Oct 7: Haute Marne

The upper Marne, an area of no real touristic interest. This region seems to be a plateau of gently rolling hills that have been turned into giant ag businesses, with occasional small factory thrown in here and there. It is a perfect place for lazy touring, with small towns and villages interspersed with the green fields and colorful forests. The roads are just wide enough for the big farm machinery to negotiate. This is the kind of travel that yields surprises.

Our first stop was at an historic site, an ancient quarry. We couldn't resist, the name of it pal"Cul du Cerf", translated literally, that is " Ss of the Deer". It is an ancient quarry that finally collapsed after thousands of years of taking rock out. Not recommended. One thing that is worth doing is walking. There are many well maintained trails in this region.

Along the road we stopped at a little village, Orquevaux. There is nothing in any tour book about this little place, it has no Office de Tourisme, not even - astonishingly- a bar nor boulangerie for bread. Life here must be hard! What made us stop and walk the entire town was the beautiful setting (see the photo of the little valley covered in autumn colors), and 3 chateaus. Not like castles, actual homes for some lucky rich people. There were regular homes too, and some new ones, but everyone here seems to have agreed to keep the town clean and quaint.

Congratulating ourselves on such a find,we traveled onward. Next stop worth noting was yet another medieval town. We were expecting to be on our way again in short order. After all, we have seen many of these. How glad we were to have stopped at Langres. The town is located at the junction is 3 regions, and commands a view for miles in every direction. Inside the walls, every little street is a new discovery in Roman (the photo of the gate), 15th, 16th 17th and 18th century architecture. The real serendipity though is that this city functions as a normal place to work and live. No tiny shops crowded into streets selling swords, banners, cookies and all other imaginable trinkets and trash. It is so interesting to see how people have adapted and adapted to the buildings developed hundreds of years ago. We were so enthralled we ambelled most of the streets. While a of work was going on all over town, we hope this place, where Diderot conceived the idea of the encyclpedia, will escape the relentless drive to package places such as this in France.