Angers Adventure!

Chateau D'Angers which now houses the famous Apocalypse Tapestry. 

This past Wednesday and Thursday I visited the town of  Angers which is 190 miles from Paris and about a twenty-five minute train ride from Solesmes.  Presently it is the 18th largest city in France and the capital of the Maine et Loire region.  It was a major center during the Plantagenet dynasty.  You might recall Henry II and Eleanore of Aquitaine from the movie "A Lion in Winter."  It boasts a medieval castle (Chateau D'Angers-today housing the famed Apocalypse Tapestry) overlooking the Main River, an early transitional gothic cathedral where I attended Mass each evening as a student and concelebrated Mass here this time (Cathedral of St. Maurice) and a wonderfully preserved historic Medieval sector.

Daily Mass Chapel (larger than Incarnation Church) of St. Maurice Cathedral.

Today it has become a beautiful walking city with dozens of pedestrian only zones.  There are many parks and green spaces that are easily accessed from the heart of town.  Flowers and gravel paths are side by side with Medieval buildings and modern conveniences.  It is also a major university hub for the region and so there are loads of young people around.  As a matter of fact over twenty years ago I spent four weeks here one summer studying French at the  Catholic University of the West  to help me with my liturgy studies in Rome.  Besides the studies, it was a wonderful four weeks.  During that time there was a woman, Madme Thibault, who "ran" the foyer where I was staying along with 50 high school and college students who had come to Angers to work on their French.  Needless to say I was older than they were and not in the same "party mode."  Madame Thibault managed to get me a quieter room and kinda took me under her wing giving me suggestions about more cultural and age appropriate things I might enjoy.

Residence where I lived in July 1992.

Besides visiting the town and university, I also had dinner at Mrs. Thibault's house with her husband, daughter and grand-daughter.  It was like being on "The Carol Burnett Show" in a Tim Conway-Harvy Korman skit.  Their English was poor at best and my French is really non-existent.  It was two and a half hours of playing charades.  The greatest fun of the whole evening is when little Marie (fiver years old) decided that she would teach me French single handedly by pointing to everything and saying what it is called in French.  Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable evening even if a little stressful.

View from my second (better) room at the foyer.

In the twenty or so years since I had studied here there has been so much development done.  Parts of the city have been leveled to make way for the new.  Some of the older areas (where the Chinese Restaurants were!) don't even exist anymore.  At certain points I was completely disoriented.  But there were so many new and beautiful things added as well.

There were two regrets from the visit:  first a restaurant which the Thibauts recommended as great and inexpensive was booked for the time that I was there, and second, while it didn't pour rain my whole time there it was not the sunny Angers I had longed for.

As I left I felt deep down that I will return again.  I hope so and I would recommend anyone visiting France to stay here and visit Angers and its surroundings.

View of a street in the historic Medieval sector of Angers.