ECO-MUSEUMS

                                                 Fun Places to Visit

      During my travels I have visited several eco-museums. I always look for something new and different.

     The Hungarian museum is located along the Danube River not far from Budapest. Established in 1967 and opened to the public in 1974, it replicates a village from the last century. At the old cemetery the docent asked us to note the different colors of the wooden markers, then explained that blue designated a child and black an adult. A male marker was pointed and a female marker was rounded. If a woman was married twice she had two rounded mounds on her marker. The carved wooden markers told a story for those before people could read and write. These markers were certainly new to me.

     Eventually this museum will have 300 buildings in ten units. When I visited it had 10 houses, three churches, seven mills, an inn, school and workshops. The museum will explain history and illustrate social differences. It was an interesting visit.

     The eco-museum in Las Landes, Bordeaux, France was established in 1970 and covered 10,000 square kilometers. A train delivered us to the entrance of the museum.  Sheep added much fertilizer to the sandy soil so grass was able to grow. Maypoles were explained to us. The aromas wafting from the outdoor ovens made me hungry for the fresh baked bread inside.

    Ballenberg, in Switzerland, was the first eco-museum I visited and probably my favorite. Set in a lovely wooded area, well maintained winding paths led from one house to the next. I was practically interested in the apothecary and the hand lace makers.  There was a large restaurant at the  edge of the grounds where we enjoyed a delightful lunch to bring this museum visit to a close.

    In Stockholm, Sweden the eco-museum, Skansen means little fortress. It is the oldest such museum having been established in 1891.  Its 150 buildings are located on one of Stockholm’s islands where it and the zoo occupy the entire island.  In the old schoolhouse we saw the rabbit tail erasers that were used to clean chalk boards. With no electricity the school day was short and the teacher and his wife lived in a room attached to the classroom. 

    Each museum was different and had something new to see and learn about.

An eco-museum is a museum focused on the identity of a place, largely based on local participation aiming to enhance the welfare and development of local communities. Eco-museums originated in France, in 1971. The term  refers especially to a new idea of holistic interpretation of cultural heritage vs the display of items and things of traditional museums. Many such museums are located in Europe.

    There are many such places around the U.S.; we just haven’t adopted the term eco-museum instead we call them interpretive, open, village etc.

BORDEAUX, FRANCE

                                             A City Full of History

            While we were biking Bordeaux, France the Air France pilots went on strike. My pot-luck roommate couldn’t let go of it and talked incessantly about how she was going to get home. Finally I’d had enough and simply told her I did not want to hear any more about it, as there was absolutely nothing we could do until we actually reached Bordeaux.

            Our Bordeaux hotel was located on a very narrow street in the heart of the old city and nothing bigger than a small car could get down the street. We were let out at the end of the block. Our guide hustled to the hotel for the luggage cart and took care of that chore. The small old hotel had been renovated and updated and turned out to be quaint and most comfortable to say nothing of being very well located.

            After we settled into the reception area we learned we all had been rerouted home on other airlines. My flight times were a mere 15-minutes off from my original schedule. A bit later our local city docent arrived. The very flamboyant little French fellow spoke English with a marked accent. I’ll never forget the picture of him flitting into the street, frantically waving for all traffic to stop, and yelling, “hurry, hurry” to us. He knew his city and its history well and walked us all over it for over three hours!

            We learned the city was a walled one until the 1800s when the walls were torn down and the ditches

One of remaining gates to city

filled in. Several ports to the city remain; we walked through a couple of them plus one in the pedestrian mall on the way back to the hotel. Bordeaux is the capitol of the Aquitaine region. The name means port of the moon. The Gironde River is moon shaped in this area, thus the city’s name. In 1453 it was the last area to become French again after the Roman Empire.

            Ten years ago the population was over 650,000.  The huge Statue of Freedom  is full of symbolism and one of the city’s landmarks. A statue atop a 43-meter high column represents Freedom breaking out of his shackles. At the base is a large ornate fountain cast in bronze.  In the fountain are horses and falling soldiers The docent went on for some time about the battles between two factions. In this large square there are a couple of other statues. I wish I could tell you more about, but between being tired, the docent’s accent and my disinterest in local conflicts, my notes are pretty scanty.

            Needless to say there are several well known churches in the city. We poked our head in one of them and the thing I remember most was the straight back chairs instead of pews that I suspect were anything but comfortable.

            It was in Bordeaux that we discovered France shuts down about 2:30 in the afternoon as all the restaurants and cafés close. It was quite an adventure walking up several alleyways to find a sidewalk café still open. Although the one we found was ready to close they did accommodate four of us ladies for lunch. We had an excellent leisurely meal. It was kind of management not to rush us on our last day in France. We gratefully tipped them well. Their kindness made our day.

An aside re: dogs.

            It seems everyone in France owns a dog, often a small one, and they go everywhere! It is strange for an American to see dogs in a store, market or restaurant. I was shocked at how well behaved they were; even when not on a leash the dog stuck close to his owner. I never heard a dog bark, except in the country when one might bark from his backyard as we biked by. However, they do drop their business anywhere and everywhere so it is wise to watch where one steps when walking the alleyways. The French wouldn’t think of carrying a plastic bag, never mind a super, duper, pooper scooper! 

FRENCH ECO-MUSEUM

                                              Les Landes 

In the early afternoon after biking to Sabres, France we boarded a train for a short ride to Les Landes, an eco-museum. The railroad, built originally to transport logs from the pine forest, has been in operation since 1887. Napoleon gave permission to plant the sandy area with pine trees for erosion control, and it became the largest pine forest in Europe.

As the train rolled along I couldn’t help but notice the many trees that were tapped. The pitch was collected, refined and sent to factories to be used in turpentine, resins, cosmetics, pharmacy and paint cleaners.

The docent meeting our train was quick to tell us, “This museum was established in 1970 and covers an area of 10,000 square kilometers. The L’esgunmas River runs through this land mass.”
            She toured us around the home site area explaining each house. The long steep roofs  to the west to protected the homes from wind and storms. At one she noted, “Notice that the beds are high off the ground and are rather short. Years ago people here slept sitting up as they were very superstitious and believed that lying down was the position for the dead.”

I was surprised to see well established grass growing in the sandy soil. Over hearing my surprise she added, “Sheep were and still are grazed in this area. Their droppings provided good fertilizer which promoted the grass growth. In the fields beyond the fence rye and corn are grown as alternate crops.”

Entrance to Les Landes

It was fun to see real maypoles, and since my visit was the right time of year, I saw many of them on the trip. They are planted on May 1 and remain in place for a month. Friends do the planting at night for newlyweds, anniversary couples, birthdays or any other occasion they can think of. The poles are decorated with all sorts of things—bright colored paper, flowers or whatever the imagination conjures forth. If the recipient should wake and learn who is erecting his maypole, tradition dictates that he must have all the ‘planters’ to dinner.

The museum sheds  light into the  daily farming and shepherding life. Shepherd farmers abandoned their flocks when the area was planted in pine trees and became woodmen and resin tappers.

It was an interesting visit where I saw a couple of new things and was particularly drawn to the fresh baked bread coming out of the community oven!

AN ALMOST NON LUNCH

 

                       An Open Restaurant  a Welcome Site

          Our Bordeaux city walking tour was a long one,  not ending until close to the end of the lunch hour. Ending at a large square we took a little extra time to study the huge fountain and then to buy a few post cards from a kiosk before heading off to find a restaurant for lunch.

            The city is full of cobbled alleys and sidewalk cafés. We were to learn that most shops close for the lunch hour and the cafés are full of people enjoying food and conversation. As time passed we also learned that by 2:30 PM most cafés close and even the tables and chairs are taken inside. This was beginning to be a problem for four rather hungry gals who were looking forward to lunch.

            Down one alley we finally found a café that took pity on us Americans and served us lunch even though they were about to close. It felt good to sit as we’d been wandering around the city for about four hours.

            I remarked, “I don’t know about you gals, but since we’re not biking today I’m going to have a glass of wine. I’m in France, eating lunch at a sidewalk café on a picturesque cobblestone alley, and this picture needs a little wine to make it complete.”  It was a good choice!

            One does not visit France and expect to find low fat anything, skim milk, cold coke, iced tea, or many other things we take for granted. Diet one does not! You can expect to give your arteries a good jolt with flakey butter-rich pastries, wonderful cheeses, real cream, whole milk, good French bread, and all kinds of fish. I just hoped the good extremely reasonably-priced wines would counteract any adverse affects. My motto was to relax and enjoy. We did!