Railway demolitions for the new 'Voie Verte' - green pathway - between Richelieu and Chinon

a huge pile of old sleepers

former railway line rails

the engine shed, shed of its tracks

the empty locomotive shed

the last remaining item, a double-decker carriage

the station and demolitions underway

la gare

a new business is in preparation
cycle rentals

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The new roundabout at the northern Porte de Chinon

A new roundabout has appeared at the northern gate to the town, the Porte de Chinon. This reinforces the original 17th century layout of the gate composition, based as it is on a circular layout of rotation.

While the by-pass remains incomplete in its north western sector, all the passing traffic, including frequent euro-artic-trucks, have to navigate this poem of French civic traffic engineering.  It seems odd that there is always money for endless traffic engineering of doubtful purpose, while the old stones of the town languish in dereliction. Don't we all love our cars!

It seems to the old Abbé Henri Proust that the Lemercier brothers would have added a central obelisk, in the manner of seventeenth century Roma, as a confirmation of the centrality of the layout and a reminder of more celestial ambitions for the cité idéale

the Chinon gate closed for the construction period

the bridge out of town with new cobbles

the new roundabout

doesn't this need a central obelisk?

the axis of the parc de quinconce

kooking south at the porte de Chinon

the new circular footpath

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Raise the red lanterns...

The Chinese Film Festival at the Cinema Majestic that took place towards the end of August 2016 saw the appearance of a contrasting and faintly bizarre conjunction of cultures. 17th century France suddenly sporting red Chinese lanterns. The twinning of the town of Richelieu with that of Wuzhen in the PRC gives this a piquant relevance, as do the young visitors who recently came from South Korea, as symbolised by the national flag in the second picture below.

The poster for the film festival features the graceful face of the actress Gong Li who is the heorine of the film Raise the Red Lantern that tells the melancholy role of humble womenfolk in ancient warlord China.

我们有没有中国的读者？

我們有沒有中國的讀者？

The town hall decked out

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A few friends came round to dinner....

The annual Nocturne Gourmande took place on the Friday 5th August 2016. As you can see from the video below, it was a vibrant success, with many, many visitors. The market square has many purposes but this event turned the square into a giant public theatre. Both the LeMercier boys, designers of the square and the town itself in 1630, with their eminent client, the Cardinal Duke, would have been thrilled.

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