Trips

Mon., 5/30/22 - Angers

More "free" time until the group met at 2 PM to go learn Boule de Fort at La Bonne Alliance in Bouchemaine. A walk along the Loire River took us to the “playground” used for Boule de Fort. This game is like pétanque only it is played indoors on a curved alley with lopsided balls. The objective of the game, the scoring and alternation of players is the same. The boules have a metal strip around the circumference but one side is heavier than the other. Not much force is needed to get the boule to snake down to the maitre - the white jack ball that is the target. Watching the game is like watching paint dry! The ball rolls slowly and curves right and left because the sides of the alley curve up.

Along the Loire River	Flood depths of the river - some floods were very high
	The boules
Gale taking a turn	These two boules are very close to the white jack ball that is the target
After returning to Angers, the group gathered for the Welcome Dinner. It was quite strange. The dinner was salad and included all the red wine you wanted. The salad consisted of lettuce, flat pea pods, red onion, radish, and fried bits of (supposedly) veal. At least there was bread - sliced baguette - to share. Dessert was a small slice of cheesecake with a marshmallow decoration and two bites of rhubarb in a sweet sauce.
Tues., 5/31/22 - Angers and Villandry This morning's tour was to the Chateau de Villandry. The chateau was in ruins in 1906 when it was bought by Ann Coleman, from Lebanon, PA, and her Spanish husband, Joachim Carvallo, a medical researcher. Ann was a daughter and heiress of a steel magnate with lots of money. They set about the restoration of the 1536 home of the finance minister for King Francois 1. The tour of the building led us through rooms staged with typical furniture of the early 1900s. One room that stands out is the drawing room with its interesting ceiling. It came from a 15th c. Ducal palace in Toledo, Spain. The Moorish design is very intricate and is made from 3600 pieces of painted wood.
Model of the Chateau (left) and the gardens	The Chateau
Drawing room ceiling	Ceiling detail
The best part of the tour was the walk in the several gardens. There are box hedge designs, flowers, medicinal plants, and edibles. It was a beautiful day to stroll and admire the works of art created by the twelve employed gardeners.
Waterfall in the Gardens	Grape Arbor
Sign showing the patterns of the plantings in the Gardens	Lunch was at a place called “The Ends of the Earth” in French. We ate vegetarian. First we had to guess the five edible plants on our plate: something like parsley, mint, oregano, rose petals, and something I had no idea of. Then we had an entree of a small stack of eggplant, onion, and tomato, baby new potatoes, and soy “pretend meat.” Dessert was wonderful chocolate with a strawberry.
After returning to Angers, we had our home-hosted visit and it wasn’t too bad. The six of us went to the house of a couple who spoke very little English but they tried. Their house was small, but modern. The kitchen was very new and efficient, and the yard and flowers very nice. We sat outside and had wine and champagne, and cheese and meat nibbles, and liverwurst on bread, and macarons and chocolate.
Wed., 6/1/22 - Oradour and Sarlat This morning we squeezed the luggage, our carry-ons, and ourselves into our small van. It was extremely uncomfortable for the seven-hour ride to Sarlat. Lunch was at Chez Madeleine restaurant in Montrol-Senard. An interesting old one-room school was located next door.
Sculpture at a round-about	Passenger ingenuity stops a rattle
Roof problems, eventually	Chez Madeleine Restaurant
	One-room school
One-room school	One-room school
After lunch the group made a visit to Oradour-sur-Glane, the martyr's village. Four days after the D-Day landing, the Nazis murdered the men, women, and children in this town and burned it to the ground. A French president declared the ruins to remain as such so as not to forget the horrors man does to man. (Second link)
Left by the Nazis
Ruins of the school for girls	Main street
Church	The bus finally arrived in Sarlat around 6pm. It was a long day!

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