D13 Sully to Briare along the Loire

A short digression on 'the good life': triggered by our stay in Sully
Eagle eyed readers will have noted my wife's arrival has triggered 'the food life '. The autocorrect in this case was not far from the truth in the evenings anyway when the standard of French cuisine has blown me away. I forget just how good the standard is when for admittedly top dollar prices locally you can eat in lovely informal surroundings what in the UK would be fine dining at twice the price.

Coming back to the 'good life' the phrase has been originally attributed to Aristotle 's concept of eudaimonia, the life we aspire to live. The echoes with those of us planning our 3rd age are unmissable.

Meanwhile you will also recall that the great Voltaire once stayed in Sully during one of his several banishments from Paris for upsetting high ups with his enlightenment views of tolerance in France. This famously led him to write in Candide  the famous conclusion that we must _'cultivate our own garden' or in the original Vous savez... -- Je sais aussi, dit Candide, qu'il faut cultiver notre jardin. -- Vous avez raison, dit Pangloss : car, quand l'homme fut mis dans le jardin d'Éden, il y fut mis ut operaretur eum, pour qu'il travaillât, ce qui prouve que l'homme n'est pas né pour le repos. -- Travaillons sans raisonner, dit Martin ; c'est le seul moyen de rendre la vie supportable. »

You are right, said Pangloss; for when the man was put into the garden of Eden, he was put to work there, which proves that the man was not born for him. rest. "Let's work without thinking," said Martin; it's the only way to make life bearable. "

So my take on all this is to 'stay busy" for now in the 'young old' years but doing the things that hit my buttons for my own take on the good life! Which includes some giving but certainly includes plans to cultivate  the sacred olive  grove!

Useful brief ref Julie Barnes on voltaire  at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/01/candide-voltaire-rereading-julian-barnes

Why do French people plant trees in lines more often than UK 

People? Our destination today Briare  famously  linking 3 navigations the Loire, the Seine and the Rhone. The then longest viaduct is seen with us crussing

And finally undoubtedly a component of the good life -romorantin an unusual grape bloody
lovely