Saturday, February 27, 2016

The castle at the end of the street

Here's another throwback photo. This time we set the WABAC machine to winter 2004. The place is Vendôme, a city of about 17,000 people, the second largest city in our département after Blois. I haven't been there much at all, even though it's roughly an hour's drive from Saint-Aignan.

Taken with Ken's Canon PowerShot Pro90 digital camera in 2004.

What you see at the end of this street is not really a château, but part of one of the city gates that faces a bridge over the Loir (no "e") River. It's called the Porte Saint-Georges. The gate's origins are in the 14th century, but most of what we see is from the 16th. Vendôme has a picturesque city center and I should go back one day in better weather and explore it.

Lest you think I have an incredible memory (which I don't), I did some sleuthing on Google Maps and Google Earth to figure out what this place is. I knew approximately where we were when I took the photo, but I didn't remember what it was until I looked it up. And one of the cool things about digital photography is the meta-data, the fact that the camera records when you took the photo, what settings you used, and what camera you were using. Today's newer digital cameras can even use GPS to record precisely where you took the photo. And maybe what you were wearing at the time.

9 comments:

  1. 16ht century is not to be sneezed at. I am a little scared about turning on my camera gps. I don't think I want my location identified in every photo I take and may put online. Loir/Loire is interesting and perhaps not unlike our Queenscliff/Queenscliffe.

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  2. You were wearing your plum-colored polo shirt. (My digital camera just spoke with your digital camera.)

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    1. My phone and camera ARE way smarter than I will ever be lol. Go back to Vendome and show us more when you get a chance.

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  4. Evelyn, I barely qualify for a smartphone and smart camera. I have them, but I can't communicate with them.

    Yes Walt, more Vendome, please. We stopped there one afternoon and liked everything we saw of the place, and then we headed south along Michelin's scenic back roads, which followed streams and took us past some grand houses. It was a memorable afternoon.



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  5. GPS coordinates, time of day, type of camera, settings...okay by me - but when the camera can tell me what I was thinking at the time I will call it QUITS! Forget about what I was wearing(!)

    Yes, MORE of Vendome, please. Those 16C gates look very interesting!

    Mary in Oregon

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