Postcards From Susan

The Midnight Tour of Tours

Hotel de Ville -- city hall;

St. Gatien Cathedral

People gawking at St. Gatien Cathedral.

Half-timbered buildings in Place Plumereau -- once where feathered hats were made, now where students party all night.

Notice, even with a poor exposure, how they lean.

St. Martin is known for giving half his cape to a beggar. For that they made him a saint. Standards must have been a little lower in olden times. And here is his church, and the tower to go with it.

Bonne nuit!

From the Chateau we walked to the stables, just as our guide from the chateau was going over to lock them up. Our brochure said that the stables are considered the finest example in the world. Not being experts, we don't know for sure, but it is just possible. There are no horses there now to ask.

The stalls for the horses are named for nearby chateaux, and are complete with basins for food and water. There is a separate wing for ponies, where everything is smaller.

There is a kitchen, and tack rooms. The tack is by Hermes, of course. (You thought all those horsey themes were just a style?)

We had wondered about the round squat building all day. It is a riding ring, with a balcony for observers overhead.

Time to close the doors and lock the gate.

We noticed the boats moored along the Loire as we headed back to Tours.

Our day was not over! Zaza prepared us a delicious dinner and invited Pauline to join us. And after dinner? The midnight tour of Tours!

Chateau de Chaumont-sur-Loire

After going through the grounds and gardens, we went to the chateau itself.

The chateau was founded in about 1000, and is best known for being home to Catherine de Medici when she was the Queen of France. When Catherine became regent, she took Chenonceau and gave the chateau to Diane de Poitier. Famous guests include Nostradamus (Catherine's astrologer), and Benjamin Franklin.

The wings of the chateau, and even some of the interior decorations show the transition of styles during its development. The interior portions shown to us in our tour had a definite Spanish appearance as they would have had during Catherine's time.

The king's emblem -- the porcupine.

The king's bed chamber. Next to the bed is a large fireplace. Our guide explained that the servants as well as anyone who was anyone would crowd into the room to keep warm at night. She also explained, as we had heard in other places, that the bed is very short in part because the people of the day were shorter, and also because they slept sitting up. Lying down was thought to invite death, since only dead people lie down.

The queen;s bedroom.

These medallions were made as we make photographs of our friends. They were very idiosyncratic, and reflected their subjects in great detail. There were two cases of them; the guide said that the medallions in the smaller case were worth about $10m. A recent tourist had said that she had one just like them that she got at a garage sale for $300. Before the tour she had no idea of the value of her medallion.

This one is Benjamin Franklin.