tribunal de l’Inquisition where the judges and accusers sat behind a curtain (or screen) so that the accused saw nor one nor other of them, and gave his answers under a vaulted ceiling full of holes so that the sounds rose upwards to the greffiers who sat unseen above – close here was the oublie, a deep pit (filled up when the palais was made a barrack, and then too [to] the souterrain was bouché) into which the victim fell, forgetting and forgot – an oublie, a charnel-pit which brought to my mind Sinbad the sailor in 1001 nights, and the Grecian.......................... and the charnel towers of Thibet – the salle brulée and 3 étages above it blew up in 1333? the nephew of the popes’ legate ----- de Ludes, had insulted gravement some ladies of quality of Avignon – their relations and friends took a signal revenge -  (assassinated? or from the façon déeprimer of the MS. Abelarded [Abelard]?) – the legate dissembled his resentment asked 500 of the 1st people of the ville 10 or 11 years after to a great banquet – had himself called out by a ‘huissier’ for an interview with an ambassador extraordinaire and immediately afterwards la salle santa and all the 500 perished!!! vide the histories of the time – two souterrains here – both bouché now – the little one went to beyond the town, to the river – the great one (down upon which we had looked passing the prison cells and in going to the coup-tête chambre in tour de Glacière) seemed 7 or 8 ft. high to the crown of the arch and 4 or 5 ft. wide? and went under the Rhone to the fort of St. Andre at Villeneuve – the woman said she herself with about 30 people had been to the end of it about 4 years ago – with lights, and flambeaux – bouché 3 years ago – there seems no order in my journal of today – I made no notes at the moment thinking to get the woman to give me a copy of the ms. [manuscript] 3 1/2pp. of small foolscap sheep  I was obliged to read aloud for her edification and that of us all; but on asking her for it in the tour des Romains (at the last) and how much she would charge me for it she said ten francs! I offered 5/. for the copy and her shewing us over the palais from 3 35 to 5 20 – no! she must have 2/. for shewing the palais and 6/. for the copy – at last she came down to 4/. for the copy but she would have got it copied for one fr. and I would not be so terribly imposed upon so gave her 2/. and came way – asked our laquais for the best bookseller – he took us chez un grand imprimeur – he had no plan of la ville, nor carte départemental – nor livres d’occasion – asked what he thought the value of the history of Languedoc – he said 4 fol. volumes 30/. or 40/. he should think the utmost – went into a shop of books and antiquities (curiosities) – no better – shewed us an Avignon guide of 1829 (I think) which had little or nothing in it about the palais des papes – so came way – home at 6 5 -

vide line 17 p. 83 the point de vue, a monticule of white (like all the rest) calcareous rock surmounted by a little obelisk bearing a little iron fretwork cross – fine view du all sides – the Rhone – the ville – the extensive mountain-girt, amphitheatric plain – could not see Mt. Ventoux – hid in clouds – the mountains of St. Remy called by our laquais montagnes de Sellon – Sellon on one side of them and St. Remy on the other      home at 6 5 – good little dinner (excellent omelette soufflée) from 6 ¼ to 8 – had the waiter up, and sent him about carriage for Vaucluse and Carpentras tomorrow if fine – 10 hours de route and 4 hours of looking about is for 33/. Calêche, pair of horses, baiting ditto, coach man, tout compris – to be off at 6 ½ in the morning – Had Josephine before 9 – sat reading the little account of N.D. de Doms (vide p .82) till 10 – fine day F64 ½° at 10 pm