The Loire and city of Blois
The Loire River is the longest river in France, covering more than 1,000 km from its source in the Massif Central to its mouth in the Bay of Biscay in the Atlantic Ocean. The main towns are Nevers, Orleans, Blois, Tours and Nantes. It is famous for its châteaux, particularly Chenonceau, Chambord, Chaumont and Cheverny, and its vineyards. The Loire Valley, a World Heritage Site, spanning about 300 km, is located in the middle stretch, 2 to 3 hours south of Paris.
Blois, where I live, is a town of 50,000 people ideally located for visiting the area. Although much was destroyed during the war, it still has some lovely old streets winding up the steep banks of the Loire. It was once the centre of the French Renaissance with a prestigious castle. Louis XII, king of France in 1498, was born there in 1462. One of its citizens, Denis Papin, invented the steam engine in 1647 and the illusionist Louis-Eugène Roubert-Houdin, born in 1805, is celebrated in the “House of Magic” just opposite the castle.
Guest photos
If you would like to contribute a photo, please contact me at rosemary.kneipp @ gmail.com. I would be happy to publish it under your name.
Caqueter will be my new french word of the day. Thanks. And that’s a nice shot of the caquetoire. Seems like a great idea. I don’t know of an equivalent word for it in English either.
I’m not sure I’ve ever actually heard someone use the verb caqueter in this context. It’s usually used for cackling hens. Try it out on your neighbours and see how they react!
The covered area in front of a church front door is a porch or more properly a narthex. However, I’m not sure that what the church at Cheverny has could be termed a narthex. The function of the narthex is to shelter people who are not members of the parish but who want to listen to the service, and to take any overflow of the congregation.
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