Chateauroux: 3 of 3

He got onto the 'ter' bus but the driver would not accept the smartphone payment/ ticket which was part of the onward journey of bus and train to Bourges, then Nevers, so had to pay again.
I am glad I waited because I declined to leave him to wait alone.  Fortunately, I was there to establish that the driver said he has to ask SNCF for a remboursement!
I wasn't quick enough yesterday with my thinking when about 6 people were waiting behind us to board the bus, that if he had to ask for a reimbursement,  then that clearly he meant he HAD paid!!!!!!
So why did the 'sncf / ter bus / coach ask him to buy another / a new ticket!

I know how long it took him to find the budget transport and indeed it was my decision to take him to Chateauroux  double the distnace and time of what I would have had to do if he'd gone to St Savin... but where was the bus stop?  ... 'twas NOT marked on Google maps because it is named after a hotel that doesn't exist anymore... DER!!!!  We had to ask the tourist office to find out where it was and it was still unclear! It seemed safer to go to Chateauroux!

I have since learned that the train would not accept the ticket and again a second ticket had to be bought.

Moral: don't book a ticket ahead of time!  YOU might not even get there in time! 

Why can't these companies see how hard it is for the budget traveller who does not have a vehicle and who is a traveller!
It must be so frustrating and is one of the things that puts me off traveling without a vehicle.
I can see the advantages of bus travel because it is cheap... and I have travelled National Express, but one needs TIME to do it and assurance of cheap or free accommodation at the end of the journey or a lift! 

On my way home I stopped at La Maison du Parc in La Brenne for a lime ice-cream and wandered to the pond where frogs were beginning to leave their hibernation mud to practise their croaking skills!

HOME to a banana sandwich with new bread I'd bought containing wheat (I think I should avoid it!)
but stuffed with sultanas, pistachios and hazelnuts... it was a meal in itself with a glass of red whilst my cousin phoned and I was told about the ill health of an ageing family! I fell into bed to read.

Almost 3e half a kg but worth it!

Chateauroux: 2 of 3

After lunch we did a recommended route to look at 19th buildings.
This one needs a good clean and care by the Notaires who work there or by the Region as it is so beautiful. Needs a bit of TLC to honour it!  However, walk to the back and it is so ugly!  Note the architect and sculptor plus the decorative panel camouflaging the hole to the basement.

sunfllowers?

Then we lurch from one epoch to another as across the road is a 'lean-towards-the-road' structure.. part of the cinema, library, parking and who knows what else complex

Also opposite is this:

and this...

and this...

Having walked through all that... there was an impressive 20th century frontage incorporating the individual elements but walking along I was not in a position to capture the curving, glass frontispiece, which I did not like!  We came to the 'Chapel of the Redemptorists' .. disused but at one time an Unemployment office... three steel chimneys were acting as an aeolian pipe, humming away! I wonder if the architect who created the heating system was aware that this would happen?

This building was not mentioned on the leaflet of the route.  Most of the coloured decorative work had fallen off.

Then another lovely doorway!  Again not mentioned on the inadequate leaflet.

Look at the former wealth of the Post Office building!  But later, I didn't think to take a pic of the now disused sorting office by the railway and bus station.

This building was a former fencing house!  I rather like the sculptures. BUT we only knew what it was from the promenade leaflet.  No plaque to celebrate its heritage or to explain history and art to passers-by.  AND it is being used by wealthy notaires, lawyers or architects!

HOWEVER marvel at these:
and look at this link about the construction of GUITARDES:
http://www.historicalcarpentry.com/guitarde---beautiful-french-dormers.html
where it describes these buildings.
This one is beautiful:

but just along the road was a carousel / manège with windows!!!!! Never seen one like that before! It seemed a pity to have that at the end of a clean, attractive modern "residential public courtyard".  Bit like the awful chichi wagon at la Place near the eating establishments. I tripped over his cable.. no health and safety concerns at all!

More guitardes, french dormer windows showing the skills of carpentry trade.

they must have had a head for height!...this one on the tipple.. whoops ... topple!

In between those buildings I found some other interesting, more elegant dormers... more my style!

More guitardes on the house you could buy!

I like the star  .. I could have had one or two of those on my lucarnes instead of my little birds!

and a balcony would be a treat!

Now that I have used three hours of my time in creating these two posts and the next, giving my body time to recover from the aches and pains of driving, walking and several weeks of work PLUS medical intervention,  I ought to move about, get my mind working on what needs to be achieved in the next couple of weeks.

It is cold again after a few days of warmer daytime weather.
In the afternoon it was hot enough to wear shorts and tee shirt whilst I dug the green manure into the soil,planted potatoes, carrot seeds, Italian chicory, radish and peas.
Seeds are various stages of age and so they may or may not grow!

Chateauroux: 1 of 3

Driving across meadows, fields and ponds of La Brenne in earlyish morning bright sunlight, finding one open café bar for breakfast: a hot chocolate with an apricot croissant from Saturday's supermarket shopping expedition was a small adventure.

We kept to the road and arrived for a second time in Chateauroux.

With about ten years in between I am still unimpressed, although it seems less dark, more spacious.
I suspect I have missed much on this whirlwind walk. I realise I didn't come across the Museum nor did I get to the botanical park that I believe is somewhere there.
I try to take in the historical information on the various burgundy coloured notice boards but somehow I feel it is only a small nod to the number of famous people and historical events that occurred here.. Somehow I would like the town to make more of itself.

YET... Witness a town hanging onto a few medieval buildings, where then, once tanners, carders, weavers and drapers lived and worked in great numbers, where today, number 51 is unmarked on the street that it is in,  and marked up the hill in the side road. Its  proclaimed mullion windows, mentioned on the visitors  have been ripped out in favour of modern secondary glazing.
HOW CAN THAT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED? ... and when did that happen?  Such a shame!

However, the lavoir, below the huge convent building high on the cliff edge, where on the outside you could see the barred windows of their cells, was beautifully reconstructed.   Barrels were placed to help people stand whilst they washed the linen. I couldn't see how that would have worked!

Postscript: Perhaps the floor was lower earthdirt in medieval and after times, before the team of volunteers etc "renovated" this architectural treasure .... and so the women would have STOOD and their elbows would be at barrel height and so SO SO... they would have STOOD to wash their linen-oh! 

Rant:
Why can't architects leave things alone or put architecture back to how it WAS even using modern equivalents? 
I was required to have my roof repair / replacement overseen by the Architecte de Batiments de France yet in the town nearer the eye of  the church  houses have been allowed to have modern roller blinds and windows that do not conform to shape and size... VELUX I can cope with... double glazing too but it has to be in keeping.  
The problem is there does not seem to be control over STYLE... even if one needs certain planning permissions! 

And what kind of oil was milled here?

 Drainage work.... and maybe afterwards they will cobble the ground anew which seems to have been done very nicely in some areas of the town.

St Martin's Gate .. once a prison .. is a remainder and reminder of ancient ramparts from the 12th to 15th centuries on which the Chateau Raoul was built... giving the name of the town.

This next, was near the pavement to one side of someone's door...something to do with an average level??? Water? not sure!

 A bit of architectural fun!

The old "elegant" Mairie/Town Hall faces the modernistic "ugly" Market Place.  As far as I can understand a lot of the town was "modernised" since the mid 1970's... not the best architectural period!

There are replicas of Gallo Romain sculptures on the side of the old Le Mairie, now being used as a Music School.  We could a hear a xylophone being practised.

Although I sat opposite the new Mairie eating spinach and salmon quiche with Earl Grey tea for lunch, I didn't take a photo. 

 

Niort

An evening and morning in Niort before heading to Poitiers was enjoyable.  I love exploring new places.  It is a clean town with nice architecture. I intended to take a photo of the river which is certainly green like 'the venice vert' that the region is described as.
A flavour of a gentle, tranquil town where I enjoyed a wonderful 'Fre nch coffee'.  I have a story about this expression but it is too complex to record in writing.  It relates to England where I tried to order a Fre nch coffee, when really I meant an expresso!   Here in France people just say 'un café'. One learns!
It does seem a bit odd that the signwriter had to make a space in the word 'Fre nch'.  It is a franchise... (another French mot!)
Two views from the troisième étage of my Logis hotel.

 

The dungeon very imposing next to the Market Halles

The Ancient Oratory was interesting.

and  the Pillories!

This is the Mairie...

 and a Museum

It is in the Land of Melusine, hence the dragons...a clever way of allowing vehicles into a pedestrianised pavemented area of centre-ville.

 Some buildings if one looks up high have been touched and retouched!

 Towers and pinnacles on more church buildings:

 

I saw several rooftop gardens from down below.

 

I love this building because of the not quite symmetry with the open windows on one side. I haven'tseen this style in France before.  Fascinating.