A week ago today we left the gîte in Vindelle at about 9 a.m. and drove into Angoulême. It was the second day of our road trip. Seeing Angoulême was our top priority. It's a hilltop city with a population of 40 thousand. According to Wikipédia, the population density of the city is nearly two thousand people per square kilometer. That's almost five thousand people per square mile. And that's not counting all the people who live in the suburbs and commute into the city to go to work. The urbanized area has a population of more than 100 thousand.
For comparison, the population density of Saint-Aignan is 400 people per square mile. And we don't even live in Saint-Aignan. We live in a nearby village that has a population density of 94 people per square mile. So we were out of our league in Angoulême. The gîte owner had warned us. He advised us not to try to park on the street in the city, but to find an underground parking garage and take an elevator up to street level. Then walk.
We tried to do that, but we didn't find any such garages. We kept driving around in circles in the car. Traffic was heavy. And then suddenly we found ourselves on a street where there were some curbside parking spaces. We got one, paid for two hours of parking, and set off on foot. The cathedral and city hall were only a 10 minute walk away, and most of that was on a street that is "pedestrianized" — no cars. That was good, because we had the dog with us on a leash.
It's interesting how paid street parking works in Angoulême and other French cities. You park your car and walk to a nearby machine called un horodateur where you enter your vehicle's numéro d'immatriculation (license plate number). If a traffic cop comes by, he or she can find out how long you've been parked by looking up your license number. There is no paper involved.
We didn't stay in the city for long. It was too frenetic and too hot — but it was interesting and impressive too. We walked around for about an hour and Walt took pictures. Go to his blog to see some of them. The best way to see Angoulême would be to stay in a hotel or apartment in the city and walk around to enjoy it. But don't take a dog with you.
A few years ago we spent an hour to two in a town called Niort, which is about two hours north of Angoulême. It was a good experience, even with the dog on a leash. Walt had a leash that was attached to his belt, so he had both hands free and could use the camera. The atmosphere was very calm compared to what we experienced in Angoulême. I just looked it up and found out that the population density of Niort is two thousand people per square mile, not five thousand. I think that explains a lot.
By the way, the population density of Paris is not five thousand but 52 thousand people per square mile.
The cities you are visiting have high population densities, I would not want to live in such a city but of course visiting them can be fun seeing old cathedrals and art museums, etc.
ReplyDeleteI used to love living in Paris, but I'm not sure I could stand it now, after living in the country for 20 years. But it can be a lot of fun to visit Paris and cities like Angoulême, La Rochelle, Tours, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think that some places in the U.S. use a parking meter system like that, too, but I remember that from our stop in Amboise.
ReplyDeleteI may be mis-remembering, but I think that Niort is where the movie Les Diaboliques is set. I just double checked and see that Niort is Clouzot's birthplace.
Glad you found a parking spot. We had a hard time parking when we visited Chartres. Our hotel was in the middle of town with no parking except one of the underground ones. It's fun figuring out how to do things when you can lol. A dog in a city is difficult, glad you managed.
ReplyDeleteEvelyn
It was so hot we couldn't leave Tasha alone in the car at all.
DeleteThat's how the paid parking works in San Mateo County, even in parking garages. -- Chrissoup
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe I haven't been back to California in more than 20 years.
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