The city

Angoulême is a small (about 40,000 inhabitants, metro population around 100,000) hilltop city in the southwest. Our vacation rental was about eight kilometers north, as the crow flies. On Tuesday, our first full day in the area, we ventured into the center of town for a look. As you'd expect, the center of town is at the top of the hill. The streets we took to get up there were steep and very curvy. It took us about twenty minutes to find a place to park the car. The streets at the top were narrow, winding, many were one-way, and some were blocked by delivery trucks or construction. But we wound our way through looking for parking with only a minimum of curse words.

Ken and Tasha heading toward the towers of city hall in central Angoulême.

We found an empty spot on the street and paid for about an hour and a half of time on the meter (the first hour was free!), put Tasha on her leash and headed out on foot toward what looked to be the center of town. Soon we were in a pedestrian district lined with shops, restaurants, and cafés. It was early in the morning and most businesses were just opening up. We were looking for the cathedral, but the first monument we saw was city hall. It looked like a cross between a medieval castle and a monastery. Fortunately, signs pointed us toward the major monuments, so we felt reassured that we wouldn't get lost. And we didn't.