Last night, President Macron outlined the route out of lockdown for France. There are some details still to come I think, but from Saturday, some restrictions are lifted or lightened. I'll discuss them tomorrow perhaps. Wednesday morning is market time at la Flèche - parking was easier as many of the restrictions due to fibre had been removed. It was a very lively market and I was able to buy some delicious things, but I didn't take any photos.
This afternoon I had to go into Baugé to get a prescription filled and to make an appointment with the bank. I look advantage of the visit and the lovely weather to linger around the chateau and look at some of the details that we normally take for granted. The first thing I noticed was the sundial, with two different scales for whether it is June or December. Either way, it is so high up and so indistinct that I could not really tell you what time it said, it should have been about 3:30pm.
Looking even higher, I could see a coat of arms at the top of one of the towers, the newest of the towers (see further down for an explanation of this). Again, with the naked eye, it was difficult to see the detail, so thank goodness for high definition cameras on smart phones!
Yes, the sky really was that blue this afternoon! I carried on round to the other side of the chateau, away from the Place de l'Europe and the parking area. There is a magnificent turret - I think the lighter coloured stonework is indicative of relatively recent renovation work.
And finally I reached the square tower at the other end of the chateau to the tower with the coat of arms and sundial. This is an older style tower, more linked to fortifications and therefore would have been considered the unfashionable end I believe by King René, although Foulques Nerra would have liked it.
As I rounded the end of this tower, I noticed some fabric panels on the garden wall nearby. This was a series of interpretation panels, showing the history of the chateau and its development. I photographed one panel, which was the one I found most interesting, showing how the main body of the chateau developed. By 1500 it was pretty well finished, and while windows and bits and twiddles have been added, and external boundary walls and outhouses have been removed, this edifice has marked Baugé for about 500 years in this form.
So now you know!
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