Moret-sur-Loing (by kerouac2)

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As much as I appreciated FrenchMystiqueTours' totally excellent report about Moret-sur-Loing which appeared under the lovely title Fall Foliage and Country Villages, we all know that he whizzes through these places on his high speed bicycle and, although unlikely, there is the possibility that he sometimes misses a few details.

So today I took the commuter train to Moret to see it for myself. Moret has a certain notoriety in the world of impressionists, because it is where the artist Alfred Sisley settled for 10 years before his death. Scenes of Moret appeared in some of his most famous paintings, and it would be interesting if I could find some of the same scenes that he painted.

       

Unfortunately, the Moret train station is not in Moret.

I already knew this because my former colleague who lives in the center of Moret regularly mentioned her 20 minute walk to the train station every morning. So I knew that I would be walking at least 20 minutes (or more, because whenever we walked together, she was always at a faster pace than I) to get to Moret. Luckily, it is extremely easy -- you just have to walk straight ahead on the street from the station, which goes right to one of the Moret entrance gates.

The medieval centre is lovely even if not all of the buildings are ancient.





This house (also photographed by FMT) is currently for sale!







No self-respecting French town lacks a WW1 monument.



The street market was pretty pathetic in the summer holiday month of August.

[bjd]

It looks very pretty. A quick look on Wikipedia (to see where it actually is), tells me the house for sale is called la Maison Racollet and used to be a restaurant or café.

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maison_Racollet.JPG

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Moret has twinned itself with the République de Montmartre in Paris.



It is also twinned with a town in Germany and another in Eire. More about this later.







Yes, surprisingly enough, Moret has a church.

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Finally, Sisley's house. Or at least his door.

[mossie]

Note that you and FMT have successfully cleared this pretty little town of nearly all it's inhabitants.
Love the Adam and Eve, but where are their feet?

[htmb]

An interesting town to explore. Looks like the cat has sought out some cool stone for its nap.

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And finally down to the Loing...

















The town likes to keep track of historic flood levels.





Apparently, the water never quite gets into town, though.

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There used to be a lot of mills on this stretch of the river.









Here is the name of Moret's German twin city.



The municipal gardeners do a splendid job.

[htmb]

I'll take one of the little mill cottages, please.

[Deleted]

The park along the river is a very nice place to walk. I was obliged to think of my former colleague, though. Since her travel time to the office in Paris is 90 minutes in each direction, she often mentions having to walk the dog along the Loing before 6 a.m. While I'm sure it's pleasant at this time of year, she particularly mentioned what a pain it is to do this in January.

hats off once again to the municipal gardeners









There is a plaque to honour the Irish twin city.







Here is the bust to honour Alfred Sisley.



Rodin was supposed to do it but it was decided that he wasn't good enough.



Then it was back to the train station.



I had no idea of the schedule, but I knew there were two or three train an hour, even this far out.

Maybe I'll go see Moret in the snow next time. Today it was 34°.

[fumobici]

Is this little town impossibly photogenic or is this visual feast k's photographic legerdemain? I choose the former. Pity about the artichokes gone too late!

[bjd]

As much as I shudder at the idea of a 90 minute commute, I can understand your ex-colleague living there after spending hours in downtown Paris. I don't see the point of having a dog though if you have to walk it at 6 am in January.

In the Simenon Maigret books, Commissaire Maigret moves to Moret-sur-Loing when he retires so that he can go fishing.

Lovely pics, Kerouac -- it makes me feel like going there.

[Deleted]

Kerouac, I did not see this report earlier and am just catching up. During our honeymoon almost two years ago we went to Moret-sur-Loing on the recommendation of FrenchMystique and the book One Hour from Paris by Annabel Simms. We took the train to St. Mammès one early Sunday morning in October, toured the town, then walked the towpath to Moret-sur-Loing. It was a wonderful day, and your report brought back those memories.

I have just a few more impressions to share. I took many more photos than I ever did in Paris, firstly because I felt there was more room to be touristique - the town was quite deserted. Secondly, we were gathering architectural information for the house we will build eventually, and there were so many lovely homes and details. Plus, the light was exquisite that day.

On the way up the towpath from St. Mammès:






We had lunch at that precipitously hanging restaurant called La Poterie, the one nestled beside the city gate. We sat on the balcony above the river and had galettes and cider.

That lovely timbered house in the square was something that I was fascinated by. It's covered in wooden carvings of guildsmen, but I can't imagine they're original. Wouldn't they have worn away by now?


And of course, the Sucre D'Orge shop. We picked up some of this confectionery, mostly for the lovely painted tins they came in. And in recognition of the restoration job they did on the building.




The building the Mairie stands beside can claim that, yes, Napoleon slept there:


We spent a restful post lunch hour resting by the weir near the mill house. Unfortunately, those buildings are replicas - the originals were destroyed by the Nazis on their way out of town




We had a lovely, exhausting day. The walk to the train station almost did us in, but on the way I pinched a few ripe seed heads, and I now have lavender and rugosa roses from Moret-sur-Loing growing on the West Coast of North America. (Don't tell customs, OK?)

[Deleted]

Thanks for the new photos. I absolutely love tow paths along rivers and canals.

[nycgirl]

Nice photos of a charming little town. Thanks for sharing, Kerouac and Lizzy.

Just curious, how much were train tickets from Paris?

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The ticket is 8.95€ one way.

[lola]

Wonderful, K. Thank you so much.

The vacation house I'm hoping to rent is around the corner from that half-timbered Sucre Dorge building.