St. Jean d'Angely is only a 20 minute train journey north of Saintes. It is a much smaller town than any I've visited so far, and has the River Boutonne running through it. The riverside looked a nice place to sit and there were some seats, but for some reason I didn't return to the river to sit there later in the day as planned. Again I did much walking in the heat of the day to see as much of the place as possible.
It rained a few brief showers, but nothing like the monsoon of yesterday when I lost a day in Saintes. The French girl I chatted to in the resturant last night, daughter of the owner, told me that it is rare for the weather to be like this (rainy and cloudy) in the Charente Maritime in summer. I guess we are having freak weather patterns all over Europe right now.
It rained a few brief showers, but nothing like the monsoon of yesterday when I lost a day in Saintes. The French girl I chatted to in the resturant last night, daughter of the owner, told me that it is rare for the weather to be like this (rainy and cloudy) in the Charente Maritime in summer. I guess we are having freak weather patterns all over Europe right now.
I did the walk around town after being given a walking map by the tourist office. The unfinished front of the classical church of the Abbey was begun in 1741, the immense Gothic Abbey having been destroyed by the Huguenots in 1568.
The main high street had music coming from speakers up on the wall. At first I thought it was coming from someone's home until I spotted the small speakers in public places. Strange music was playing from them including the Woody Woodpecker song and the theme tune to the Flintstones !
Managed to find a good place to have lunch, although it was packed at lunchtime and I had to come back later to find a table. Was successful the third time I tried, which by then was nearing 3pm. I think it was my best meal so far in France, and the red wine was good too. They were playing some really good laid-back music, and I ended up being the only one in there while they were clearing the tables from a hectic lunchtime. The restaurant was called Le Petit Bouchon, at the corner of rue Poissonieres and Place du Marche.
I went for a walk around the residential area and started to hear what sounded like an air-raid siren going off, which it did a few times. Strange sounds, certainly, in this village - it was starting to feel a bit surreal. I loved the way some of the houses there were built along the small stream, which I assumed must be coming off of the main river Boutonne.
After looking around an antique shop, I ran out of things to do and realised I still had about 3 hours before my train was due to depart for Saintes. I ended up being the only one in the bar near the station and so drank a pastis, even though I didn't really want or need any more alcohol. Looking back on it I would have done the day differently. I could have enquired at the tourist office about getting to Dampierre castle, which is a Renaissance chateau set in a Garden of Symbols, which also has a box hedge maze. There is an exhibition of alchemy there as the chateau was the alchemy centre during the ancient regime.
I either forgot about the castle as soon as I got to St. Jean d'Angely or assumed it was too far away, or thought there would be enough to do in this village. There were probably no tourist buses to it anyway - there never seemed to be a lot of tourist activity going on with regard to buses or boats anywhere, the tourist season felt flat or almost non-existent to me wherever I went. I'm sure that in a small town like St.Jean they would have trouble filling a whole busload with tourists to go to that castle, but maybe most people discover France by car anyway.
I'm probably just used to the energies of London which are constantly moving and has a tourist season throughout most of the year, whereas some of these places that are not main tourist destinations feel so sleepy and slow, the energies almost stagnant. When everything closes down for two hours at lunch time it is hard to see what it's like when trading is active, and the shops seem almost invisible until they open again.
I took this photo mainly for the strange energies I felt at the corner of the street - like a ghost-town. Is anyone alive in this street?
I could not imagine setting up a business in such a village, it would feel too frustrating. Even the man in the antique shop seemed accustomed to just sitting there expecting nothing, and I felt like I was probably the first person in days to walk into his shop. Maybe I just need to slow down and go back to a more simple life, which is part of the plan anyway, but that's not the same as utter boredom and having life grind to a halt. No..... perhaps quiet village life is not for me (at least not if I need an income) but neither is city life any more. Hopefully I'll know where I want to live when I see it - I just don't want to have to cover every square mile of France first before I find the right place.
The main high street had music coming from speakers up on the wall. At first I thought it was coming from someone's home until I spotted the small speakers in public places. Strange music was playing from them including the Woody Woodpecker song and the theme tune to the Flintstones !Managed to find a good place to have lunch, although it was packed at lunchtime and I had to come back later to find a table. Was successful the third time I tried, which by then was nearing 3pm. I think it was my best meal so far in France, and the red wine was good too. They were playing some really good laid-back music, and I ended up being the only one in there while they were clearing the tables from a hectic lunchtime. The restaurant was called Le Petit Bouchon, at the corner of rue Poissonieres and Place du Marche.
I went for a walk around the residential area and started to hear what sounded like an air-raid siren going off, which it did a few times. Strange sounds, certainly, in this village - it was starting to feel a bit surreal. I loved the way some of the houses there were built along the small stream, which I assumed must be coming off of the main river Boutonne.
After looking around an antique shop, I ran out of things to do and realised I still had about 3 hours before my train was due to depart for Saintes. I ended up being the only one in the bar near the station and so drank a pastis, even though I didn't really want or need any more alcohol. Looking back on it I would have done the day differently. I could have enquired at the tourist office about getting to Dampierre castle, which is a Renaissance chateau set in a Garden of Symbols, which also has a box hedge maze. There is an exhibition of alchemy there as the chateau was the alchemy centre during the ancient regime.I either forgot about the castle as soon as I got to St. Jean d'Angely or assumed it was too far away, or thought there would be enough to do in this village. There were probably no tourist buses to it anyway - there never seemed to be a lot of tourist activity going on with regard to buses or boats anywhere, the tourist season felt flat or almost non-existent to me wherever I went. I'm sure that in a small town like St.Jean they would have trouble filling a whole busload with tourists to go to that castle, but maybe most people discover France by car anyway.
I'm probably just used to the energies of London which are constantly moving and has a tourist season throughout most of the year, whereas some of these places that are not main tourist destinations feel so sleepy and slow, the energies almost stagnant. When everything closes down for two hours at lunch time it is hard to see what it's like when trading is active, and the shops seem almost invisible until they open again.
I took this photo mainly for the strange energies I felt at the corner of the street - like a ghost-town. Is anyone alive in this street?
I could not imagine setting up a business in such a village, it would feel too frustrating. Even the man in the antique shop seemed accustomed to just sitting there expecting nothing, and I felt like I was probably the first person in days to walk into his shop. Maybe I just need to slow down and go back to a more simple life, which is part of the plan anyway, but that's not the same as utter boredom and having life grind to a halt. No..... perhaps quiet village life is not for me (at least not if I need an income) but neither is city life any more. Hopefully I'll know where I want to live when I see it - I just don't want to have to cover every square mile of France first before I find the right place.
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