Azay: 'spectacle' & interiors

Renaissance chimney brest

When we went to Azay-le-Rideau on Sunday with our friend Jane we were curious to see what we would remember of our visit in 1992. 

As we drove from Chinon to Azay we recounted to Jane how we'd been en route to a gite in the Périgord Noir and had stopped so that we could visit Azay and Fontevraud l'abbaye. 

room furnished in 19th century style

We saw Azay twice in '92, once during the day to see the chateau and again in the evening for a 'spectacle' the chateau put on every night during the tourist season. We loved the chateau and throughly enjoyed exploring it. Pocket-sized - for a chateau anyway- it is beautiful but not over imposing.

one of many beautiful tapestries

In the '70s my parents had seen the 'son et lumiere' at Vézelay: a dramatic and historic retelling of its history and supported by light show of the historic church. The French narrator had really brought events to life. So a couple of years later they took the teenaged me to the 'son et lumiere' at Chambord, the 1st of the Loire chateau I ever visited. It too was excellent and I really enjoyed it. Years later I waxed lyrical to Niall when we planned our stop in Azay. So we got tickets to the 'spectacle'. 

Sadly the it turned out to be quite different to the 'son et lumiere'....all we can remember is 3 actors rowing a boat on the lake declaiming their lines and a 'historical' storyline which gave us fits of the giggles. There was more than a whiff of an under-rehearsed school play.

newly restored roof beams, attic floor

On Sunday we found the outside of the chateau and grounds familiar but neither of us remembered anything about the rooms or the furnishings which are lovely. As you move from room to room the furnishings advance through the centuries the chateau has been in existence and everywhere you look you'll see the personal badge of the early 16th century French king, Francois 1er--a salamander.

Francois 1er's badge; the salamander

The family who transformed Azay from a medieval fortress guarding the road from Tours to Chinon into an Italianate Renaissance chateau had served the king as financial ministers and advisors; hence the badge.  An added bonus is the recently restored attic which showcases the fantastic beams which support the roof.

Azay-le-Rideau and weather sprites

rainy street in Azay-le-Rideau

Sunday morning it was greyish and showery, but the meteo promised better later on. We remained sceptical; the heavens opened as we drove down our drive -- oh joy -- another sudden short but drenching shower. We were on our way to Chinon and Azay-le-Rideau well armed with 2 cameras and 3 umbrellas.

We'd asked Jane which of the chateaux she would like to visit and the choice had fallen on Azay; or Villandry, if the sun came out, as it has such lovely gardens. We hadn't been to either for years and years so were intrigued to see how much we remembered. We decided to make a final decision when we got to Chinon. That way we could drive through some of the vineyards as well as find some lunch and give the weather time to improve.

chateau's gilded stable roof

We drove via Ligeuil, Ste Maure-en-Touraine and L'Ile-Buchard where we stopped at a boulangerie which was still open and bought things for a quick picnic lunch. We already had fruit and mineral water in the car. Just as we left L'Ile-Buchard the sky turned purple-green and another drenching shower crashed down--not very encouraging.

Azay-le-Rideau 'floating' on its lake

Ever optimistic, we drove on to Chinon via the smaller D road on the north bank of the Vienne river. By the time we got there the shower had cleared and we were able to to sit on a bench on the south side of the river directly opposite the royal fortress of Chinon with the sun cheering us up. We were just finishing the last bit of bread and the fruit large when 'plops' of rain began to fall and we beat a hasty retreat to the car.

blue skies outside!

The decision was made--we would go to Azay-le-Rideau; it just wasn't the weather for rambling round the gardens at Villandry.

Arriving in the town we found a parking spot in the square and as it was still spitting we  found a cafe and had large basins of café au lait to warm us up before walking down to the chateau. You'd think we were posting about a visit in April, not August!!

Jane's treat!

However, France being France the weather can change at the drop of a (rain)hat. We had barely gone in queued for our tickets and entered the grounds or the clouds broke and it became sunny. Just look at the 

photos. The one of a street in Azay was taken only a matter of 5 or 10 mins before the one of the gilded roof!

 

After visitng the interior we went for a little walk round the gardens and by then people were sitting on the grass enjoying the sun. We even had a chilled drink before we drove home.

A visitor's view

restaurant in the Vallée Coquette

On Thursday we picked up our good friend Jane from the TGV station in Tours/St Pierre des Corps. We all worked at an international school in The Hague in the late 1990's.

Jane had worked in France as an undergraduate, but does not know the Touraine/Loire area so we have been showing her the sights.

village of Le Grand Pressigny

Leaving the train station we headed for Vouvray and had lunch in a troglodyte restaurant in the Vallée Coquette called 'Les Gueules Noires'. It used to have another name and we have eaten there before but it is now under new ownership. Some changes have been made--one which Jane, as a vegetarian, found sympathetic was that they offered a super vegetarian option in the choice of starters and created a grilled veggie platter for her mains. A nice change from the ubiquitous omelette.

Creuse river at La Guerche

Yesterday we had a mostly lazy day around the house with a short tour of the local area after lunch.

Today despite the poor weather--the rain will just not go away--we went to Loches market and had a look around the medieval quarter.

buttons, buttons, buttons on Loches market

on the way up to medieval quarter, Loches

tomb of Agnes Sorel in St Ours church

Hopefully tomorrow and Monday the weather will be a bit better as Jane flies back to the UK Monday evening. Fingers crossed....

Decartes & Demarcation

a pensive René

On Tuesday we drove over to Decartes, birthplace of the famous philosopher René Decartes. In fact the town was originally called La Haye and only renamed later in honour of its famous son. We were meeting a colleague at a cafe on the square in front of the marie for a hand-over of teaching and course materials. Decartes was a convienient meeting place --roughly 1/2 way between Charnizay and N's home. N had taught the students last year in premiere [11th grade/lower 6th] and now Antoinette is going to take them into Terminal [12th grade/upper 6th]. While Antoinette and N talked 'shop': English and literature; Niall went off to look into historical matters.

other René who died for his faith

In the church of St George he spotted a small memorial plaque to René Guérin who was a courageous fellow. An oil [vegetable/ walnut?] merchant  from the village of Cussay he is reputed to have shouted "to the devil with the Republic!"and shot at horsemen who came into his village to destroy the symbols of the Catholic religion. Presumably he had become fed up with the Revolution and thought himself safe enough to be able to voice his annoyance. Sadly for him this turned out not to be the case. He was guillotined on 14th February 1793.

Demarcation Line in Descartes

earlier Demarcation Line near Le Petit Pressigny

Decartes also played a role in more recent history. The 'Ligne de Démarcation' ran through it. This line separated Occupied France from Vichy France in World War II and all along it's length there were crossing points but it was porous. Last autumn we went to an excellent exhibition about the Demarcation Line in the Logis Royal in Loches. At Decartes people were able to slip across unofficially. One exhibit explained how the football field played a key role. Apparantly it was on the line and  the players in each team were in a state of flux, or perhaps there were just a lot of successful substitutions....

In very late 1940 they re-drew the Demarcation Line settling on its definitive location at Decartes. Between us and Decartes it originally ran outside of Le Petit Pressigny on the way to Le Grand Pressigny, a matter of roughly 7km from Charnizay.

Windows

ladies at prayer, left

Today is a 'dreich' day as they say in Scotland. Grey overcast skies with smatterings of intermittent rain. Not really what one wants in August at the height of the summer season. We even had a desk lamp on earlier this morning! 

At the moment we are doing a bit of 'thoroughing', another good Scots word, meaning cleaning, as Thursday we pick up a friend from the TGV station at St Pierrre des Corps. She's flying in from Edinbugh to stay with us for a few days prior to going off in September on an 8 month round the world jaunt. 

Anjou coats of arms & hard working cherubs

To counteract the grey we thought we'd post some photos we took of the lovely glass in the church of Mézieres-en-Brenne. A while ago Ken, whose blog Living the Life in St Aignan we read, posted about the place and as stained glass naturally grabs our interest we went to have a look ourselves. 

smart blue suits

 The Anjous, whose chapel it is, were a wealthy royal family offshoot and it shows in the quality of the chapel carvings, glass and misericords--more of them some other time, there were some beautiful examples.

I went, it is fair to say, a bit snap happy as we took the 'good' camera. I'm slowly getting to grips with the bells and whistles on our Canon 500D and all the glass, and especially the use of amazing blues turned me into an accurate imitation of a child in a candy store! It's the advantage of a digital camera--you can snap like mad.

St Antony's pig peering round his robe

The jewel-like colours set against the white stone really made the chapel glow--just what is needed to brighten up a grey day.






PS: about 1 1/2hrs after we posted this the 'dreich' changed to sunny spells with rumbling thunder showers.....ah weather!