Handmade baskets from all over France hanging from the kitchen ceiling of our acquaintance....
The chateau at Azay-le-rideau at night reflecting in the river.....
Being footloose and fancy free, with no fixed plans, and trying to make a sensible itinerary, we decided to stop at Azay-le-rideau, a town on the Loire that we had visited in 2001, on our way to Brittany. It was just a couple of hours from Poitiers, so we headed off over a few small country roads.
In one village we saw signs hanging outside the businesses, all in the shapes of baskets. As we were edging out of town, we saw a sign for a basket cooperative. Tom zigged into a parking space, and in we went.
Turns out that the village, Les Villianers de Roches, is the center of basketry for the whole country. We were at the workshop, somehow having missed the signs for the coop store and information building. We watched the people making the baskets, and started asking questions. The lady we were talking to took us a few meters down the street to her house, and showed us the machines used for processing the willow branches, and then showed us her own baskets and the ones made by her husband. After giving us a bit of a hands-on demonstration, she directed us to the coop building, where we saw more baskets and a video. Although tempted, a fear of the dimensions of the overhead compartment (and the price tags) were enough to discourage us from buying one. And it may have been that having seen the fabulous work on the baskets in our acquaintance's home, those made for the masses were not up to our standards. In any event, quite a find, and quite an experience.
Once in Azay-le-rideau, we found a hotel, and visited the town. We got tickets to visit the chateau, and to attend an evening “spectacular” (even though we were unable to fathom what exactly it was), and had a lovely if overpriced meal of cote de boeuf in the garden of the hotel we had stayed at before.
The spectacular turned out to be a sound and light show, where the chateau and the grounds were bathed in lights and music. The chateau was partially open, and you could walk up and down the staircase, and peek in the rooms where sounds representing the rooms were being played – sounds of a pool game and conversation in the billiard room, dishes in the kitchen and so on. The grounds had lots of effects going on, all very French. I suspect if a California museum tried to put on such a show everyone would shake their heads in confusion, but here it really works. We realized over the next couple of days that most of the chateaux have adopted the sound and light approach, although like Azay-le-rideau, they are not stories, but a more artistic presentation. And why not have a sound and light show, says Tom -- it means you can charge money to see the place twice!
The spectacular turned out to be a sound and light show, where the chateau and the grounds were bathed in lights and music. The chateau was partially open, and you could walk up and down the staircase, and peek in the rooms where sounds representing the rooms were being played – sounds of a pool game and conversation in the billiard room, dishes in the kitchen and so on. The grounds had lots of effects going on, all very French. I suspect if a California museum tried to put on such a show everyone would shake their heads in confusion, but here it really works. We realized over the next couple of days that most of the chateaux have adopted the sound and light approach, although like Azay-le-rideau, they are not stories, but a more artistic presentation. And why not have a sound and light show, says Tom -- it means you can charge money to see the place twice!
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