An afternoon in Angers

[kerouac2]

I know almost nothing about Angers except that it is pretty much at the far end of the Loire valley (looking at it from Paris).  It has an old fortified castle and probably some other stuff, but what?  I was stopping there for the night, so I dropped my stuff at the hotel and made my way to the nearest tram station.  I love the trams in these cities because all you have to do is follow the tracks if you get a bit lost.  I bought a 24-hour ticket and had no idea if I would get my money's worth, but at 4.50 I didn't think that it really mattered.

Here is the tram station.

Having looked at the map, I knew that I didn't want this tram but the next one instead, since 2 different lines went through here.

standard scenery so far

Let's get off here for a start.  This church is near the old part of town.

[kerouac2]

might as well take a look inside the church





nothing special but if you don't go inside, you never know





back outside again







traditional 19th century, not ugly



This major building turned out to be a national centre of theatre and dance. I have seen so many that look like this.





Angers is actually on the Maine and not on the Loire.





very peaceful river

[kerouac2]

The château des ducs d'Anjou was across the Maine.  There are apparently some marvels to see inside but they will have to wait for another trip.



I was very impressed by all of the things growing on the outer walls.







I bet it gets a little help from the municipal gardeners. Do seed blasters exist?

[bjd]

How nice. I have never been to Angers and didn't realize it was such a pretty town. Great flower pictures too.

[whatagain]

Splendid.
Went a few times and for me définitely underrated. Even more than Rouen.

[htmb]

Looks like a pretty little town, especially because of the river running through it.

[kerouac2]

Besides the chateau, other people live up on the cliff.



The garden running below was quite pleasant, probably even more on a hot day.



What I noticed about this playground was the vast quantity of birdhouses. I don't know if that was a good idea with screaming kids.



While the birds might not want to make their nests here, they can at least take refuge for the night when the disturbances are gone.



I had walked quite a bit already, so a visit to the cathedral did not appeal to me.





There is a recent bridge for the tram and for pedestrians and cyclists.



Sometimes a rather boring old façade is saved during rebuilding just because it made an indelible imprint on the locals for so many years.

[kerouac2]

There was a modern covered market along the river.



time to take the tram again to get some use out of my ticket!





This was the old municipal theatre (I think) before they built the big modern cube.



There was a tiny pro-Palestinian demonstration by a couple of communinst splinter parties. Or maybe it was just too early.



Across the square was a big elegant café for the local bourgeois population.



Haussmann influenced business area where all of the department stores used to be. One of them is still there.



Around the corner was the high street which once had a desire to bring Angers kicking and screaming into the 1970s.



Things have now calmed down a bit with a few hiccups.

[kerouac2]

My final visit of the day was to a huge park across from the Hôtel de Ville.



That is actually the Palais de Justice because the town hall was not interesting.





Having finished with architecture, I visited the gardens.





I had stopped by the hotel to leave some useless stuff, including my umbrella.





I always wonder how often bandstands are used. Less and less often, that's for sure.



I could tell it was time to leave. Only one tram stop back to the hotel, thank goodness.





The tram sped me away just in time.

The bottom quickly dropped out of the sky, and that ended my tourism in Angers.

[bixaorellana]

What an exceptionally pretty city! It seems as though it hardly attracts tourists -- is that true? Also, it seems the sort of place that would attract the very well-heeled for their primary or secondary residences, but doesn't at all seem to have that self-consciously brittle look of a place that's only for the rich.

At any rate, it was an eye opener to see such a relatively unsung place with so much well-preserved medieval architecture and all that civic-minded stuff such as dance, theater, beautiful gardens, etc. You certainly did a stellar job of capturing all that photographically.

[lugg]

What a lovely place . I really liked the images of the cloud reflections in the river.

I saw the old door to the cathedral, which I think is Norman and immediately thought Mossie will love that door and be able to tell us if it is indeed Norman