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[Illustration: TOMB OF AGNES SOREL AT LOCHES

By permission of Mansell & Co.]




  WINGED WHEELS
  IN FRANCE

  BY
  MICHAEL MYERS SHOEMAKER

  Author of "Islands of Southern Seas," "The Great Siberian Railway,"
  "The Heart of the Orient," "Prisons and Palaces of Mary, Queen of
  Scots," Etc.

  ILLUSTRATED


  G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

  NEW YORK AND LONDON

  The Knickerbocker Press
  1906


  _Copyrighted 1906 by
  Michael Myers Shoemaker_




    TO
  MY DEAR FRIEND
  MRS. W. P. HULBERT
  OF CINCINNATI




PREFACE


This is not a love story. These wings are wings of motion, not of
Cupid, yet there is much of romance and story in these pages,--for who
can travel the _plaisant pays de France_ and not dip deeply into both?

When I entered my red machine at Nice no route had been laid out,--to
me there is small pleasure in travel when that is done,--so I told
Jean to start and left the direction to him. Being French he naturally
turned towards his own country, and knowing whither the superb highways
and enchanting byways could lead one, I tacitly agreed, and we glided
away by the level sea and on into the olive-crowned hill of Provence,
to where Aix--the home of politeness--dreams the years away and the air
seems still to echo to King Rene's music. Arles, Narbonne, fantastic
Carcassonne, Lourdes, and Pau followed in rapid succession, and then
we rested awhile at Biarritz with short journeys into Spain. Turning
northward we rolled off into Central France, pausing daily in some
ancient city or quaint village, climbing mountains to long forgotten
castles, or rolling into valleys in search of deserted abbeys.

So we wandered through Auvergne, through courtly Touraine, sad Anjou,
and stormy Brittany, until Normandy and Picardy smiled into our faces
and Paris received us within her gates. Exploring the surroundings of
that great city as one can do only in an auto, we finally glided off
through the forest of Fontainebleau and Cote-d'Or to the mountains
of the Vosges and thence over the Schlucht to the Rhine Valley to
Freiburg, and up to Baden-Baden. There the spirits of the woods seized
upon us and we promptly got lost in the Black Forest, and so rolled
on into Switzerland to Geneva and finally to Aix-les-Bains, where the
journey ended and I bade goodbye to my staunch car which had carried
me without mishap or delay for near five thousand miles. To its winged
wheels the highest mountains of France were no barrier.

If all this pleases you, read these pages--if not, drop the book.

  M. S. M.

  Union Club, N. Y.
  June, 1906.




CONTENTS


                                                                    PAGE

  CHAPTER I.

  MONTE CARLO                                                          1


  CHAPTER II.

  OUR DEPARTURE FROM NICE--THE ROAD TO AIX--THE CITY OF KING RENE      8


  CHAPTER III.

  THE ROAD TO ARLES--THE CAMARGUE--RUINS OF ARLES--THE "ALISCAMPS"    17


  CHAPTER IV.

  THE ROUTE TO TARASCON--CASTLE OF KING
  RENE--BEAUCAIRE--NIMES--MONTPELLIER--AN ACCIDENT--NARBONNE,
  ANCIENT AND MODERN                                                  22


  CHAPTER V.

  THE APPROACH TO CARCASSONNE--ITS PICTURESQUENESS--ITS RESTORATION
  AND HISTORY                                                         29


  CHAPTER VI.

  THE ROUTE TO TOULOUSE--GREAT MACHINES ON THE ROADS OF
  FRANCE--DELIGHTS OF AN AUTO--TOULOUSE--ITS UNIVERSITY--THE CHATEAU
  DE ST. ELIX                                                         36


  CHAPTER VII.

  THE DEATH OF A DOG--ENCOUNTERS ON THE HIGHWAY--TRAVELLERS BY THE
  WAY--PEOPLE OF THE PROVINCES--LOURDES--HER SUPERSTITION AND
  HER VISIONS                                                         43


  CHAPTER VIII.

  PAU AND THE LIFE THERE--DELIGHTFUL ROADS--ANCIENT ORTHEZ--MADAME
  AND HER HOTEL--THE CHATEAU OF BIDACHE