Doors

What is it about doors that makes them such a common subject for photographers? I've seen posters made up of door photos, I see doors all over the internet photo sites. I'm no exception. I take pictures of them, too.

Somebody had to choose these colors. I'm not sure they work together. The wrought iron rail at the top looks to be the same lavender color as the door on the right.

In France, door and window shutters offer an opportunity for bright colors that break the monotony of a streetscape made mostly of stone. I found these two examples fairly close to one another in the city of Niort, near the west coast of France.

A close look reveals that the top corners of this door are cut at an angle to make it fit within the arch of the stone frame.

The first one is a little over the top, the second one more elegantly understated, in my humble opinion.

Pilloried

We crossed the plaza, which is more or less just a wide street that's been made pedestrian-friendly, and headed up the hill into the neighborhood on the other side. We came to the Musée du Pilori, an exposition space for contemporary artists.

Le musée du Pilori at the end of the street with its medieval facade and clock tower.

Notice the empty wine bottle standing on the street next to the yellow mailbox on the right.

The building was Niort's city hall from the middle ages until the revolution in the 18th century. Its name comes from the pillories that occupied the site before the building was built, a place to secure and publicly display criminals. I didn't know any of this when we walked by (except for the sign on the door saying it was a museum). I've since done a little internet research about the building.

Mail delivery

I don't have much to say about this photo, other than it shows a modern postal service bicycle parked next to a historic medieval building. The boutique in the building is a ceramics shop.

There's a men's clothing shop on the left. The mannequins have lost their heads.

It's still the rue St.-Jean in the city of Niort, not much further along from yesterday's photo. It's very close to where the street empties into a large plaza. We crossed the plaza and headed up into the neighborhood on the other side.

More of the rue St.-Jean

When we found the rue St.-Jean, we had walked up a slight incline toward city hall. The street slopes downhill, back toward the center of town, so that's the way we went. My camera says I took these photos around 10h30. Morning coffee time had passed, and it was too early for places to serve lunch.

The street is calm between the morning "rush" and lunch.

Most places in France, especially in rural areas and smaller cities, adhere to a specific schedule for mealtimes. You can't get breakfast all day, lunch isn't available until at least 12h30 and usually not past 14h00. Dinner service doesn't start until around 19h30. Some years ago, Ken found a McDonald's restaurant out in the Norman countryside that closed between lunch and dinner time. Twenty-four hour restaurants are rare.

There are exceptions, of course, especially in Paris and the larger cities, where the 24/7 lifestyle is becoming more common. It's interesting to remember that for several years after we moved here, our local supermarkets closed for two hours at lunch time. Today they stay open through the day, from 08h30 or 09h00 to 19h30, but they are closed on Sunday afternoons. There are no twenty-four hour supermarkets or groceries anywhere in our region, that I'm aware of.

Along the rue St.-Jean

I have a few more photos from Niort to share over the next few days. Ken had read that the rue St.-Jean was a pretty street in the city center with many historic buildings. We didn't know exactly where it was, but we found it pretty quickly. The street is lined with eateries and boutiques and merchants were open for business or, in the case of this restaurant, getting ready to open for lunch.

An Italian restaurant in central Niort. Looks inviting!

I think we walked almost the entire length of the street before it ended at a wide plaza. We saw a couple of department stores and more shops on the plaza, and more and more people were out and about.

Place du Donjon

Tasha and I walked around the mostly empty Place du Donjon outside of Niort's central market hall while Ken went inside to have a look. It was relatively early on Friday morning. The bigger market days are Thursday and Saturday when the place is filled with itinerant vendors' stands and shoppers. We enjoyed being in the calm and open space this day.

The place was quiet on this morning. The benches were empty.

Tasha has an extendable leash that I can clip to a special belt around my waist. It leaves my hands free to take photos while giving Tasha some liberty of movement. At any time I can reel her in and lock the leash if I need to keep her close. It takes a little getting used to, but it's ok. I do many pirouettes to keep her from wrapping the leash around my legs.

Looking toward the donjon. Not a soul in sight.

Today is rainy, so walks will be short. There's food to be made (using the last of the leftover lamb) and tennis to be watched on tv.

Back to Niort

Thanksgiving weekend is in full swing. Ken and I had our traditional roasted leg of lamb with flageolets (beans) and glazed carrots. It was delicious, as usual. On Friday we ate leftover cold lamb and steamed potatoes with une sauce mayonnaise on the side. On Sunday we'll likely make un hachis (like a shepherd's pie) with the remaining lamb.

Some colorful tables and chairs outside the central market hall in Niort.

Today, however, we'll take a break from the lamb and make croque-monsieur for lunch, those toasted ham and cheese sandwiches that you can find in most Paris cafés and brasseries. In other news, the weather is a little less cold, but wetter. We've had some serious foggy days, typical for November, and off-and-on rain. Sunday is expected to be very wet. We're heading toward winter.