[As well as attempting to peek over tall stone walls...]
It seems that no matter what I do when I decide to go out and explore Ferney, I ultimately end up back at
Voltaire's Château. It's so close, and it's so creepy and beauitful at the same time. I'm drawn to it in a very Boo-Radley-Great-Expectations-spooky-old-lady-lives-by-herself-in-a-big-mansion-and-I-want-climb-the-wall-and-hang-out-in-the-overgrown-garden sort of way. The maison is open for
tours starting in April, and I'm hoping to quell (or feed) my newfound obsession with a look inside - I'm not sure however if that will be more fun than trying to peer through iron gates and over stone walls. You can't go inside the house yet as it's only March (yes still March in France too), but there are paths going around the house that I've frequented that lead you down to the cemetery where Volatire (and a number of others) have been buried, and then another path that leads you behind the Château on the other side. I finally took the path behind the house the other day, and while trying to peer over a particurlarily high portion of the stone wall was thoroughly scared shitless by a beautiful black cat who was lounging on the wall
Cheshire cat style. I then continued further around the trail where I could hear sheep bahhh-ing, cows moo-ing and their cow bells clanging, and at this point I became even more intrigued - there were obviously cows and sheep somewhere close to where I was, but I could not see them. And as I kept walking the sounds grew louder and louder, but still no cows or sheep to be seen! All the peering through iron gates in the world didn't help, and I only caught a slight glimpse of what looked like a cow somewhere in Voltaire's Château grounds, but that is yet to be confirmed. Maybe I'll know more on that the next time I go lurking...
Once I had my Voltaire Château fill for the day, I walked back along the trail whilst I had come and noticed a farm that sat squarely opposite the back side of the maison on the other side of the trail. No, there were no cows or sheeps to be seen (that would make this mystery too easily solved), but there were chickens! A whole buttload of chickens! Just hanging out, walking around, cluck cluckin' to each other, and eating. There were no cages, just a yard that they were free to roam. They were the prettiest color bronze I had ever seen, and looked quite fluffy.
The two above chickens came with about 3 feet of me, which for me was just so bizarre. They definitely didn't pay me any mind and just went about cluck cluckin' and eating...and yet all I could keep thinking of was the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Episode where the voodoo guy keeps saying
"Rise Chicken, Rise..." But yes, I digress...
[Peering through the gates at Voltaire's Château...this has become a habit lately...]
After being ignored by the chickens long enough to realize that my presence to them wasn't as cool as their presence to me, I decided to walk down this long road leading out of Ferney-Voltaire into the city of Moen (two dots over the "e"). I've found that I'm continually surprised by my comfort level of exploring alone, but once I hit my limit it hits me fairly quickly and I promptly turn around and walk back to where I'm more familiar with. I think it'd be safe to say that I walked maybe a mile out of Ferney - however it was just on this one singular and long windy road. Maybe next time I'll go a bit further...
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