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Published: September 21st 2022
Today was a clothes washing day and Tim decided to check out how the washing machine works. He worked it out alright. He set it going on a non reversible cycle with nothing inside ; just a test run.
We left the machine to clean itself for an hour, and wandered out to the Tours Weekly Outdoor Food Market. It was a hot sunny day, perfect for getting your washing dry, if you had any to dry, but equally good for just soaking up some rays and buying fresh veges, a cooked chicken, and some melon for dessert; how decadent.
A friendly café near the market had three cappuccinos with our names on them, so we found a corner table overlooking the street and placed an order, a little wary of how a cappuccino is interpreted by the Guatemalan ladies who run the place. It was perfecto. Sue had a homemade chocolate chip cookie with hers while Tim and I shared an oversized local tart. These are caramel based and we are told they’re the go to cake in Tours. Either way it was yummy.
Tim had ambitions to put Sue and me on the local tourist train that ran from
Place Plumereau
This Square was used as a fruit market, and the shops housed artisan trades with accommodation in the upper level.
The buildings date back to the 15th and 16th centuries and since 1973 have been protected by preservation orders.the Tourist Information Office, quite a walk away. You know the ones. Those little open train, dragging daggy tourists all over town, showing the highlights without any effort on our part. We love ‘em.
As we approached the office, 10 minutes early, an empty train passed us heading the other way. Yes, that’s correct, our train had left early. Tim was pretty distraught that the opportunity to get rid of us for 40 minutes had literally just left the station, but on the bright side, I had another 16€ to spend on pastries. If this continues, when we fly home, I will be excess baggage.
I think if I can’t control or alter an average situation, why worry about it? A lesson learnt later in life; don’t sweat the small stuff.
After filling up on coffee and cake, we had no plans except to head towards anything that looked interesting.
Passage de Pelerins, a street deemed as part of the Camino De Santiago, and located next to a large mural painted on a wall of St Martin of Tours cutting a piece of his clock off to give to a beggar.
St Martin, also known as Martin the Merciful,
Tours Main Road
With tramlines up the middle was a Roman , born in 336AD, originally served in the Roman cavalry in Gaul and was a late convert to Christianity. He became the third Bishop of Tours and was a famous saint in France.
And his Church was over the road.
And he was buried in a Crypt below it.
Good reason to have a visit.
I think the crypt was the most interesting feature of the church, and it is the last remaining part of the original church on the site that was destroyed years earlier. It is a deep vaulted room with curved stone, decorated with engravings of relevant occasions and references to St Martin, on every stone. The floors were beautiful, colourful intricate tile aisles, and regardless of your religious leanings, or not, it’s a very softly lit special space.
We hadn’t eaten for an hour so it must be lunch time. The creperie next to the church didn’t seem too far to walk , so we were seated at an outside table by a waitress who was clearly sick of her job. No frills, no courtesies; I was surprised she didn’t just drop the plates on the table, chewing gum (
she wasn’t), just as you see in some comedy shows. The food was excellent. I had a jamon and mushroom main, with a sweet caramel crepe as dessert. We paid for a set menu and you almost had to coax the coffee side of the deal out of her. It was one of those places you’d still go back to, because the food was so good. And inexpensive. We all know those places.
Sue was ready for break so we dropped her back home and, at Tim’s recommendation, the two of us went to the Musée du Compagnonnage, a museum dedicated to the history and the ancient system of training and encouraging the transfer of knowledge of trades in a spirit of companionship.
These trade journeymen used to complete their apprenticeship by travelling to different regions, and were housed in residences with designated mothers, following strict rules and initiation rituals, that eventually see them emerge as master craftsmen. This form of training was popular in the 13th century, as a way of having teams moving from cathedral to cathedral, using the same tradesmen, hence the companionship aspect, but faded out in the middle of the 19th century due to the
Tours Outdoor Food Market
Held weekly in conjunction with the full time indoor market advent of trade unions, industrialisation , and a different apprenticeship system.
In recent years, young people have embraced this traditional method of learning, and now include international travel and working as part of their apprenticeship.
I recall that, back in 1981, I picked up a young man hitchhiking between Canberra and Yass in NSW, and he was travelling to gain experience and knowledge for his carpentry apprenticeship. He was dressed in a toned down way that they traditionally dressed, but still bore some traits of the old dress code, just to pay homage to those who went before him. It was fascinating to hear him explain the philosophy of his German apprenticeship, and how he hoped to find appropriate work in Australia. I wouldn’t suggest that this is common, and it was 40 years ago, but that 25 year old German apprentice‘s story has stuck with me. It was more thorough than the trades here, and he would qualify as a true artisan.
Well, that has today covered. Tomorrow it’s a slow start, and then we’ll visit two castles in the afternoon. One is a well preserved medieval castle, so I’m looking forward to seeing it.
Goodnight.
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