Je Fais de Velo (I do the bicycle)

One of my personal goals while in France was to explore the countryside on my bicycle. I pictured myself riding a vintage (second-hand) Getane or Motobecane road bike through classic French scenery that you see during the coverage of the Tour de France. It turns out that bicycling in France is not what I envisioned. Fortunately, I asked for advice before I bought a bike. 

One thing that I've learned is that the French love to be asked to render their expert opinion ... about anything and everything. All of the "experts" told me that I would be crazy to purchase a road bike unless I planned to enter races. I now have a German-made hybrid bike with semi-fat tires. 

The entry to our garden from Rue de Harpe

The "experts" told me that the roads are too rough and the bike trails are too soft for a road bike with skinny tires ... and they were right. I find that I am mostly riding on unpaved bike trails and when I do ride on the roads, they threaten to knock the fillings out of my teeth. Having a wider tire improves the ride and reduces the chance that my wheel will get caught by the cobblestones or streetcar tracks.

Many of the streets in Angers are cobblestones, including the street in front of our house. When it is dry, it is a very bumpy ride.  Bronwyn's bike seat has springs and a suspension and sometimes I find myself envying her comfort. When it is wet, the cobblestones are as slippery as ice. To further complicate things, many of the urban streets have rails for the street car. 

Outside of the old part of the city, there are lots of excellent bike paths following the multitude of former towpaths along the many rivers, but many of these paths quickly turn into muddy rutted bike trails. Not a good place for a road bike with skinny tires.

Of course, there are also some glorious bike trails that appear to be the remains of ancient roads and tow paths. Within a three blocks of our house I can hop onto a bike path that parallels the Maine River. If I follow the path south, after about 20 km it connects with a network of bike trails along the Loire River. 

Former railroad bridge (the only bridge over the river not destroyed during WWII) enables bikes and pedestrians to cross the river and return on the opposite side of the river.

If I follow the bike path north from Angers, the path repeatedly splits to follow the many rivers feeding the Maine River. Although the bike trails are not always well marked, fortunately the French put signage for boats along the rivers like highways so you can figure out where you are by reading the signs for the boats.

The best part about riding along the bicycle paths, other than the beauty of the scenery, is that you see all kinds of things that you would never see from the road, 

such as a team of military engineers erecting a pontoon bridge (south of Angers) and all types of "houseboats" semi-permanently moored to the shore. 

Van with washer and dryer

Along the river on the north side of town, there are a series of what appear to be camps of Roma or other traveling people (generally known in French as "Tsiganes"). When I rode by the camps in the morning, young girls were retrieving buckets of water from the steaming river (at the time I was too surprised by the sight to take pictures).  Later, I observed all kinds of ingenious adaptations to a nomadic, tribal lifestyle including communal generators, large tents for meetings, and a van that was outfitted with a washer and dryer.  Apparently French law requires that cities provide a place for Tsiganes to camp that is separate from the campgrounds provided for tourists.  A couple of days after I took these pictures, all of the trailers were gone and the only trace was one broken lawn chair and a lot of muddy tire tracks.

Bicycling in France is not what I expected, but it is certainly interesting. If I can just learn to speak a little bit better maybe I can start having real conversations with the people I meet while cycling.

Patrimone Weekend

 

Abbaye Ronceray

Patrimone Weekend is a great idea that we ought to copy in the United States. One weekend each year many museums and historical buildings open their doors to the public and allow people to visit free of charge. In addition, there are musical performances, art exhibits, lectures and various other activities. Some buildings that are normally vacant, have special temporary exhibits. The idea is to inspire an appreciation for the rich culture and history of France.

In Angers, and particularly the neighborhood where we live, this means that there are crowds of people walking through the streets enjoying events on the street and getting to see the inside of buildings that usually either are closed to the public or charge an admission fee. It is difficult to tell what is on the other side of the walls of medieval buildings so it has been fun to get to see the inside of the courtyards and homes around us, as well as parts of well known tourist attractions that are usually off-limits.

Because of the abundance of historical buildings in Angers, many buildings have been used for many different purposes over the years so it is interesting to see how they have been reconfigured for various uses. For example, an abbey that is down the hill from us (Abbaye Ronceray), which was constructed beginning in 1028, has been used since 1815 as part of an elite arts and technical school. The ruins of another medieval fortification and religious structure were incorporated into a modern Jewish synagogue.

Hospital Saint-Jean was created in approximately 1180 by King Henry II of England (who was also the Count of Anjou) as part of his atonement for the murder of Thomas Becket. It was in use for approximately 700 years as the primary hospital in Angers is now used as a tapestry museum.

               

Hospital St. Jean

 

Interior of Hospital

Hospital cloister

The granaries and wine cellars that were associated with the hospital (approximately 1000 years old) are now used as a performance facility and meeting place.

Greniers et Caves Saint-Jean

Greniers et Caves Saint-Jean

The Bishop's Palace or Episcopal Palace is now used for offices.

Bishop's Palace

Figures from Cathedral    

The Hotel des Penitentes was home for repentant women of the night, and their children, beginning in the 15th century and is now a conference center.

Hotel des Penitentes

Hotel des Penitentes

The Chateau de la Perriere, which is a relatively new building constructed in the 17th century, is now a golf course, conference center and upscale restaurant.      

Chateau de la Perriere

Ceiling of salon in Chateau de la Perriere

The amazing thing is that all of these places are within walking distance of our house.  Most of them are only a couple of blocks away from us.

Time with the Grandkids

La Rochelle (looking toward the old harbor)

One of the few negatives of being in France for the year is being away from family. Modern technology helps (facetime, email, Skype, Viber, etc.), but it is not quite the same as being there. In particular, we feel like we are missing some wonderful moments with our grandchildren. Fortunately, our two grandchildren have crazy parents who were willing to fly one-third of the way around the world with two young children to visit us. Actually, I am not exactly sure that they were coming to see us, but no matter, we got to spend time with the grandchildren.  

Helen and her family spent a couple of days in Spain (getting over their jet lag) before driving up to La Rochelle (west coast of France), where we met them. La Rochelle is a charming town and despite scattered rain showers, we enjoyed walking around the town with family. William (3 years old in May) seems to have grown up substantially since we last saw him and Ruth (8 months) is developing a wonderful happy personality.

After a day in La Rochelle, we drove back to Angers and had four wonderful days of family time.  Helen and Thompson didn't get to do much sightseeing, but they definitely got a flavor of every day life in Angers by walking Joanie to and from school, visiting the boulangerie, and visiting all of the little markets. Bronwyn and I got to spend a lot of time playing blocks and cars with William, and being entertained by Ruth. Having family visit really helps make Angers feel like home.

 

Living in Angers

View of house from entry gate

After a week in our rented house in Angers (pronounced ahn-JAY), it is beginning to feel like home.  All of the worry about whether we had picked a good spot or whether we picked the right school for Joan seems to have been unnecessary. The house is at least as charming as the pictures we saw on the internet although it is not without it's quirks. Yes, the electricity kept going out on the first day, but that problem seems to be solved. More importantly, Joanie came out of school on the first day with a smile on her face and a friend on each arm. All of this is due to a large part to our good fortune to have found wonderful, helpful landlords, who spent many hours trying to help us understand their 16th century home and interviewed school headmasters to find the perfect school for Joan.

Living Room

The house is four stories of lovingly restored medieval quirkiness. After banging my head on low beams, doorways and stairs for six days, I think that I have finally learned to remember (most of the time) to walk around the house in a crouched position. I have also learned to be wary of the winding irregular stairs, particularly at night. We've even gotten into the habit of saving a few scraps of fruit for the turtle that lives in our courtyard. More importantly, Bronwyn has figured out the approximate temperature associated with different positions of the knobs for the oven.

Although the house is at least 450 years old, and probably older, the owners have done an amazing job of updating the house.  The kitchen is the most spacious and modern kitchen that we have seen in France. All of us have room to work in the kitchen at the same time. The three full bathrooms are thoroughly modern. Unlike most of the places that we have stayed over the past two months, you do not have to be a contortionist to take a shower.

The part of the city where the house is located is full of timber fram medieval structures similar to ours, including several former and active abbeys and monasteries, as well as various other ancient buildings. The streets are narrow, cobblestoned, and in some cases very steep.

View from Joanie's window

We are finding that it is easier to walk or bicycle most places than to use the car. Using the car means walking a block to the courtyard where we pay to park the car, unlocking the gate, carefully backing the car out of the courtyard with about an inch to spare on each side of the car, relocking the gate and then finding a parking space wherever we are going. Of course, we can only use the car if nobody has decided to ignore the "no parking" sign and illegally park their car on the sidewalk in front of the gate.  (You have to wonder why you need a sign to tell people not to park on a sidewalk in front of a driveway gate.)

Additional signs of our comfort with Angers are that we no longer use the GPS to find places (even though the medieval streets are a labyrinth) and we no longer notice dog excrement on the sidewalk. We seem to have developed a sixth sense to unconsciously avoid all of the dog excrement.  It has been weeks since any of us stepped in dog poop.

It also has begun to seem normal to go to three different kinds of shops and a couple of street vendors every day to buy our food. European refrigerators generally are smaller so it simply makes sense to buy what you need each day.

View out my office window (50% of cars on sidewalk)

Of course there are a few things that we haven't figured out yet. For example, where is it safe to park? The French seem to park everywhere. They seem especially fond of parking on the sidewalk. I've seen a French driver struggle park his car on a sidewalk instead of paying to park in an adjacent open parking space on the street so it is not simply a question of convenience. French drivers seem to have almost as much disregard for the rules of the road as their Italian neighbors although speed and traffic cameras are everywhere.

As a foreigner I feel compelled to try to follow most of the parking and driving rules, but I respect the French disregard for parking and driving rules. In this respect, Americans seem more similar to the French than the Germans or the English, who seem to rigidly follow all the rules. Perhaps the American habit of challenging authority started with our French ancestors.

View from our house tonight

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