These are just a few pictures that I took of and around the church in Saint-Aignan back in May 2017. Saint-Aignan is about 120 miles south of Paris, 50 miles southwest of Orléans, 30 miles east of Tours, and 24 miles south of Blois. There's a TGV station in Tours and their are good train connections to Paris from Blois and Orléans. The town of Saint-Aignan itself is not really growing, but the area surrounding it is, with the construction of many new houses. Our house is relatively new (about 55 years old) and it's located just 1½ miles from the church in Saint-Aignan.(As always, you can click or tap on these photos to enlarge them.)
These are all such nice photos. I would love to step inside the house with the wheat ironwork.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteA pleasure to see all of that again :)
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with Véronique Savoie? She is a French woman who, for many years, lived in Seattle, and she used to write a blog called French Girl in Seattle. After decades there, she and her American husband divorced, and she moved back to France, first to Paris, then to Tours. She is a Rick Steves tour guide now, and during the pandemic, she grew up an online company called, France With Véro (sharing content about France via photos and videos and a newsletter, and now she also does online classes)... she has developed a huge following. All that to say that she loves Tours and is always singing its praises. Is Tours a place that you and Walt would ever consider moving to, if you decided to move to a less rural setting?
I remember reading French Girl in Seattle regularly, and I knew she had come back to live in France. I don't think I knew she had moved to Tours. And yes, Tours is a place we would consider if we decided to move. Also Blois, Bourges, or Orléans. It would be nice to have a good train connection to Paris.
DeleteI always enjoy seeing those maisons a colombages. If only we had trains like France, They are talking about high speed rail from LA to SF and Dallas to Houston. Would be nice to see it in my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThey've been talking about high-speed rail in California for 30 or 40 years now. Walt worked on a high-speed rail study when he was a student at Berkeley. He and some colleagues came to France to talk to the TGV people in Paris. He was offered the chance to ride in the driver's cabin of the TGV from Paris to Nantes. I had come to Paris with him and I asked him to see if they would let me ride with him. They said yes, so we made the trip at 300 kph, talking to the driver as we rode along. It was great.
DeleteWhat a great experience! They are fast and so quiet. Let's hope it doesn't take another 30 years.
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