Sunday, July 23, 2023

Wine and Food of the Tour de France 2023 Stage 21: Saint Quentin en Yvelines to Paris

Where are we? Heading to Paris.

Saint Quentin en Yvelines : From the local tourist site: Some may be surprised that Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, a city that emerged from the ground in the 1970s, a fortiori a new city, has received the prestigious City of Art and History label...
How to know among all these recent constructions which ones history will remember?
The recognition of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines therefore marks an additional step for the development of recent towns, after Le Havre and Lorient... cities of the reconstruction of the 1950s. A strong signal for contemporary creation! Recognition also for the history of new towns, fields of exceptional urban experiences, which has led specialists to say that the town is no longer approached in the same way before and after new towns. 
Where are the old buildings? The chapel of the Commanderie de la Villedieu in Elancourt. The construction of the new town with the urban changes it has brought about has in fact erased part of the past. Today the city is built and it is the expected moment of rapprochement between its distant and near past. Large farms on the plateau, Commandery of the Templars, site of Port-Royal des Champs but also railway worker habitat, industrial archeology of the marshalling yard, the label comes to reconnect a deeper chronology of the territory by putting this heritage back on the front of the stage . The big names in architecture have often cut their teeth in the new town. The latter have also invented corporate architecture, townhouses...  Some buildings have already made history, such as the Arcades du Lac by Ricardo Bofill. By crossing criteria related to the history of the city and the history of architecture, the future monuments of the territory are already identifiable. 
Polymorphic tree from Simmonet to ElancourtMore than 80 works of public art line the squares, gardens and streets signed by international artists such as Piotr Kowalski, Marta Pan, Dani Karavan or Nissim Merkado. The movement of the young sculpture has tested here life-size plastic materials in the most iconoclastic forms! 
Are thirty years enough to claim a story? The new towns were for the Gaullist state a showcase of France's modernity, a development laboratory, a social incubator for all the experiences inherited from May 68... Pioneers chose to settle there when new rhymed with new life and utopia...
Where can art be hiding in these territories emerging from beet fields? A symbolic recognition for the heritage of the 20th century, the century which built the most and for which we have the least indulgence. Indeed, only 4% of buildings from this period are listed in the inventory of Historic Monuments...
Regional Specialties: Craft beers. Paris-Brest

Paris: Here is Le Tour on our final destination: Avenue des Champs-Élysées is located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It runs for 1,910 metres from east to west, linking Place de la Concorde and Place Charles-de-Gaulle (formerly Place de l'Étoile). In the lower part, to the east of the Champs-Élysées-Marcel-Dassault roundabout, the avenue is bordered by side-alleys (known as the "Champs-Élysées Promenade") running alongside the Champs-Élysées gardens. Originally, the Champs-Élysées were nothing more than uninhabited marshland. Marie de Medici decided to lay out a long avenue, Cours la Reine, which opened in 1616. Louis XIV, wishing to embellish and extend the capital, decided to demolish the fortifications and build large avenues. He commissioned André Le Nôtre to lay out this "avenue des Tuileries" as a royal thoroughfare through the woods and marshes along the Seine. From today's Place de la Concorde to today's Champs-Élysées roundabout, Le Nôtre laid out a beautiful avenue lined with elm trees and lawns. It was called "Grand-Cours" to distinguish it from Cours la Reine. The name Champs-Élysées was not definitively established until 1709. For a long time, the Champs-Élysées had a bad reputation. It was a place for guinguettes, attracting bad boys, prostitutes and even brigands. The popularity of the Champs-Élysées, which took its definitive name in 1789, did not really take off until the French Revolution. It was through the Champs-Élysées that the procession of shrews passed on their way to Versailles on October 5, 1789 to bring the royal family back to Paris. It was also via the Champs-Élysées that the royal family was brought back to Paris on 25 June 1791 after fleeing to Varennes, flanked by two rows of National Guards. At the 1855 World Fair, the Champs-Élysées became the place to be. While the avenue had only six houses in 1800, it was soon lined with blocks of flats, town houses and bourgeois homes. The Second Empire was a golden era for the Champs-Élysées. The avenue became the centre of elegant Parisian life. After falling into disrepair, the avenue was finally renovated in the early 1990s and inaugurated in September 1994 by Jacques Chirac, Mayor of Paris at the time. Every year since 1975, the final stage of the Tour de France has ended on the Champs-Élysées with a veritable parade after more than three weeks of racing.

Regional Specialties: Le Tour lists none, which always makes me laugh. 


Christian Prudhomme says: The contenders for the race’s last bouquet will have to be in Olympic form on a course that’s been designed in a nod to the 2024 Paris Games, during which the events for all cycling disciplines will be held mostly in the Yvelines. The sprinters will be looking to test themselves in the vertiginous arena that is the Champs-Élysées.

The stage: Time for a parade, followed by a serious sprint.
As always, champagne. Eventually, a winner on the day.       

The wine: Marguet Shamen Rose Champagne 2018
Horses? Yes, horses. From the producer: At the estate, we made the decision to work the soil using the horse since 2010 to contribute to the well-being of the earth.
We believe that the horse is a key element in maintaining a natural balance in the vineyards. It allows you to work the soil in a gentle and respectful way, without using heavy machinery that can cause significant damage.
We are able to create a unique link with the elements that make up our terroir.
The horse allows us to connect directly to the chalk, to the mineral substrate of our vineyard, which is essential to the quality of the grapes and the wine produced.
In many civilizations, the horse is a sacred animal, non-predatory and contributing to social and spiritual balance.
In addition, by using horses to work the soil, we are able to promote the growth of the endemic flora that is present in the vines and contribute to the biodiversity of our vineyard.
This maintains a natural ecological balance that is favorable to the growth of the vine and the production of quality grapes.
Finally, by using the horse to work the soil, we are able to create a link with the fauna and the inhabitants of our region.
This allows us to connect directly to our environment and to work responsibly and respectfully for people and nature.
In short, by using the horse to work the soil, we seek to maintain an ecological balance and to promote the quality of our wine by working in a respectful and sustainable manner.

The food: Button mushrooms
Its real name is agaric bispore, and it was first cultivated under Louis XIV in Versailles, then under Napoleon in the catacombs of Paris. Hence its name in French: champignon de Paris. But it was only at the end of the 19th century that its cultivation developed, not in Paris, but in Touraine and the Saumur region. Because agaric bispore is the easiest mushroom to grow in a mushroom house, it quickly conquered the whole planet and is now produced mainly in China and the United States. 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)