The Lugubrious Loire and Leonardo

Our travelling road show has now washed up in the delightful town of Amboise on the banks of the lugubrious Loire River. I’m not entirely sure about the use of “lugubrious” here. However, if that over-flowery word conjures up images of a river with semi-clad nymphs bathing beside in verdant forests surrounded by overflowing baskets of fruit and wine (a leading theme in French pastoral paintings of the 16th to 18th century, I have observed) - then I might just have found the right word.

On the edge of Amboise, at the Chateau due Clos-Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life between 1516 and 1519. Apparently, Leonardo along with some of his sidekicks, was invited here by a great benefactor, King Francois I, to paint, scheme and dream as he saw fit – all fully sponsored by the good king. To quote George and Ira Gershwin - “Nice work if you can get it”. And scheme and dream he did, producing an impressive workbook of doodles which sketched concepts for a great array of future inventions. The museum exhibit presented scale model constructions of a dozen or so models of what they thought Leonardo might have been doodling about, producing produced objects that were clearly forerunners of more modern inventions such as the helicopter, the automobile and an astounding array of weaponry including the machine gun and the tank. (Weapons design was, evidently, a pretty big business in the early 16th century as well). The museum is peppered with pithy, if sometimes contradictory, aphorisms from the great man himself. For example “I believe that great happiness awaits those men who are born where good wines are to be found” is juxtaposed with disturbing insights such as “May sobriety, healthy food and good sleep keep you in good health” (much of which seems to be in short supply in modern France). In any event, an impressive display from a true genius working well ahead of his time and well ahead of the curve.

We have had spectacular weather on our trip so far and I took advantage of it today by – finally! – getting out on a bike. Powered by brilliant sunshine and “degustations” of crisp, Vouvray wine, I coursed through 50km of vineyards and valleys between Amboise and Tours - my exercise intensified by the fact that my bike managed to lose its high gear en route.

Observation: When France next hosts the Olympics, surely it should propose, as a demonstration sport, the serving of the cheese platter at the end of a meal. This is done with such enthusiasm here over an absolutely bewildering array of cheese that I cannot imagine any one beating France to the top of the podium in this contest. Then again, France could surprise us again and choose one of its many banal TV game shows as an Olympic event.