Tuesday, August 31, 2010

August 31 -- late morning in La Rochelle

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Another place we visited was a building under renovation.



It was old, it had been ornate, and it was being made into small apartments.




It is sad when old things fall into disrepair.  Unfortunately, sometimes maintaining what is old can be verrry expensive......

Cosmos growing in the construction confusion.



A French garden ... very neat, precise, and contained.



More fancy stonework.



A beautiful elaborate door.  It is outdoors, separating two outside spaces, but is completely sheltered from precipitation (and the sun).

I hope you will click to embiggen, so you don't miss any of the amazing detail.



The wood is gorgeous.  Then there is the carving.  And the marquetry.



And the hardware.  !!!




A doorway that, to an American, is Quite Old.  (date carved above door)



Memory is failing me, as to what this is.....  I really like the flag in the wind......



Wondering about the round structure on the corner of a building.  With critters on top.

What can be inside?



I remember this was the ceiling over a passageway that led to the prison, once upon a time.

Love the combination of stone and brick.



Standing in one place, looking left ...

... and right.


Shutters in use, even though it was not a hot day.



Many cities in France have a gros horloge -- "Big Clock."





We decided it was time for lunch.  This is the restaurant in our hotel.  Very nice -- a spare and minimal aesthetic, especially in contrast with all the embellishment we've been enjoying.



This was duck.  And salad.  It was very good.

They put a lot of effort into presentation.  Don't you love the green curl at right?



Chantal made us the very generous offer of driving us, in the afternoon, to a place of our choice that was hard to visit without a car.

Unfortunately, I was tired, and had a headache coming on. I was afraid it might turn into a migraine. As much as we wanted to be able to continue our own personal and private tour with our new friend, I felt the chance that I would not be able to keep going was great enough that we regretfully told Chantal that we'd better let me rest.

She was very sympathetic, and agreed it was probably best that I spend the afternoon resting rather than moving around in the bright sun.

She insisted on driving us to the train the next day, so we'd be able to say good-bye.



We went up to our room, and I rested and napped.

See my daughter's take on this morning here.



In order to facilitate chronological traverse of these posts, here is a link to the post that comes after this one.

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2 comments:

Lorraina said...

Elaborate and gorgeous your pictures are for sure. And amazing. Did you ever find out what the round topd building is?

I need orange said...

Thanks!

Nope, no idea what that skinny round tower-like thing was......

A mystery.............