margaret21

Geometry and a Bit of Fun in Angers

I had various ideas for today’s post, our last day in Angers. In the end, a late afternoon walk made my decison. A couple of shops, and a street-name sign with a commentary provided a bit of light-heartedness among the rain-dodging of the day.

First, an estate agent. Who knew that giraffes sell houses? Vaguely geometric giraffes, anyway.

Or that Harlequin was a men’s outfitter? In a niche in a very geometric building.

Or that some wag thought a modified name might work better on one city street? Said wag prints in nicely geometic lettering…

Later today, we’ll be in St. Malo for an overnight sailing to Portsmouth. Here’s hoping the scheduled wind will have dropped by then 🙄

GeometricJanuary.

Geometry in Angers

I expect not one word of sympathy from British readers when I say that yesterday in Angers was very cold, very wet and very windy. My camera got creaky from the damp, and we didn’t walk around as much as planned. But we had a good day. We ‘did’ the castle and will report back later. I ‘did’ the David d’Angers Gallery, and will report back later. And here are geometric views from the streets, including geometric chocolate which, trust me, you can’t afford.

I definitely need to include this: a building whose canopy had a circular hole built into its design, to allow the pre-existing tree to continue to flourish, as it always had.

GeometricJanuary

Geometry in Le Château d’Angers

The view of the castle from our hotel room.

We’ve arrived in Angers. Irritatingly, Sally SatNav pronouncs it just like that. Angers. In fact, it’s ‘On-jay’.

Any right-thinking Brit should have this town on their travel itinierary when in France, because (to quote Wikipedia) ‘Angers was the seat of the Plantagenet (or Anjou) dynasty, and for over 300 years English monarchs had Angevin blood, from Henry II in 1154 to Richard III in 1485. The Angevin Kings of England had strong claims to the French throne, which eventually plunged the two nations into the Hundred Years War.’ And our hotel is opposite the seat of much of the action. Le Château d’Angers, built in the 9th – 13th centuries. We’re going to visit it today, and I dare say I shall have plenty more to say, either in my next post, or more likely once we get home. For now, we’ll look at a few outside views, and also admire the stylised geometry of the formal gardens now filling the moat.

GeometricJanuary.

Geometry in a Square Within a Square.

We called in on two sets of friends today, journeying through France. The first set have been busy renovating an old and lovely village house in the Corrèze. My eye was caught by a small window above eye level. Just how many squares can you see here? And how thick, exactly, is that wall?

GeometricJanuary

We’re spending so much time travelling and generally not bring near a computer that I’m finding it impossible to read posts at the moment. Sorry. I’ll catch up one day …

Geometry in the Gorge de Quillan

We’ve started our journey home. It’s not all bad, because we’re visiting two sets of friends, having a mini-break, and yesterday we drove through a favourite haunt from our days in France: the Gorge du Quillan. It’s characterised by steep and narrow cliff sides, and geometrical peaks reminiscent of fearsome dragon’s teeth. Awful photo – sorry. Moving car, and a phone having a sulk and go-slow. Posting from said phone isn’t helping…

GeometricJanuary

Geometry in Museu Blau

Our last day in Catalonia. Malcolm and I took ourselves off to the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, commonly known as the Museu Blau. It’s in a really new part of town, Diagonal Mar. As the name suggests, it’s a thoughly geometric sort of area. Look.

And many of the museum’s contents are pretty geometric too. These fossils for instance …

… or shells …

… or butterflies & moths …

… or arachnids.

It’s a pretty fine museum. In an interesting area. And not on the tourist circuit. Yet. Recommended.

GeometricJanuary

Geometry in Hot Chocolate

There’s nothing even a tiny bit geometric in an unctous dark and temptingly tasty Spanish hot chocolate. Luckily the bar where we had one yesterday was able to deliver.

GeometricJanuary

Geometry at the Hospital Sant Pau

One of my favourite building complexes in the whole world is that of the original Hospital Sant Pau in Barcelona. It sits alongside its more modern successor, a centre of excellence for modern medicine. In its day, when it was first built in the early years of the twentieth century, before the days of the kind of universal health services we now take for granted, it was a wonder. It cared for all comers, and recognised that part of any treatment was access to beautiful spaces, to fresh air and access to nature. And it shows.

I’ve written about it here, and here. So let’s just look at some of its wonders as part of GeometricJanuary.

Geometry in Alella

Alella is a well-heeled little town in the hills, about half way between here and Barcelona. It sits comfortably in productive wine country, and in the 19th century, wealthy landowners – often the aristocracy – either bought plots on which to build, or else knocked down and rebuilt or extended existing properties they already owned. Malcolm and I went to have a look today. A few are still in private ownership, but most have passed into other uses, such as clinics or residential accommodation for those with various disabilities. Come and stroll round town with us – no history lessons – just enjoy the varied, always geometrical and often quirky buildings we found, and plan to research later.

This was the most extravagant of all, and the one we saw first.

We saw ordinary streets too. Like this one …

…and a church, Sant Feliu, in a pleasant square.

… and some geometric plant life …

What town is complete without a sense of humour? The first image isn’t geometrical at all, but I’ll include it anyway. And the second is a road sign that was once geometrical until the tree it was placed on started to grow over it, and the Town Wag took matters in hand.

We liked you a lot, Alella. We’ll be back.

GeometricJanuary.

Geometry in a Sunset

I am looking for an excuse to share images of yesterday evening’s sunset, down on the beach at Premià. And I found it in the views of Barcelona, some 20 km away. Its skyline features suitably geometric buildings, so here’s my square for today.