Dark travel: Picardy (northern France) – Pierrefonds castle

Pierrefonds castle in the forest of Compiègne made a big impression on me. It is the perfect nineteenth-century romantic impression of a medieval castle. Not much authenticity to be found here, but if you're looking for a gothic atmosphere, this is certainly the place to be!

Château de Pierrefonds’ history dates back to the twelfth century, when a fortification is known to have stood on the same hilltop. In the fourteenth century a different building was constructed, but in 1617 it was attacked and largely destroyed.In the nineteenth century, when the architectural history of the Middle Ages was rediscovered, the castle ruins were a popular subject for romantic paintings.  

'Vue du château de Pierrefonds en ruine' - Paul Huet, 19th century

Old photograph of Pierrefonds ruins

Since 1848, the castle is a historical monument. Even so, emperor Napoleon III decided he wanted to restore the building. He hired architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who is famous for restoring medieval buildings during the Gothic Revival period. He mainly worked on churches that were damaged during the French Revolution. The Notre-Dame in Paris, Saint-Chapelle and the citadel of Carcassonne are some of his best known restoration projects. 

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc:

Some of the projects Viollet-le-Duc supervized have been heavily criticized, because they divert significantly from the actual historical situation. He attempted to create ´perfect´ historical buildings that matched his ideas of the ideal medieval style. Often he added architectural decorations for which there was no evidence that they actually existed. Nowadays critics think his reconstructions are too much based on fantasy. But his methods cannot be compared to the ones we are using now and instead should be seen in the light of the nineteenth century and the gothic romantic image that was popular at the time. Historically accurate or not, I immensely enjoyed walking around the reconstructed castle, admiring the excellent stone carvings of fantasy figures.

I later learned that Pierrefonds has been used as the shooting location for the BBC series ´Merlin´. My boyfriend was thrilled when he suddenly recognized the castle when watching Merlin, because he really likes the series. If only he had known beforehand! 

 A surprise awaited us in the basement. Here numerous plaster casts were placed to form an exhibition on funeral sculptures. The room was very dark, with mysterious lights moving over the statues. Voices could be heard that seemed to come from the statues itself and that told the story of their lives. A wonderfully creepy place!: 

Pierrefonds castle in BBC's Merlin:

Manic Panic Creature of the Night eyeshadow palette

A while back I purchased this nice looking purple eyeshadow palette by Manic Panic. It has everything you need to make that gorgeous dark purple smokey eye. The kit also contains some instruction cards to create specific looks. One can hardly go wrong with it. The only downside (at least to me) is that the palette is still pretty big and therefore not that easy to bring along when carrying a small bag.

I created the first, pretty moderate look on the instruction cards:

I was quite pleased with the result:

Dark Travel: Picardy (northern France)

I always love to read Amy's (http://ultimategothguide.blogspot.com/) accounts of her travels and day-trips and they inspired me to write about my own journeys as well. The last time I travelled outside of Europe was exactly a year ago, when I went to Morocco with my boyfriend. Since then I’ve only been to places in Europe though and this probably won’t change for a while, because we have very little money to spend. So my travel topics will mainly concern European countries.

Wherever I travel, I always seek out places that have interesting historical stories to tell. Being an archaeologist and a cultural heritage expert, I especially like to visit excavation sites and monumental buildings. But I also tend to look for places with a ‘dark’, mysterious atmosphere. Usually these traits are not difficult to find all in one spot. Since this blog is mainly about ‘dark things’, I will concentrate on those places that could be of interest to likeminded people.

Last summer we went to northern France, to a region called Picardy. This area is particularly known for the origin of the gothic building style and therefore one can visit plenty of beautiful cathedrals and cathedral ruins. There are many charming cities with a rich cultural history, such as Amiens and Laon. But even in the smallest villages there are breathtakingly beautiful remains of castles and abbeys.

Since most tourists travel further south towards the warmer provinces, this area of northern France is not overly crowded with foreigners during summertime. This is certainly a good thing if one wants to engage with the locals and enjoy nature and places of cultural interest without having to stand in line first. Finding a local goth club can be a lot harder in this area though. We certainly didn't come across anything like it, so keep that in mind if that's what you're looking for! 

Since we visited many places, I will write several posts on Picardy. This one is just a general impression of the region. 

The village of Berny-Rivière, where our camping place was:

More impressions of Picardy:

Nature

Last weekend I was at my family’s in Zeeland (southern province of the Netherlands) and we went for a walk, like we often do. Nature hasn’t caught up here yet after a late winter and the trees are still without leaves. Although the landscape in Zeeland is often said to be quite boring (except for the beaches), I do think it has a beauty of its own.

Toxic green

Last week I bought a number of nail polishes from budget make-up brand Catrice. I decided to try some colors that I normally don't wear, like neons. Usually I stick to black or dark red, which I like the best. But now I just wanted to try something different for a change. I also bought an eyeshadow palette that matches well with the nail polish:

Today I went for a toxic green look, using the green ACid/DC nail polish. Unfortunately I don't think it suits me very well. Neon colors somehow look odd on me, they don't seem to match my skintone. Perhaps I'll use a dark topcoat on it next time. I do however like the neon green on my eyes, which I matched with the darker green from the same palette. 

ACid/DC by Catrice:

Green eyeshadow by Catrice. Earrings by Alchemy Gothic:

And this is the complete outfit. Because of the nice weather I finally got the chance to wear my new t-shirt from Threadless:

T-shirt with owl and keys hanging from the tree (love it!): Threadless

Key necklace: Bought at Castlefest, the Netherlands

Bracelet: Bought in Amsterdam

Skirt with neon on black: Vive Maria

Green hair clip by Flexi-8:

Hair care: Monoi Miracle Oil

I love The Body Shop's 'Spa Wisdom Polynesia' line, which has a great tropical and seductive scent. Originally, Monoi oil is made from soaking petals of Tahitian gardenias (tiare) in coconut oil.
Last year Spa (the Belgian company selling bottled water) won a lawsuit against The Body Shop though, claiming that the latter had no right to use the long-established Spa name. All products were offered with huge discounts and now they can't be found anywhere in the Netherlands anymore. I managed to get hold of three bodybutters of the Polynesia line though, so I can still enjoy the scent for a while to come.
I do however have a resolution for when I've used up all my body products. From now on I only want to buy bodybutters and lotions without parabens and SLS, because I'm a bit uncomfortable with the idea of using so many toxics on my skin. I don't want to throw anything away unused though, so I'll have to finish my stash first.

Anyway, during The Body Shop sales I also managed to get hold of a bottle of Monoi Miracle Oil. The bottle said it could be used on both skin and hair, but I forgot about this later and only used it on my skin. Now I was reminded of its other application and this morning I gave it a try on my hair. I have to say my hair is liking the product a lot! It's super shiny (not like any other oil I've ever used) and soft, but the greatest thing of all is still the wonderful smell. Too bad there are so many chemical ingredients in there as well. Otherwise I would certainly try to get hold of another bottle from the US, where they still sell it. Maybe I should look for the original Monoi oil from Tahiti and see whether there's a pure version, without all the additives. After all, the oil has a good reputation as a natural hair softener and has been widely used by indigenous women from the Polynesian islands. I hope there is a good brand on the market that is not overly processed. If anyone knows about this, please tell me! 

Spring outfit

Yesterday the weather was so good that I instantly had a spring feeling! Normally I don't wear bright colors a lot (not my taste and it doesn't suit me well either), but yesterday I felt like making an exception. So here is a lilac/white/black outfit with bright make-up:

Lilac cardigan: Hema

White lace top: SPS 

Black top: H&M

Black skirt: H&M

Clock necklace: gift from mother-in-law

Medallion necklace: Six

Stockings: Hema

Lipstick: 'Plum Passion' by Manic Panic 

I did wear black nailpolish to compensate! :p This is 'Hunt Me If You Can' by Essence (Vampire's Love collection):

New sewing project

I’m in desperate need of a new outfit for a gothic themed photoshoot in which I’ll be participating (for fun). The big obstacle that I am facing is having very little money to spend due to the lack of a steady job. My first idea was to buy some second hand clothes, but I haven’t been able to find anything affordable that is also going to make an impression on camera. (The theme for the shoot is ‘dark victorian’ and I am planning to wear something that looks like a mourning outfit, including a long black veil.)

 The second solution to the problem is the most challenging, but also the most fun…making a large part of the outfit myself! And so, that’s the plan…I hope things will work out, for it won’t be an easy task. My inspiration comes from this expensive skirt (more than 100 euros!) from a Dutch gothic brand called ‘Sinister’:

 Then there is this fabulous black veil (about 40 euros):

 I also noticed this pretty shorter skirt (the green one, almost 90 euros), which would be perfect for everyday wear:

 I’ll be using these skirts as examples for my current sewing projects. I don’t want to completely imitate them, but I’m aiming to achieve a similar look. These are the fabrics and materials that I purchased online, for a fraction of the total sum of money that I’d otherwise be spending:

 

(WHY am I not able to post this picture here horizontally??  It doesn't appear like this in my image map and I don't know how to flip it. The strangest thing...)

Movie review: The Woman in Black

As I mentioned earlier in my outfit post, I went to see the movie ‘The Woman in Black’. I didn’t know much about it beforehand, but the trailer really appealed to me with its old fashioned, dark atmosphere. The fact that Daniel Radcliffe played the lead part did make me a little hesitant at first; I was afraid he’d still be little Harry Potter to me. But this fear was ungrounded! The part was played really well and Radcliffe didn’t seem to feel the urge to turn his back on his past performances completely, just to combat any hint of typecasting.  He stayed close to where he began, in a gloomy out-of-the-ordinary story, yet definitely lifted his acting to a more mature level. 

 If you are expecting to see a very original movie with a new take on the horror genre, then this movie is not for you! If however you have a profound love of Victorian times, dreary yet beautiful English landscapes and classic horror stories, you will not be let you down! And the movie is scary too, thanks to the clear influence of Japanese horror cinema and excellent sound effects. 

 The Woman in Black is produced by Hammer Productions, which was founded in 1934. The company produced many gothic horror films, especially from the fifties until the seventies. Other genres included science fiction, film noir, comedies, thrillers and tv series. Nothing came out anymore since 1984, but in 2007 Dutch producer John De Mol purchased the Hammer Films rights, restarting the studio. Several movies have come out since 2008, including the remake of the Swedish film ‘Let the Right One In’. 

'The Shadow of the Cat' (1961) by Hammer Productions 

What I liked in particular about The Woman in Black was the reference to spiritualism in this movie (the belief that one can communicate with the dead). Fascination with death and the grotesque were especially big in the nineteenth century and spiritualism was a wide-spread practice. People held séances, visited mediums and ghost stories were immensely popular. For an entertaining, accessible story about women and spiritualism in the nineteenth century, I recommend the novel ‘Cover the Mirrors’, by Faye L. Booth: 

What I did not know, is that The Woman in Black is based on a novel by Susan Hill. I hadn’t heard of this writer before, but now I’m eager to get my hands on her books! As for the movie: I will certainly buy it on DVD as soon as it comes out because I already want to see it again!


My rating: 8,5