La céremonie des vœux, c'est aujourd'hui

This was the announcement in a recent newsletter from the village mayor's office and on the web site. Les vœux are the mayor's official New Year's greetings and good wishes to her constituents. Attendees will be offered a glass of wine at the end of the event.

Samedi 4 janvier 2014 à 11H

Cérémonie des vœux du Maire à 11h suivie du verre de l'amitié

Vous êtes cordialement invité à cette rencontre amicale. Afin d'organiser au mieux cette réunion, merci de vous inscrire auprès du secrétariat de la Mairie ou par mail.

I tried to RSVP by mail — that means e-mail — but the two messages I sent just bounced back. I picked up the phone and quickly confirmed that Walt and I would attend. It'll be our first time. The town hall is just two miles from our house. The mayor is our neighbor, and she's been in office since 2008. The next municipal elections will be held in March, and I don't know if she intends to be a candidate for a second 6-year term. Maybe she'll talk about her plans at the ceremony this monring.

The village skyline

I thought I'd post a few pictures of village scenes that I took a few years ago.

The village is officially called une commune in France. It consists of the village center — le bourg, or "burg" — and a collection of hameaux or hamlets, little settlements or groups of houses scattered around the commune's 12 sq. miles, or 32 sq. kilometers, of territory. Saint-Aignan is the larger town nearby; it's two miles in the opposite direction from our house. About half of the village's territory is planted in grapevines, I imagine.

La mairie — the village hall

There is a church in the village center. There's a grocery store/bakery, a café-tabac, the municipal library, and the village hall, or mairie [may-REE]. There's also a building called le château but it isn't especially grand or impressive. There are tennis courts, and there's a campground on the banks of the Cher River behind the church.

The village war memorial, or monument aux morts

I don't know how many hamlets (which are sometimes called villages, as opposed to the bourg)  surround the village center. There are quite a few of them, including ours, which is called La Renaudière. Nearby, I'm familiar with La Chotinière, La Besnardière, La Janvrie, Grand-Maison, Les Bas-Bonneaux, and Les Hauts-Bonneaux. On the other end of the village there are Le Vou, Riboy, Le Bas-Guéret, and Le Haut-Guéret. I think there are many more but some are sort of hidden in the woods at the end of little roads that I haven't ever explored.

Driving into the village on the road from Saint-Aignan

The population of the village is about 1,100. The altitude ranges from a low point of 64 meters (210 feet) to a high point of 186 meters (610 feet). I think we live at about the highest point in the commune — at least that's what I've been told by one friend who was born here. The population density is 35 people per sq. kilometer — that would come to about 90 people per sq. mile. (For comparison, Paris has a population density of more than 55,000 people per sq. mile!)

The village church, dedicated to Saint Martin, and a typical house

There's no bridge over the Cher River in the village except the new autoroute (tollway, motorway) bridge and the other end of the village from us. There's no exit or entry ramp in the village, so there's not much traffic. To get on the autoroute you have to drive a few miles in one direction or the other, cross the bridge at Saint-Aignan or Pouillé/Thésée, and then drive a few miles along the other side of the river to get to the only ramp in the area.

The river walk along the banks of the Cher River

The city of Tours is an hour west. Blois is 45 minutes north. Orléans is 90 minutes away, and Paris three or four hours, depending on which road you take. Our village is at the extreme eastern edge of La Touraine, the western edge of Le Berry, and just across the river from La Sologne, which is part of  L'Orléanais — the three historic provinces come together at Saint-Aignan.