Langeais Chateau

We visited Langeais Chateau largely for the interior furnishings, late Medieval and Renaissance, to fit the chateau's hey-day. It was most impressive, particularly the 15th and 16th century tapestries. For now--I'm way behind--I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Langeais Market And Surprise Lunch

Where we parked soon began filling up with cars and people getting out carrying large bags; and thus we discerned we were in the parking lot for the weekly market. Always a good thing.

And right on the way to the chateau, too

Watching the caning guy cane

It was a large market in a small town, all the usual food plus a good deal of general merchandise

So after we did the chateau, which was great (next post), Vicki bought a poulet roti and fixins' for a nice Sunday repast; only thing was, it turned out to be canard roti; always ask by name, we have resolved...and look at the thing

Best Gothic Bridge Ever, So Far

So next day we are en route to Langeais and the chateau there, when we approach the River and see what has to be the best Gothic bridge ever, so far.

On the bridge; we crossed and parked so I could walk back and study this thing

En route to the bridge, I am passed by the Tour de Jour (Sunday; Dimanche)

Thus

Down, off the levee, the bridge comes into view

I notice the stairs up the levee are actually a measuring stick for flood, or inundation...

Six meters above flood would not be good

Anyhow, the bridge, nice towers, pointed arches

The vaulting may be more recent, however

Saint Genet

Fontveraud's other famous inmate, when the abbey was turned into a prison, was the petty criminal and writer Jean Genet, whom Sartre "canonized" in his 1950s Saint Genet. I read Saint Genet in my senior year in high school, and Our Lady of the Flowers, and probably others works by Genet such as were in translation in 1965. And probably understood very little. My senior thesis in English was going to be on Genet, but I never wrote it. Miss Dunning generously let me pass senior English anyway, and I graduated and later did write some other things. I never thought about Genet in later years and have no clue now--except for the usual adolescent rebelliousness or ostentatiousness--of why I was interested in the first place. Anyway, I think the folks at Fontveraud have taken Sartre way too literally. There are references to Genet all over, his books are all in the gift shoppe, and there is a major shrine to Genet in the prison exhibit in the abbey. French intellectual life is a continuing source of amazement. Perhaps it's because he was so flamboyantly gay, which might not be regarded as so outrageous nowadays...

Abbaye de Fontevraud

Our first major stop after leaving Angers was the Abbeye de Fontevraud, a 12th century abbey, hospital, church, and in the 19th and 20th centuries, a state prison. It is most famous as the final resting place for the Plantagenets, Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Richard the Lion Heart.

Entrance to Fontevraud, quite a large complex, founded in
the 11th

The church, 12th century

Interior; quite large; surprisingly bright for the paucity of
windows; Plantagenet style; not way high

Richard the Lion Heart, Henry and Eleanor's famous son;
next to him the wife of one of his younger brothers whose
name I did not quite catch

Eleanor and Henry 

Interestingly, Eleanor is resting a good half foot higher than
Henry; well, she presided over Fontevraud in her later years,
and designed the tombs herself; she and Henry loathed each
other, yet managed to have four sons; perhaps she's higher
because she was both queen of England and before that
queen of France (it's a long story); she was certainly one
of the leading figures of the age; he is remembered chiefly
for having Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered;
this latter has at least given rise to great literature and a great
movie, of special meaning to us

Apse and altar

Exterior; bow

In one of the halls of the huge cloister

Fontevraud is unique in being the only French abbey with
a roller coaster in the cloister; seriously, this is what I mean
by filling up empty space with contemporary art, and
sometimes it does not work; a few manicured shrubs, flowers,
and a fountain, even a religious sculpture, would have
worked for me; instead you have this ugly wooden thing,
the only point of which is to allow you to better view the
featureless walls, windows, and roofing

Nice Green Man in a hall off the cloister

The abbey dorm area is another case in point, but this time,
I think, it does work; it's a huge empty area; the art work is
a very long row of red neon lights hanging down,
accompanied by tinkly chimey music that wisps through
sort of randomly; on the floor are padded little coffins
(Vicki says they are boats), where you can rest and take it
all in and experience the art and perhaps try to imagine what
it must have been like to have been an inmate here...

So there I am, experiencing the reddish gloom
and the irksome tinkling, trying to imagine
what it must be like to be an actor in a
vampire movie; we were there a good 15
minutes and absolutely no one else tried the
boat/coffin experience

The Refectory; said to be one of the largest of Medieval
secular buildings; no comparison, IMHO, with the Hospital
St. Jean in Angers

The great, octagonal, wondersome kitchen at
Fontevraud, one of its best sights, and
perhaps the best surviving example of such
a mass kitchen

Inside the kitchen, looking up to the central
and (count 'em) sixteen other chimneys