Trip to Provin

Provin is a small village located to the southeast of Paris.  Its claim to fame is that it is a medieval city that has kept its medieval architecture.

It is a bank holiday(one of many throughout the year) here in France so most of the country had the Monday after Easter off.   As we were walking to the car there was plenty of evidence that there indeed was a bank holiday:  Our street which normally does not have a foot of pavement that is not used to park some type of motorized vehicle was at least 50% empty.

I have to admit that upon arrival I was disappointed.  I had expected a scene similar to a Renaissance festival in the states.  It was disconcerting when after buying our tickets and entering the city to see cars parked on the street. My expectations needed to be adjusted accordingly.  Our first step was the tithe house.  This was a mistake as it is the foremost example of tacky tourist exploitation in the village.  It is a medieval age building with still life dramas depicting aspects of medieval life.  The depictions themselves were not the issue:  the audio guide issued upon entrance was amateurish and laughable.  It featured the worst English & Italian accents as actors(?) attempted to portray medieval merchants selling their wares and explaining their crafts.

The rest of the day was quite enjoyable. We visited the tower of Provin which was a lot of climbing, difficult with Samuel in arms but the views(except for the industrial valley) were really quite nice. We capped the day with a legend of the knights show.  A 45 minute exhibition of jousting, sword fighting and horsemanship.  Very similar to what is provided at your standard renaissance festival or the Medieval times show that we have told many of you about. One aspect of the show we enjoyed is that the bad guys who tried to take over the village acted and looked like the orcs from the lord of the rings trilogy. They even played some of the music from the movie while the action was taking place.

We may have learned a valuable lesson today.  Samuel refused to eat during our visit.  Most likely because they was too much noise and confusion around him.  When we returned to the car he was willing to take a bottle of spinach.  Unfortunately, about 10 minutes before we pulled into our parking garage he spat up most of the spinach. We hope he is not getting sick and that it was just the movement of the car after eating immediately before leaving that caused this eruption.