Tours

After a 2 ½ hour train trip, through mostly grain fields, we arrived in Tours where our apartment was in a 15th century building.  We entered through a musty plastered corridor and I wondered what we had booked.  After going up two flights of somewhat sloping stair treds we found our apartment, it was basic but comfortable and had a big window overlooking a small courtyard.  The view wasn't picturesque as we looked onto the backs of other old buildings but it was quiet as we were away from the street.

Our street was nearly wall to wall restaurants or bars and with many more eating and drinking places in other parts of the city you wonder where the people come from to frequent them all, but they are very busy at night.

Our street before the bars opened.  Our entrance was by the yellow door of the Bergerac bar.

On our way to look at the cathedral we stopped by an art gallery whose building that was once a Bishop's palace. It's a grand 17th century building built on the remains of Roman walls.  I thought the original building would have been big enough but an extra wing was added around 1753.

Construction on the Tours cathedral began in 1270 and was not completed until 1547, that's a long building time though not uncommon when it comes to building cathedrals.

Inside we were dwarfed by the height of the nave and we admired the mainly 13th century stained glass windows.

 There are various tombs including that of the infant children of Charles VIII and Anne de Bretagne.

Wandering on we crossed over the Loire river, which was brown and fast flowing, perhaps still high after recent heavy rain, and walked along the other side before crossing back over the Woodrow Wilson bridge.  During WWI Tours had a large force of American soldiers stationed there. They had textile factories for making uniforms, repair shops for military equipment, munitions dumps and an army post office.  Because of this association with the USA one of the bridges was renamed  the Woodrow Wilson bridge.

Just before we crossed the bridge we saw this lovely tall chimney, slights like this are gone from today's Christchurch.

In the 15th century a descendent of a family of silk merchants from Tours built this grand house and new owners in 1738 made additions and renovations.

In 1940 it was badly damaged during the war but has now been restored to its former glory.

Tours has many buildings dating from the 14th century and in the old market square of Place Plumereau many of them are half timbered.  Today the square is a sea of restaurant tables.

Some of these buildings have carvings by the entrance

   I like this one