This is quite complicated to explain

In Angers we went to the Musée des Beaux Arts and this exhibition was on.
Absolutely mindbending.
Artists: Loriot & Mélia
"Vu-pas-vu"

DM says, and I quote:

"Incredibly clever, innovative and fresh. I have attached a few snaps to try to explain. Difficult.

Here's the deal. The single source of light shines on the broken bits of glass on the floor and.......

....via a series of precisely placed mirror 'chips', reflect the 'shadows' of some of those bits, up onto the ceiling, directly above, to reconstruct......

  

          a perfect image of the bottle. Bloody genius, I tell you."

The whole exhibition consists of Heath Robinson type machines turning cogs and wheels or using pumps and air to make strategically placed bits of rubbish or specific art pieces project recognizable images on to the walls.


This becomes an image of a man's head....

 ...and this is how it is done.  The suspended light moves very slightly back and forth in the air from the air conditioning and animates the head, as though it is moving left and right.

 Literally all done with mirrors!




This is a latex glove inflated by an aquarium pump

More to come  - later I think

This one shows Jonathan & Felicity Dawson on hols with Dora's cousin

Dora gets car sick so she send her French cousin Dicque

Angers once more

We discovered the very centre, having been distracted before by the monuments etc.
DM calls this one "tree frog"

...and on a more irreverent note

 

So they did have a sense of humour in the 16th century

More beautiful trees

DM has put his own take on the colourful beauty

Richlieu Brocantes

Nov 1st - All Souls Day - a perfect excuse for a public holiday (bank holiday). So off we go to Richlieu once more to the antiques & collectables do in the square and in Les Halles

Beutuful oak table with 6 drawers each side for individual place settings

In Les Halles a not too shabby clock for 300 euros. You would pay twice that for the case alone in OZ!

 This is the stall where we bought........

....one of these - see arrow.  Hand made by the stallholder from old Opinel knives. Jonathan Dawson came to mind. DM reckons he's going to carve great chunks of lamb with his.

Not what you find at a car boot.....

Very posh

Wide shot of Richlieu town square

I'm sorry to be going on about the scenery all the time, but......

....it is nothing short of spectacular.
Below is a farmhouse on the way south. Many skies here for you Geoffrey Dyer !

This is a winery where you can visit their "cave"

Another day out in Chinon (of course) and this time we did make it to the fortress. It is where Elinor of Aquitaine was imprisoned by her husband King Henry the second for 15 years. And pretty bleak it would have been too. However the fortress has been restored and just finished this year, and it has a pretty amazing video presentation projected on the limestone fireplace in the Royal Quarters.
Having said that - they could do with Bob Blasdall for a few hours to edit the interminable re-enactment scenes in the projections all over the fortress.

The weed garden can be given a miss, I feel. Not something to my taste. Not for nothing do the French call them "wicked plants".

Views from the fortress

Then we had a late lunch in the square in Chinon plus a couple of glasses of rosé - all absolutely delicious, grilled chèvre cheese has always been a favourite of mine.

Another wander around and late afternoon we headed south to Richlieu (named after the Cardinal) which was a huge surprise. It is a moated (now dry) walled town and laid out in 1610, it was set out as the perfect plan for a town. It is like finding a little patch of Parisian backstreets in the middle of the country. It has a huge square which we are returning to tomorrow as there will be a huge brocante there with stalls selling second hand goods. Les Halles there is still the original wooden building next to the square. The church occupies exactly the same layout on the opposite side of the square. Everything balances. It's sort of like a small attractive Canberra, laid out by a 17th century aesthete.

The other reason to return is the tea shop there, where we forced down a late afternoon tea. DM had Tarte Tatin and Darjeeling and I had Lapsang Souchong and a chocolate fondant fairy cake with a runny hot centre. Yummo!
For those of you who have had afternoon tea at Queenies in Brisbane - it's nothing like that.

It is sooooooo much better. You can buy any of the antiques and they have the biggest range of the Durance home range of candles and room sprays I have ever seen. I am going to buy the "Polished Leather " one tomorrow I have decided, having sprayed some in the air, then ended up smelling like a freshly polished leather armchair all the way home. The place oozes quality and refinement, oddly enough run by a rather skinny gentleman dressed in black leather wearing knee high leather boots and who is the proud owner of two fats pugs.

The fresh fig tart ready to be demolished

Another drive home in the fading light.

Snaps of our little abode and a short drive

Here is the front door of our little house at Le Bignon and close up of the grapes. This wing of the house used to be the coach house.

We had a lazy day but this afternoon we went for a short drive to get our Baguette Traditonel (the French are obsessed with fresh bread and we have started the local habit - a new loaf for each meal)
and we saw these lovely sights.

.....and this is what we had for lunch - half eaten so it looks a bit messy. Genuine and very tasty merguez bought at Les Halles in Tours and a chevre tart

This is one of the "aires" that the authorities provide as a resting place for tired drivers.
Beats the hell out of the BP Roadhouse