Angers, in the Loire Valley, May 2005
Our journey to Angers was more than just a passing affair, since we stayed there from May to December 2005, while Wijjie was expecting August. Wijjie studied French with exchange students I found putting up signs in the street and in school lobbies, while I studied the gastronomy for which the Loire Valley is so justly famous! This had disastrous effects on my silhouette (did you know that the term comes from a nobleman who decorated his palace with portraits of people done tracing their shadow-profile, and whose name was Monsieur de Silhouette?) which I am still struggling to repair, without giving up my studies of course... We rented a fourth floor student walkup on Rue du Mail and set about studying the artistic and historical riches of this beautiful town.
The Cathedral of Angers was begun in the 12th century and ended in the 17th, which explains the strange mixture of styles. The slender medieval towers are covered with top-heavy Late Gothic spires, and the central, rounded bell-tower is of Classical style.
The Castle "le Château d'Angers" - was built in the 13th century under the reign of Louis IX - "Saint Louis" - on the lines of the Crusader fortresses in the Holy Land. The walls and towers are built of alternating layers of black slate, a commonly found material in the Anjou region, and white limestone, giving them their distinctive striped appearance.
Before the river was embanked, the castle walls stood so near the water that it was unnecessary to defend the riverside with towers, as can be seen in this picture, taken from the Port d'Angers, a harbour for river boats.
The castle towers were capped with huge hooded roofs, but these were removed in the 17th century. The King feared that the castle would be taken and used against him by his enemies the Protestants, so he ordered the Governor to demolish it.
The people of the city wanted to keep their castle, so the Governor only removed the roofs in a token gesture of obedience, and thus saved this impressive building for posterity.
The castle's moat was not meant to be filled with water, but simply to make it more difficult for the enemy to get close to the walls. The Roi René used it for his menagery of wild beasts, including camels and lions, to roam about under his gaze. Today it has been landscaped with an exquisitely designed "jardin à la française".
The castle features the time's latest innovations in military architecture, with its towers spreading at the base to protect them from the constant pounding of cannon balls which could bring down a part of the wall to allow the enemy to enter.
The "Porte de la Campagne" was the gate which opened onto the countryside, now lacking its drawbridge, while the "Porte de la Ville" (the only point of entrance nowadays) faced the city itself. The masters of the keep feared their own rebellious citizens as much as invading Englishmen.
In the centre of the castle grounds rises the elegant chapel of Saint Genevieve, and just behind Wijjie, right up on the ramparts, grows the "vineyard of the Roi René".
Porte de la Ville, with the drawbridge lowered to admit the tourists!
The Castle of Angers houses the magnificent 14th century "Tapestries of the Apocalpyse".
The belvedere or lookout point near the castle gate is at the end of the curiously named "Promenade du Bout du Monde", the end of the world, because, it seems, it once led to a graveyard!
From here, we look up the River Maine, with the Pont de Verdun and the Pont de la Haute Chaîne in the distance. The part of the city on the other side of the river is called La Doutre, which is an ancient abbreviation of "Quartier d'Outre Maine", the "quarter on the far side of the Maine".
half-timbered houses of La Doutre
The secluded medieval quarter next to the castle is called La Cité, and, being inhabited by wealthy clergymen, many of whom were aristocrats, was once surrounded by its own wall.
Bits of this wall remain encrusted among the houses, and this curious round tower which now stands on a main avenue, just below the Cathedral and across the street from Angers' new shopping center, is one of them.
The quiet streets of La Cité...
Maison d'Adan, one of the largest medieval houses in existence. It is famous for the wooden sculptures which decorate its criss-crossed timbers. It is called House of Adam because of the figures of Adam and Eve represented in the carvings.
Le Pont de Verdun is the bridge which connects the center of the city, with the castle (seen in the background) to La Doutre. It is the only ancient bridge of the city - the other two were made of wood and burned or collapsed before being rebuilt in our times.
Angers was once protected by a wall which surrounded both sides of the city. To prevent enemies from entering via the river, two chains were stretched each night between the walls on each bank. The one upstream was the High Chain, "Haute Chaine", and the downstream one was the Low Chain, or "Basse Chaîne". Later the chains were replaced by bridges. In this picture, we can see the Pont de la Haute Chaine, at the end of the Quai Monge.
The River Maine is only a few miles long, formed by the convergence of the Sarthe and the Mayenne just upstream from the city, and emptying into the Loire a few miles down from it. The name "Maine" is an ancient contraction of "Mayenne", perhaps created to give the Angers stretch a name of its own.
We would take our folding chairs to the charming port of Bouchemaine, the meeting point of the rivers, to cool off during that very warm summer of 2005. Here is Wijjie, with her hands folded over the lump developing in her middle...
he joining of the waters... and the toes!
Not far from our garret was a small but magnificent park called Jardin des Plantes. It was a botanical garden during the 18th century but in the 19th was transformed into a romantic English-style garden open to the public. I would walk Valentino there almost every day.
The land once belonged to the Abbey of Saint Serge, visible in the background. The adjacent Gothic church contains the extraordinary Plantaganet Chapel, with the finest ceilings ever built - you might call them stone umbrellas!
We revisited Angers recently and took August for a walk in this delightful place. He seems to have discovered something on the ground which is more to his liking, though...
Saint Malo, Brittany, June 2005
Since Angers is on the southern edge of Brittany, we made several excursions there and in neighbouring Normandy. In June we visited Saint Malo and the Mont Saint Michel.
Saint Malo is the largest fortified seaport in the world, entirely surrounded by ramparts. Wijjie can be seen here on the beach, doing you-know-what...
...and Lorenzo can be seen at this outdoor bistro on the ramparts, also doing you-know-what! To each his weakness - mine is raw oysters, and this part of France has the best.
They used to send them from here to Versailles, for the informal suppers of Louis XV and his friends.
Mont Saint Michel, Normandy
It's so famous that there's no point saying anything about it - except that the pointed spire was added in the 19th century to make the monastery look more Gothic, and that there are plans to remove the unsightly and unecological parking lot...
view of saint michel with parking lot
a village on the River Loire, near Nantes...
One of our favourite treats when we lived in Angers was to drive down the river to the tiny village called La Pierre Percée, just before reaching Nantes and the mouth of the Loire. Here lives my dear old friend Annick who used to sell my postcards in her boutique on Rue Mouffetard, in the early 1980's. It is a very peaceful place... We recently returned to spend a delightful although not precisely peaceful afternoon with her .
August goes fishing with his toy rod and reel.
The Loire is born in the highlands of southern Auvergne and wends its way north and west across France towards the Atlantic.
Annick lives in the houe in the middle above the dike, which was built to contain the Loire when it floods.
Here we are at a riverside pub a few steps downstream from chez Annick, specializing in beers from all around the world and cleverly called La Bière Percée... August is offering some bread to Annick, to have with her sausage...
