Monday's walk around Le Louroux on a perfect afternoon.

 

More on previous visits here

St Valentin

Our 14th February pic. 'bises' to everyone.

At St Valentin (36)

February in Loches...

It is always a pleasure to visit Loches and this week saw us there twice for different reasons and we took the opportunity for a walk around the town and gardens plus had lunch at 'Le P'tit Restau' somewhere we hadn't tried before. 

 

Mon banc dominical / My Sunday Bench in Loches

 

You know I love a coincidence -

Just came up the stairs singing 'Have I told you lately that I love you' only to arrive in the salon to ask what's on - 'Love songs at the BBC' - turned it on only to hear Van Morrison sing it!

Reflecting on this week's walks...

Our Monday group had us walking around the village of Cussay and we  kept it up by a couple of walks on our own up behind La Petite Guerche on Wednesday and Thursday.

We did the same walk in both directions to check out which offered the easier climb - as it happens  both directions proved equally challenging.

Monday's walk - Cussay

Wednesday for windows - fausse fenêtre.

 

Snapped this on our walk over at Cussay on Monday.

The ups and downs of Monday's walk...

On Monday I led a small band of our walking group around La Guerche and over the D750 road up into the countryside and back again.

 The uphill climb is a tough one but the view at the top is worth it!

One of the group who tends to set a fast pace always seems to find a good spot as he waits for the rest of us to catch up.

Downhill was much easier!

Frozen in time and on the streets of Tours!

 

On Saturday we headed up to Tours to do the Art Deco architecture walking tour. Well,we love Art Deco and we like walking so why not? We already knew many of the buildings but were hoping to learn of a few more. We met with our fellow walkers outside No 61, rue du Rempart, not the prettiest building in the city but our French guide found a great deal to tell us about it plus give a general introduction to the Art Deco period. Our only problem was that we stood listening in freezing conditions and the thought of this being repeated as we walked our route was, to say the least, a bit demoralising.  

We then moved down to No 48 which was uninspiring ...

and then a little further down the road the interesting garage (L. Amblard) by architect Victor Gascthe.

Then on to No 21 which is by the architect Eugène Devernois which was much more interesting but obviously meant more information had to be imparted...brrrr!

We then were taken along to view another of his designs, the facade of the Printemps store at No 24, rue de Bordeaux.

Then it was around the corner to the Grand Hotel, designed by architect Maurice Boille. 

We were delighted here when our guide spoke to the management who allowed us inside the foyer to hear about its history and check out the interior design work,which is stunning and is the work of Pierre Chareau an arcliect/designer. We were also delighted to be out of the cold!

We were then taken into the Hotel de Ville for a bit of history from this period.We then went along to view the facade of Tours' Central Post Office (1, boulevard Béranger) before heading over to Rue George Sand.

On the corner of Rue Victor Hugo and Rue George Sand  is a former theatre and cinema as you can see from this image from 1963 much of the facade's decorative elements have been lost to time.

 

Across the street is a building that the Gestapo occupied during the Second World War. The site now houses the headquarters of insurance companies.

 

The city of Tours has many fine Art Deco buildings,around 30, some more interesting than we saw on this tour.  

Our  favourite buildings,which we didn't get to see, are however from the Art Nouveau period (built between 1907 and 1910) but definitely a pre-curser to the Art Deco style.They occupy 42-50 bis rue Jules-Charpentier in the city.

If you wanted to seek out these and some of the other fine buildings of the city I suggest you pick up the brochure  'Focus Art Déco Tours' if available and do it yourself,much as our French guide was well informed and enthusiastic, trying to concentrate on the French was difficult for Pauline and impossible for me under the conditions.It would also mean that you could miss out the rather unimpressive first example with its dirty facade and upvc windows!