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Published: September 22nd 2022
Last night after dinner, Tim and I took a short night walk around the Old Town to check out the scene and see if how the place looks under lights. Our ambitions exceeded our energy levels, so it was cut back, trimmed, and we were back home in 40 minutes. There’s a few pictures up but it’s worth noting that on Wednesday night, the Plaza was buzzing. Tonight is our last in Tours so we’ll join the crowds for a few drinks and a meal. I better get this thing squared away early.
Well, it’s the last day here, right. So breakfast becomes a combination of things that are never normally mentioned together, let alone eaten together, but we have a fridge to empty. I certainly covered all the food groups and that’s enough said about that.
Getting dressed didn’t go much better; I put a sock on one foot and a shoe on the other, ready for the day.
I’m blaming breakfast. We’ll see how the day pans out.
The car was only a short walk away, in a free spot Tim found last night. The plan today is to visit two castles, one medieval, and the
other considered to be the ultimate fairy tale castle. I’m not pointing out which is which to you. You’ll work it out.
Chateau D’Azay-Le-Rideau, now identified as A-L-R because I don’t want to type the name ever again, was the first, as it’s a busy tourist spot and we needed to be there early. In France, that’s about 10am.
In France 9.30am is the new 7am, Australian time. All the cafe owners are unenthusiasticly dragging out their chairs, kicking tables into the right spot, only stopping to look up the laneways and draw on another cigarette. A guy in full black denim , hunched over looking at the ground, his hands so deep in his front pockets , he could scratch his knee, appears to be looking for a doorway to curl up into. Teenagers, laughing, smoking, and playfully knocking into each other, are either looking for an early opener, or might be headed home so mum can cook them breakfast . Through all this, busy, well groomed old ladies with shopping trolleys and floral scarves, split the pack and walk straight through everyone.
All of this happens on freshly washed down cobblestone streets, to the sweet smell of
the nearest patisserie. Even the odour of cigarettes can’t dampen our moods.
Anyway, back to A-L-R. This 16th century Castle is said to be one of the most beautiful Renaissance architectural marvels along the Loire Valley. There’s plenty of pics so I’m not going to comment too much. I just love looking at these extraordinary building feats. It’s the how that I don’t get. It’s built on a natural island, I’m not seeing a quarry anywhere nearby, so that’s my conundrum; how. I do know the timber beamed roof was milled by hand in one go at a forest approved by the King, but some of this timber must be 600mm x800mm in size. That’s a tree in itself. And they are 11 metres long.
The only other thing I will make you aware of, is that certain exhibition rooms, unknown to the visitors, are fitted with those laser beam security systems. If it is breached, an announcement goes through the castle, identifying the room, and could people not breach the roped areas, by body or some other apparatus. Well, how dare they. It was only the ridiculously long stick that I use with my 360 Camera.
Anyway,
I don’t care; it’s all French to me. Ha. Tim passed on the good news though. Check out the picture over the dining room table. It’s unique. I’m only doing it for you so support my Go Fund Me bail appeal if I ever get caught .
By the time we had seen everything at A-L-R, and after I snuck out through the back door, it was lunch time. Tim and Sue made the wise choice of Quiche Lorraine, well I stayed with the cheese and jamón baguette. I eyed them jealousy, but I had a trump card up my sleeve, a caramel and pecan tart. I wish someone would stop me.
The last Castle of the day was only 20 min away, and it was the Chateau Langeais, rebuilt in 1465 by Lois XI. The original fortress was built around 1000ad but was raised to the ground in 1428 by Charles VII during the Hundred Years War. I won’t go into too much history, because frankly, I really don’t know much about it, and I’m lifting it from the Web. Unlike others we have visited, it was a fortified castle and overlooks the medieval village of Langeais. There
was obviously no security system, and the amazing part about all of these places, is that irreplaceable artworks and original 14th century tapestries are displayed, hanging unprotected in every room. Thankfully people seem to respect them.
Langeais is also a welcoming castle for school groups to visit, and have activities and a playground for children to walk through history. The classes I saw were all young primary school children, who behaved and, except for one who temporarily went missing on the last count before leaving, did what their teachers told them. One teacher questioned me about this strange camera I had, and then called the kids into a group to explain its use. Bit embarrassing. As I filmed through a hole in the 10th century fortress wall, the school kids and teachers were waving and yelling something out to me. I waved back and assumed that some of the kids expected a reply, but I have no idea what the were saying. What a great way to learn history. I have a grandson who would be glued to every word spoken. The youngest one would probably just want to throw rocks at stuff. He’s only three.
After walking up
The Treasurer’s House.
Squeezed in between two larger buildings, the Treasurer of the Church of St Martin, a very influential position and down medieval spiral staircases, four storeys up, four storeys , down , - which is particularly tough on Sue’s crunchy knees - we had a medieval caramel ice cream at the shop across the road.
As I mentioned earlier, we are heading out for dinner tonight - I’m slowly working my way through the food in the fridge that will be thrown out - so I opted to be dropped off at the river and walk back, leaving Sue with Tim to visit a local winery. I think I got the better deal there, but not many would agree with me there. I like to think Andrew would. Well, I’ll get some pics up, and tomorrow is our biggest drive. We are heading south to Bordeaux, having lunch and a break there, and then continuing south east to Toulouse , where we will spend the night and check out the sights. There’s some great places we’ll visit along the way, so I’ll try to keep up.
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