Tag: GeometricJanuary

Geometry in Vitré

We arrived back home yesterday afternoon – and by gum, it’s cold. Brrrr. A house in January, unlived in for a month, is Not The Place To Be. So I’ll warm myself up by showing you some pictures of a town we enjoyed visiting for just a couple of hours on our last day.

It’s Vitré, a town in Brittany that still has not only an impressive castle, but a preserved town centre dating from mediaeval times. It was both a prosperous trading centre for wool and woollen goods, and a bit of a military hotspot. That castle, commanding from its hilltop site views all over the Vilaine valley below saw frequent military action.

Today, the town is charming, picturesque – and wonkily geometric. Just enjoy a quick stroll round its narrow streets with me:

Do you think Rapunzel lived in the dwelling below?

A couple more streets, and a charming decorative detail beneath a window …

…. and finally, the castle.

We didn’t visit the castle or the museum housed there – they were both closed. A good enough excuse to go back another time and explore a little longer.

GeometricJanuary.

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

Adam’s House

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 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.