Tired shutterbug

Our friends Chris and Tony from California arrived in Saint-Aignan on March 8. They left on March 12. Collette fell ill that very day. She disappeared on March 14. Susan from California arrived on March 15, and her husband Ray joined her here on March 19. They left yesterday, March 22, for Paris.

Those events cover a two-week period. And during those two weeks, I took approximate 980 photographs with my digital cameras. That's 70 a day, on average. My shutter finger is tired.

In a previous posting, I mentioned the châteaux we saw on Sunday, when we drove up to Chaumont-sur-Loire and then west along the river to Vouvray and then to Tours. Here, I'm going to post one picture of each château I took pictures of that day.

Le château de Chaumont-sur-Loire, one of the most famous attractions
in the immediate area, along with Chambord, Chenonceau, and Cheverny

Le château de Pocé-sur-Cisse, near Amboise

Le château de Valmer, near Vouvray, is a wine château

Le château de la Côte, in the Brenne Valley north of Vouvray

Le château de Jallanges, near Vouvray, is a bed-and-breakfast inn

Protests reach Saint-Aignan

You might have heard about the student protests in France recently. The Sorbonne was occupied, and then there were large demonstrations in many cities. The protests have to do with government policy reforms that will affect young people. The government wants to make it easier for companies to hire and fire employees. The protestors want more job security. That's the gist of it.

This has turned into a stand-off between the pro-business government and pro-employee factions (students, unions, the political left). It is leading up to a general strike that is planned for next Tuesday and will affect the whole country.

Yesterday I was in Saint-Aignan with my friends and saw that the protests have reached as far as this small town. Here's a photo of a demonstration outside the Saint-Aignan city hall.

Demonstration, March 21, 2006, in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher

The banner across the front door says, in a polite translation: "Villepin (he's the prime minister), you're done for. You can take your reform and shove it."

Busy, busy, busy

Our friends Susan and Ray have been here since last Wednesday for a first visit to the Loire Valley. Susan arrived the day after our dog Collette died, and she has kept us busy and distracted. Ray joined us Sunday after a trip with his brother to Belgium and Germany.

We have been touring the châteaux. Sunday afternoon, for example, we "saw" at least six of them. Most of these were what we call "drive-bys" — Kodak moments. Most of the châteaux were ones tourists have never heard of (Pocé-sur-Cisse, Valmer, Côte, Jallanges). The weather has been fairly nice for a few days. Spring is finally springing.

Last Friday Susan and I drove over to Selles-sur-Cher and on to Romorantin. There's a château and a big church in Selles, and Romorantin is one of our département's bigger towns (pop. 20,000). We did some shopping there.

On the way, we turned off the main road to see what a place called Le Château de Quinçay, a wine château, looked like. It wasn't spectacular (it would be hard to call the big house a château) but the road in was beautiful. As we were taking pictures, at woman who must have been 65 years old or so came by on her bicycle, said "Bonjour!" and rode off into the distance.

The road into the Château de Quinçay wine house

Yesterday we went to Chambord and walked around the exterior of the château. Then we went on to Cheverny and walked all through the building and around the park. Chambord is the biggest Loire Valley château, and Cheverny is one of the best-furnished and most interesting ones. Today: Blois and Vendôme.

Panoramas of the château

Yesterday morning I went to do some shopping at the regular Saturday farmers' market in Saint-Aignan. While I was in town, I walked up to the top of the hill and into the main courtyard of the château. Here are a couple of panoramic shots I took.

The Renaissance château at Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher
Click on the thumbnail image above to see the full-size picture.

The stables at the château de Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher
You can also see part of the ruins of the Medieval fortress.
Click on the thumbnail image above to see the full-size picture.