A day in Chinon

What a treat - our favourite place so far.
Below shows the shop where I have picked up a few small treasures. The quality of the traders in this small town is amazing. We spent so long wandering about that we didn't even get to the fortress. So that is for another day.

On the approaches to the town, which is on the Loire.....

At one of the 'caves' - cellar doors, in town, buying wine

 

Some shots of the town

 M. Darth Vadeur aka a chimney cover

Le chat sur le toit

A glass of the local (very dry and good) rosé

Had a couple of those and bought a few to bring back to Jarzé

Then in the next village....

The chrysanthemum fairy strikes again.

This one's for Sasha Bellamy

Another of the last shot of the day

Last shot for the night

...and it's goodnight from him and it's goodnight from moi

Himself says "balanced, but not Photoshopped"

Very French

The view through the open doorway (no door) from the street in a hamlet nearby

On a more aesthetic note:
Chrysanthemums are THE flower in France for All Saints Day (Day of the Dead in Mexico, as some "Followers" will have experienced with us in 2008) - Nov 1st.
They are traditionally grown as balls of flower, but towns sometimes do a display in a hanging formation.
Everyone has them - and in fact we have one in our sitting room here. Lovely.

They are growing vines on the ramparts of the castle at Angers and actually grow them on the roundabouts too.

For those of you who think he's not here.....

For the Marks family - doesn't this remind you of grandfather Marks standing in front of the water tank? Same stance.

A visit to Angers - the Jean Lurcat Exposition

What a treat we had in Angers. This wonderful tapestry exhibition of Jean Lurcat's work is breathtaking - and so beautifully displayed.

Can't wait to go back.

Outside there is a garden. I have topiary envy.

Here's one for Jeffrey Thomson - fancy having ago on this?

No doubt there will be more to come on this spectacular church, walking distance from the 11th century moated castle in Angers, which in itself will rate a few photos. Himself busy sorting them out now.....and there's a few to sort as you may imagine.

We had lovely lunch of grilled flank of beef (not a cut we get in OZ) at which café there was this sign for my favourite french fizzy drink.

As they say - bottoms up ! or Salut !

For those of you who have been having problems leaving a comment

I have had a couple of messages saying that there has been a difficulty leaving a comment. I Googled the problem and hopefully have set the site so it now works.
If anyone wants to give it a go as a test I would be grateful.
Ta and bientot
Patricia

Are you bored yet?????

I hope not, because here's a whole lot more. We have had a very busy weekend!
Another couple of reflections on the Loire, having left Villandry.

Saturday morning shopping at Saumur's market.  What a fish stall!

 This is for rent - anyone interested? Obviously not the stall holder who is busy counting her monnaie.

 A few local mushrooms. After all it is October and that is the festival season for funghi.

 How French are they? Locals shopping for food. Well, actually, talking more than shopping.

 Do I look as though I wish he would stop taking photos? Don't mean to!

 Dried sausage in many flavours.

Then Himself had a haircut. I took a photo of that event, but he sent me this for the blog instead.
Funny about that.

 This is the driveway for a Petit Chateau of no particular significance.....

 ...it didn't even warrant a photo. However this is the view that the people coming out of the front door have. A lot of the important houses of the various areas had a road leading straight to the church.

 Home once more for Saturday evening supper.

Back to Saumur on Sunday for the brocante (collectables and things you think that you cannot live without).  Not a lot on offer, although I had my eye on a rusty elephant, but this snap emerged. The sky reflected in a public building next to the market.
 
  This is the view from the bridge on the way in.

On the way home we went by the smallest roads we could find and stumbled across a vide grenier  Trans. "empty the barn" - (car boot to the English and garage sale to the Aussies). A strange sight in the middle of nowhere. This one is an annual event in Vieullé and I think that we were the only non French there. They were as amazed as we were.

A view of the vide grenier over the asparagus fields. It was over quite a big area and there were hundreds of people and about 70 stalls. We bought smoked pork off the bone, rillettes and pate, a kilo of fat red plums and a very old rusty wire horse muzzle (to stop it eating too much).
As one does.......

To think that they were going to demolish Villandry

Symmetry reigns at Villandry.

As it is Halloween shortly - this is in the courtyard of the Chateau Villandry

A perfect place to take afternoon tea. In the drawing room of the chateau.

But wait, there's more......

and below - Reflections in the Loire River

The garden at Chateau Villandry

...and another