Something of a two in one today, and not the promised review of the gastronomic restaurant in Bauge either. Due to some monumentally bad planning on my part, we ended up needing to be in Angers on Monday, but I did get taken out to lunch.
We went to the Brasserie de la Gare, which is just opposite Angers Station and only does food (no attempts to just get a coffee or a beer there have ever worked). As we were in the big city, it wasn't exactly a workers' lunch, although the place was full of office workers by 1pm. The basic menu was 14,80 Euros a head, excluding wine and coffee (city prices) and only three courses. You could have a Greek salad or the starter of the day - that was marinated sardines and was nice where the sardines had been descaled - one of mine hadn't and it was like eating cellophane. For main you could have a filet of fish with beurre blanc, but we went for the dish of the day - steak with ravioli and a roast tomato. That was an excellent dish - the steak was good and tender and full of flavour (not always the case over here, as they don't hang their beef long enough), and went very well with the dollop of creme fraiche and the spinach and ricotta ravioli. For pudding John had creme caramel (lots of caramel but the creme was a bit dry) while I had mousse au chocolat (and a veritable chocolate hit). The Anjou Gamay was very nice (no pichets of wine at this restaurant) and the coffee was stronger than I have experienced in years. Not at all bad overall, and cheaper than some options further away from the station.
John then went off to do the job we were in Angers for him to do, while I took myself off to the Chateau, which I haven't been round for about 7 years. The entrance was good value at 6 Euros, due in part I think to the fact that there is a lot of work going on to restore the Logis du Roi following the awful fire of January 2009. The main thing to see in the Chateau is the wonderful Tapestry of the Apocalypse - nothing like the Bayeux tapestry,this is vast and colourful and woven tapestry rather than applique, and is full of vibrant reds and blues (the greens are sadly gone the way of all flesh). If you are a Biblical scholar and know Revelations, then the images would be familiar - the seven churches (of Sardis?), the four horsemen (only two of whom survive in the tapestry), the beast of the land and the beast of the sea, the fall of Babylon and the building of the new Jerusalem. I am not such a scholar, but I spent a very happy and peaceful half hour in the great gallery admiring the scale and beauty of the work.
I also did the rampart walk and took a few pictures, as it was a rather nice afternoon. I started at the high tower at the Cathedral end and you can see where I had to go next.
To the left is the dry moat where King Rene and his successors kept animals, to the right is the castle courtyard and buildings, shown better in the next picture.
You can see there is a nice low level parterre for the ladies to promenade in or for soldiers to practice in, and there is a vinyard just next to the rampart at high level and also vegetable gardens just in front of us, but not looking very pretty. To the right is the bulk of the chapel and at the other side of the courtyard are some buildings built onto the rampart walls which now house administration and a restaurant.
There remains a formal garden at high level which is intended for the herbs and plants that would have been used for cosmetics for the ladies of the court and medicines for dealing with all of the chateau residents. At this time of year there is little there apart from the box hedges, a few perenials including cotton lavendar and cardoons, and some chard.
Finally, wandering around Angers I found a place to photograph one of the main galleries which houses sculptures, but has wonderful natural light. Sadly, as it was a Monday, I could not go in to see how well the roof really works, but it looks good from the outside and is an imaginative way of keeping old buildings going for modern needs.
Now the tram works are nearly over, Angers is once again a nice city to spend an afternoon wandering around.
Comments