Chateau Thierry & Sézanne France

It was cooler this morning, so after our coffee we went for a short walk before heading off toward Chateau Thierry. We did a detour along the way to have a look at a French War Memorial to the 2nd battle of the Marne (1918) called ‘Les Fantômes de Landowski’. It was built in 1935 and is made up of 7 soldiers (now ghosts) protecting a naked man (a martyr). It’s very impressive at 8 m high positioned on top of Chalmont Hill.

We started our visit in Chateau Thierry with a quick visit to the dump point and some more shopping.

Later, with a map of the town, we walked along the suggested route to learn more about the towns history and Jean de la Fontaine (born 1621) a famous poet. There were illustrations and sculptures around the town depicting some of his 250 fables. This fresco is about ‘the deer that looked at himself in the water’.

We wonder up to the castle ruins and look out onto the city below. 

It would have been quite impressive in its day. Unfortunately it became a quarry during the revolution and then Napoleon levelled it off. 

We make our back to Bluey through the cobbled streets.

We continued on our journey south and stopped outside an ancient church and have some lunch.

How’s this old house …

Our next stop is in Sézanne. Described as a medieval town that has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Once again we follow a map to some of the more significant historical sites. We begin at Saint Denis Church with its 49m square tower. 

The Baltard style market hall.

We walk a section of the castle ramparts that have now been lined with lovely trees. 

The sun has now come out in full force so we once again go in search for a shady spot to spend the rest of the day. A little further south we follow the Ancien Canal de la Haute Seine and find a spot just out of Troyes in between the canal and the Seine River (Dare we say it might be cleaner here than in Paris re the Olympic), ending our 175km journey for today. 

We plan to have a walk along the canal if the mosquitoes don’t carry us away.

Then we await the cool change in the form of a forecasted thunderstorm with strong gales and hail… we will wait and see.