Heloise and Abelard

These two have a tragic love story worthy of Shakespeare, and that alone probably would have cemented them in European lore for centuries.  However, they also happened to be two of the most intelligent people of their day AND left behind an extensive correspondence that has survived.  In it they discussed not only their shared history but also the most important philosophical and theological questions in their society, and some topics that had yet to come up in European discourse at all.  In their time, even before they began their affair, they were celebrities renowned for their intelligence and eloquence, but eventually the tragedy of their story somewhat overshadowed that.

The story begins sometime probably in the late 1110's, when famed logician and chair of the Notre Dame Cathedral school - then the preeminent university in Europe - Pierre Abelard, took on the teenage Heloise as a student.  By this time Abelard was already probably one of the most well-known people in Europe: not only did he hold a high position in the university, but he had single-handedly brought down the philosophical idea of "realism" which had dominated the intelligentsia of the continent for about two centuries.  As such, he seems to have been the most prominent and historically important thinker of the 12th century.  According to contemporary accounts he could draw crowds of hundreds of students even when he began to speak impulsively on a subject.  He was entirely devoted to science and philosophy, and many people sought him to teach their children.

Heloise's life up to this point is somewhat unclear, although it appears that she herself, even as a woman and teenager (remember that this was a time when women had basically no rights, were considered scientifically as being of lesser intelligence, and had absolutely no intellectual clout whatsoever) had made a name for herself as a scholar.  Although she had come from a lower middle class type of family she received a thorough education and was fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and kept up correspondences with many great scholars.  Just the fact that someone of Abelard's standing was willing to take her, a young woman of no family, on as a pupil indicates how highly she was held in regard.

Heloise lived with her uncle in Paris, and Abelard agreed to live with them for a while to tutor her.  No one knows exactly how it all happened, but according to Abelard himself he "seduced" her while she was his student.  Apparently too besotted to keep things to himself, he told his friends about their relationship, which of course was a huge scandal that was a blow to his career as a serious scholar and philosophical authority.  Heloise's uncle was furious at discovering the affair, kicked Abelard out, and forbade them from ever seeing each other.  Knowing that appearing to cast her off would be best for his career, at this point Abelard only continued to meet her in secret.

But of course these things are always found out...Heloise soon became pregnant.  Being that she was unmarried and already shamed by the affair, her uncle was once again furious and took measures to ruin Abelard's career.  Abelard sent Heloise to Brittany, where his family was from, to have the baby.  She named the little boy Astrolab, as in the scientific instrument.  (See, celebrity baby names have always been crazy!)

Desperate to re-legitimize his career, appease the uncle, and by all accounts still being head over heels for Heloise, Abelard insisted that they marry in secret.  However, when her uncle made the marriage public scandal broke out all over again.  For some reason Heloise denied the marriage (for Abelard's sake or her own is unclear to me), and Abelard arranged for her to enter a convent a little outside of Paris while he stayed in the city.  This was to protect her and their baby from the scandal in Paris and her angry uncle, but it appeared to the uncle as if Abelard were now trying to get rid of Heloise, to shut her away from the outside world and forget about her.  The uncle had Abelard castrated, making it so that they could never legitimately be together since I don't believe castrated men were allowed to marry in the Church at this time (ignoring the fact that they were in fact already married, because Heloise continued to deny it).  Also it obviously ended any intimacy between them that might have persisted.  Heloise was forced to become a nun.

During the aftermath of this they kept up a passionate and frustrated correspondence, with Heloise questioning why she had to submit to becoming a nun when she had no desire to be one.  They were clearly still in love at this time but Abelard was not allowed to see her in the convent.

He became a monk in an abbey outside of Paris, hoping he could continue his writing and learning in more obscurity, but lots of pesky wannabe students followed him there, asking if he could recommence his classes like before.  His discourses took on a more religious tone, but he had gained back his philosophical authority - despite now having lots of intellectual enemies who sought to exploit his story with Heloise to discredit him.  In 1121, shortly after he began taking students again, he was tried for heresy, a crime which at the time could be punished with death.  He escaped that fate, although his most recent book was publicly burned and he was shut up in an obscure monastery. 

By this time he seems to have become somewhat bitter and nasty, as there are many contemporary accounts of him purposefully antagonizing the other monks.  Feeling stifled and not having any friends left now, he left the monastery and became a hermit.  Of course, once his new location was discovered students again flocked to his door.  He reluctantly recommenced teaching but was afraid he'd be targeted again, and eventually fled to Brittany to live in more solitude. 

Around this time Heloise's convent was disbanded, and he used his influence to set her up as abbess at a new place.  Abelard appears to have found some peace in his new environment, and he wrote letters of Heloise urging her to accept the fact that they could never be together in the way they wished.  She eventually did accept this and their next fifteen years of correspondence became an intriguing collection of relatively platonic philosophical and theological debates.  These letters, and the earlier letters, are truly great to read, if you are interested and ever get a chance.  Especially interesting is that Heloise initiated discussion of some of their toughest intellectual material.

Gradually people began again to come to Abelard for lessons, but many years later his enemies again arranged to have him tried for heresy.  He was condemned by Rome and died in 1142 on his way to make a personal plea to the Pope.  His body was laid to rest in Heloise's convent, and she was buried beside him when she died in 1164. 

Their remains were supposedly moved to Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, although the original convent still claims to have them.  The monument to them in the Paris cemetery is really beautiful, and a tradition sprang up that couples will leave love letters in it either as a tribute to the doomed pair or to help out their relationship.  If you go to their monument there are indeed always letters there.

Famous Parisians; moments in Paris history

So in case you haven't noticed, my day to day life is not that interesting, especially in the winter.  Today I wanted to go to a museum and take some pictures along the river but it's pouring.  At the moment I just want to curl up in bed and read.

What to do about this in terms of the blog?  Of course if I do things of interest I'll keep posting them, but I thought I might start talking about some of the more remarkable Parisians in history (or today, if I can think of some) or the most important events for the city.  Sometimes I refer to them and I know people don't really know what I mean, but some of them are still quite significant to Paris.  I'll start later today I think.

In other news, Catherine Deneuve is doing a film presentation at J's school on Thursday (after school).  I hope I can get tickets, I'll let you know.

Lastly, I've discovered this amusingly egotistical but, in my opinion, probably true "motto" (whose motto this is, exactly, I'm not sure but I like it): "Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris."  Apparently this sentiment is why Paris' only "sister city" in the world is Rome.  

Truth

Point taken, Paris.

5th arr, continued

The headquarters of the Sorbonne, or the University of Paris, is in the area of St Michel, but its buildings are spread throughout the 5th.  Most people outside of France believe that the Sorbonne, because it is the oldest and most famous university in France, is also the most prestigious, but this is not true; there are three other schools off the top of my head that I can think of that are significantly harder to get into and have more impressive recent graduate lists (and two of those three also happen to be based in the 5th arr).  So, the Sorbonne is kind of France's Cornell.  *Sidenote - it is actually incorrect to call this set of affiliated schools "the Sorbonne" - it is more accurately the Universite de Paris.  Students will say they go to "Paris I-VII" - each school has a different area of academic emphasis.  I myself was in Paris I, which is based around social sciences/humanities.

However, the Sorbonne's establishment in this area in the 12th century set a precedent for this as the center of education in France.  Just a little south and east of the Place St Michel it seems like every fourth building is affiliated with one of the many universities or prep schools here - this is the area I live in.  As I've mentioned, I live on the same block as one of the main libraries of the Sorbonne, which is is turn next to the Sorbonne's law school, and next to the library is a prestigious grade school.  Just around the block from these are the two most competitive prep schools in the country.  The main polytechnic school in the country and the ENS, from which most of the top levels of government recruit their people, are also right around me.  In the middle of all this sits the Pantheon (no pics for that since I feel I've overloaded this blog with pics of the Pantheon).  

So I suppose it's probably easy to see how, with all these higher education institutions around, nearly every artist, writer, or philosopher you've ever heard of who lived in Paris at some point probably lived here.  Just in the 20th century a few of the famous residents of the 5th: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, J-P Sartre, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, sculptor Rodin, Picasso...the list goes on and on.  Small wonder the 5th is known for its bohemian/artsy way of life.  The recent Woody Allen movie "Midnight in Paris" is basically all about the 5th and its inhabitants - for those who have seen it, the place where he catches the car at night is in fact the corner of my street, Rue la Montagne St Genevieve, and the Place du Pantheon.

Running from what I'm categorizing as "the rest" of the 5th and the "educational" part of the 5th is the ancient Rue Mouffetard.  You might remember that in the summer I lived a block away from this street.  There is evidence that this road was used by the Romans, and possibly was established before they came into France.  

Today it is another main tourist stop, being that it is cute, mostly pedestrian, and absolutely covered in good restaurants/fast food places and good shopping.  You can follow the Rue Mouffetard right from the Pantheon, through the Place Contrescarpe, a favorite break-time spot covered with cafes for students to grab a glass of wine or coffee between classes, south towards "the rest" of the arr, where at the bottom of the road is the adorable medieval church St Medard and an every day fruit market.

A couple blocks from this church is the Grande Mosque de Paris, the main mosque of the city.  In the springtime the garden of the mosque is one of the most beautiful, peaceful places to sit and read with a cup of tea, I absolutely love it.  A bit farther on is the Jardin des Plantes, a park that was set up by botanists to display various types of plants and also included the only zoo-type thing in the city.  The garden itself is really lovely - very wild and haphazard unlike the very sculpted and composed gardens in the rest of the city.

This area, though, is far more residential and non-touristy than the rest of the arr: very few tourists will venture past the end of the Rue Mouffetard.  

***

I love living in this neighborhood and probably would rather live here than anywhere else in the city.  It's such a great mix of people, has great museums and bookstores, has a good balance of famous monuments, more obscure sites, and everyday things.  Many others have described the Latin Quarter far better than me, so if it interests you just dig a little deeper to find out more!

5th arr

Or as I call it, home!  The 5th arr is better known to the outside world as the Latin Quarter, though here it's more often known as "the Pantheon," and it's been well-known for its population of writers, artists, and students for centuries.  It's our first foray into the Left Bank, which is more artsy and less chic than the Right Bank.  Being that it is my neighborhood, I've already written up several posts having to the with the 5th: the Roman ruins, the streets immediately around me and the background of the Pantheon itself, and about half of this walking tour post pertains to the 5th.

So as I discussed a while back, this area was one of the very first areas of Paris that was settled.  We know that there was a Gallo-Celtic tribe (the Parisii, after whom the city is now named) before the Romans, but we don't know too much about them.  But we do obviously know a lot about the Romans - see that first post I linked to see the Roman amphitheater that's not too far away from me.  There are also ruins of an ancient Roman bath just a couple of block from me, on top of which the Cluny monastery was built in the Middle Ages. Wikipedia claims that the 5th is the oldest arr but I am not sure that's true.  It seems in my other research that the Ile-de-la-Cite, now shared between the 1st and 4th, is the oldest, but whatever.

Anyway, moving a bit ahead in time, the 5th was probably the most important arr in the city from the early to late Middle Ages in terms of your average citizen.  While the government was based across the river in the 1st arr, the 5th had a truly lively and diverse population, with lots of businesses, but more importantly lots of early churches and schools.  It defined the intellectual society of Europe at that point in time, and was home to the most important names in philosophy, theology, and the arts.

Why is it called the Latin Quarter, you might ask?  Well, precisely because of the large percentage of the medieval population here that either were involved in the clergy (and therefore spoke Latin a lot) or in higher education/were students (and therefore spoke Latin a lot).  The Latin language was so predominant that I would venture to guess if you lived here in, say, the 13th century, you'd hear it at least as much as the colloquial French of the time.

I've tried to think of several different ways to structure this post so that you can follow it easily, but it's hard to figure out how to cover the 5th in a logical manner.  I could go chronologically but I think that would get a bit confusing in terms of the modern space.  I could go geographically but that might get chronologically confusing.  I could go thematically but that would be both chronologically and geographically confusing.  So I have chosen to split up the arr into three sections: first, the now-tourist-area around St Michel; the university area (though those overlap quite a bit); and the rest.  I apologize if it gets a bit confusing, but there is a lot to cover here!

So, St Michel.  Whenever someone comes to visit Paris inevitably something in this area is on their list of must-see places, because it's historically important and interesting, one of the most picturesque areas of the city, and it's a very central location.  It's probably best to do this area chronologically.

The Place St Michel, which is a very pretty few blocks somewhat marred by kitschy tourists shops, is just across the river from Notre Dame cathedral.  Its central feature is this mid 19th century fountain, representing a "Peace" figure.

The immediate area around the fountain, and just next to the river, has more medieval religious structures than you can shake a stick at.  A couple of blocks away is St Julien le Pauvre, which claims to be the oldest church is Paris.  I tend to believe it just based on architecture.

Right around the corner from that is St Severin, my personal favorite church in the city.  It's high Gothic but not as gaudy as most from the time, holds the crushed finger bones of St Ursula (fun!), has a mixture of medieval and modern stained glass, and one of its columns is randomly shaped like a palm tree.  I should find my old pictures of it, but here is the outside.

And right around the corner from St Severin hides my favorite bookstore in the city, the Abbey bookshop, run by a nice older Canadian man, and built atop the medieval vaults of the Cluny abbey.  Of course, the remains of the Cluny abbey itself (and one of the best museums in Paris, I must say), are at the next block.  

The Cluny abbey probably the most important monastery in medieval Paris, and many of its affiliated men were amongst the first staff of the Sorbonne, including Abelard (of Heloise and Abelard fame - if you don't know them, look it up, they have a great story and are probably one of the most intelligent and interesting couples in history).  There were also extremely rich and politically influential, and they owned much of the land in this immediate area.  St Michel was probably the most intellectually significant few blocks in all of Europe during the Middle Ages, and I really can't say enough how interesting this area is to any historian.

Many centuries later, in the 1968, St Michel was also the site of most of the student/popular demonstrations in Paris.  I've told a lot of people about the French tendency to build barricades and protest things; I've also told the story of how in 1968 the government of Paris decided to remove cobblestones from some streets because they were being dug up to throw at police during the 60's demonstrations.  This is true: during the manifestations of 1968 young Parisian students ripped up some of the cobblestones from the streets and used them as projectiles - not as building block of barricades as they had in times past.  The government decided that nostalgia was less important than their immediate safety, I suppose.  Nearly all of those streets were around St Michel - I believe the primary offender was the Boulevard St Michel itself.

Anyway, tourists love this area because of its tiny and mostly cobblestone streets, authentic medieval buildings, and monuments every other block. I love it because despite it being rather overrun with tourists there are some great out-of-the way, quiet, special places, like the Abbey bookshop, a Lebanese creperie on the Rue St-Andre-des-Arts, the Oubliette jazz club with the guillotine, and countless little cafes. 

Clos Luce

The Clos Lucé is the small palace where Leonardo da Vinci lived in France, for the last three or four years of his life.  He was brought there by King Francois I in 1519, and was the first non-royal resident in a couple of generations.  It seems like he was pretty good friends with the king and they had a good relationship.  Apparently da Vinci brought few of his own belongings with him (he traveled over the Alps on a donkey or something) but he brought his three favorite paintings, one of which was the Mona Lisa.

It's a nice, homey place despite being labeled as a palace.

Again, the Clos Lucé has different areas decorated in the styles of important periods to the palace, although I do believe the furniture is original.  Here we have the bedroom of Marguerite, queen of Navarre and sister of Francois I.  I think she left shortly before da Vinci came.

The chapel of Anne of Brittany, queen of France and mother-in-law to Francois I (Who I just now found out, in a super weird train of inheritance, gained the throne through the successive deaths of his third cousin, who was Anne's son, and then his cousin once removed - he was four generations removed from any direct decent from a king.  Weird.)

The bedroom of da Vinci.  He had a cool bed!

And finally the late-ish 18th century.

The real treat of this place, though, is that the whole basement is filled with his invention models, and the gardens display several of the lifesize models.  Here are a few:

Catapult 

Multi-directional machine gun

Some kind of hydraulic pump

A cool bridge (not that exciting but I like bridges!)

On the right is what they called a prototype for a car, and on the left is a bicycle I think (a bike seems pretty simple but I'll remind you that it wasn't introduced until more than 300 years after da Vinci's death).

Here is a "secret tunnel" that, according to legend, goes to the castle.  Da Vinci and Francois supposedly used it when they wanted to meet up without a lot of people knowing.  Side point: wouldn't it be pretty easy to find out whether this tunnel does in fact lead to the castle?  Why is that only "according to legend?"

Next we have the grounds, which are absolutely gorgeous.  I'm not sure if they appear now as they did in his time, but they're the complete opposite of the gardens at the castle.  These grounds are much more wild, unkempt, and rambling.  I think they're much nicer.  His large scale models are placed around the grounds as well.  This is immediately outside the palace, and the others are from farther out.  The grounds are huge.

This is a double-decker footbridge da Vinci created.  You can walk on the top or middle.

This is a helicopter,  but even with my 21st century perspective I have no idea how it's supposed to work.

(sorry about the orientation there, for some reason I can't change it)  Here is a tank - soldiers sit inside, close the door, rotate with that little wheel, and shoot out the tiny windows.

This is a "portable bridge."

This was definitely the best thing I saw in Amboise.  It was fascinating to see all the models - there are somewhere are 40 - and read about his innovations.

Chateau d'Amboise

As promised, here is the first of my separate post on the two main attractions of Amboise, the royal castle and the palace where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life.  I was going to do them both in one but that would have gotten ridiculously long.

First off, the castle is considerably smaller today than it was for hundreds of years, and only part of what remains is open to visitors.  Here is a diagram of the castle, in red are the parts that were demolished and in black are the parts that remain:

So mainly, part of the fortified walls, the main royal residence area, and a small chapel remain whereas the rest of the court's rooms and most of the walls are gone.  The castle was first built in the 11th century because it this was a strategic location: there were only ten bridges that crossed the Loire at that time and one was here; and the river narrows considerably around Amboise, making it a likely place for people of all sorts (but especially armies) to cross.  I don't think the walls and towers date from that time but they're certainly much older than the rest of the castle - I would guess probably 13th century. 

It was not originally owned by the royal family, but they confiscated it in the early 1400's.  From that time until the early 1600's this was a favorite home of the monarchs and the main place where all the royal children (and sometimes their fiancees, like Mary, Queen of Scots, who was brought here when she was a toddler but already queen of Scotland and betrothed to the heir to the French throne) were raised. 

Here is the residential building that is open today, started in the late 1400's:

 
Currently each floor is decorated in the style of a different important era of the castle.

First is the Renaissance.  Here is a suit of armor from the 1400's; it wasn't battle armor but would have been worn for things like ceremonies and parades.  You can't really tell but there are intricate designs over most of the plates.

It was a pretty cold day and inside the castle was very chilly.  This was the first time I've actually seen a fireplace in use at a place like this, and I have to say it was very cozy!  I've often wondered, while going through these big stone buildings, how people dealt with the cold that seems to be permanent in all of them.  I guess this answers my questions.

This was some sort of multi-purpose great hall for receptions and things.  It was quite light and airy, unlike lots of castles.

I believe this was an ante-room to the bedroom of Francois I, contemporary and main frenemy of Henry VIII of England.

And a little later on, towards the Protestant Reformation.  Amboise fell out of favor as a royal residence due to some convoluted machinations of the Reformation, what was known as the Amboise Conspiracy.  When the conspiracy was discovered it seems like the king had a hissy fit and moved his family to Paris.

And finally we have the early/mid 19th century, under the restoration of the monarchy post-Napoleon.  These are the king's bedroom and the music room.

Also here, ever wondered what it looks like at the top of a castle tower? 

The grounds were very pretty.  Amboise had the first Italian-style garden in France and they've tried to restore it, sort of.  The thing is, a lot of the area where the gardens are now is actually where parts of the castle had been before.  You can see one of the medieval gates in the background.

These trees are all over small towns in France, and they're super weird looking in the winter.  The guide said they're linden trees.

Finally, there is a small chapel that has survived, and da Vinci's tomb is in it.  He had been in the big church in the castle complex but it was demolished, so they moved him here.

Amboise

Yesterday I had my first day trip outside Paris since my mom came in July/August.  I went to Amboise, which is a small town in the Loire Valley, about 1 hour and 45 minutes by train southwest of Paris.  There were a number of places I wanted to go but I picked Amboise mainly because it's in the area I wanted to visit and I saw that the castle is still open in the winter - many are closed between November and March.  After picking Amboise I did some research and also found out that Leonardo da Vinci lived there for some time, serving the then-king Francois I, and his former home is now a museum containing a bunch of his original inventions and machines.  So cool!  Those two things, however, I'll discuss in the next post as they sort of go together and are long enough to have their own thing.

The Loire Valley is reputed to be the most beautiful area of France, and I must say after having been to Amboise, even in the middle of winter, I would probably agree (although the lavender and other fields near Aix-en-Provence are absolutely gorgeous as well).  I've hardly seen a more picturesque town of its size, and the castle affords great views of the river.

It looks a little drab now, but imagine it in summer!  Everywhere I went the buildings were quaint and interesting, and the streets super narrow and very medieval. 

The center of the town itself hasn't changed too much from the Renaissance, in fact.

I timed my arrival so that I could have some time to walk around and get lunch before the castle re-opened after its afternoon break.  I thought I might stop by some of the old churches I'd scoped out as I headed to the town center from the train station.  The first was not open, and for some reason I neglected to take any pictures of it.  Oh well, it wasn't much to see from the outside: it was made of grey stone, two stories, boxy, with few windows, and not very inviting.  It sits on a nice spot, just before the bridge which connects one side of town with the other.

Amboise is set up a little like Paris in that the town is mostly split on two sides of the river, with a small island in the middle.  The island in this case, though, is quite long and narrow, residential at the tip close to the bridge but the rest of it is taken up by campgrounds.  At the very end of these campgrounds is a 12th century chapel that I was interested in seeing, so on my way I wandered onto that island.  This place definitely is quite unchanged from earlier times - I doubt cars can go down two of the three main streets.

It has a more claustrophobic air than the rest of the town, and I did not see anyone else at all on the island the first time I went there.  After going through the residential area I realized the chapel was almost three quarters of a mile away, and since I wanted to be at the castle for its 2pm opening I wouldn't have time to get down there and have lunch so I abandoned that mission.

It had great views of the castle, though.

I went to a recommended place that had some regional specialties; the Loire Valley's pâtés and foie gras are reputed to be the best in France, so although I'm not generally big on meat I was brave and ordered the assiette de cochonaille (basically, a dish of pig meat) as a starter.

Clockwise from the top, in a spiral, my best bets on these: dried ham; some kind of fresh sausage (that is, not cured); a galantine (not very tasty); a coarse textured pâté (much better than I was afraid); hiding under that is a tiny mild salami-type thing; and finally, those two little dark rounds...I'm very much afraid that was a blood sausage of some type.  I didn't ask for fear that if I found out it was in fact a blood sausage I wouldn't try it.  I did try everything, and the fresh sausage was definitely the best while the dark one was really not good.  The flavor was only slightly yucky but the texture was gross: it was squishy and almost spreadable but with identifiable um, chunks.  Ew.

For the rest of the meal I got a mi-cuit (halfway cooked) salmon filet with a really delicious vegetable side and some very good creme brulee for dessert.

Next I made my way to the castle and then da Vinci's palace, which as I mentioned I'll discuss in the next post.  I passed some interesting things along the way.  This is the Renaissance clock tower in the middle of town:

I read that centuries ago there were primitive homes carved out of the hillside on the road between the castle and da Vinci's palace.  Some I guess can still be seen today but it was unclear to me exactly where and what they were.  This picture (I was stabilizing the camera on a fence post and it must have been crooked!  I promise I wasn't drunk or anything) was taken after climbing halfway up the hill and I think some of the areas of the cliffs here might be the homes but I'm not sure.

The article I read said that some are still in use today so I'm thinking that's what this is?

The castle took much shorter than I expected, as I was in an out in about an hour.  I had been under the impression that more of it was extant, but I guess not.  So I was a little early getting to da Vinci's place and early getting out, and I decided to wander off to a more out-of-the-way church that I had spotted from the top of the castle.

It was the Eglise St Denis and the sign tells me it was originally built around 1187. 

It has one of the best preserved portals I've seen in France outside the major cathedrals. 

But despite its outside and shape the main entrance looked much more like a chapel of the time period - the difference being chapels were usually very simple and functional while churches and cathedrals displayed a lot more artistic work and were much grander.

Anyway, it was also closed.  By this point I was running really ahead of my schedule, since the castle didn't take very long and two of the churches I wanted to see were closed.  I headed to the next church on my list, which I wasn't sure was open either.  Turns out it was but there was basically nothing inside - it no longer functions as a church and was recently renovated so there is almost nothing inside it.  I liked the interior, though, it was very light and airy, with some nice stained glass.

So, third church to basically take up no time on my trip.  I left this church around 5pm and my train wasn't until 8:30.  I had also planned on having dinner in town but after my large lunch I was still very full; so the only thing left on my list was possibly a cup of tea in a local cafe (something I always try to do) and to see the small chapel on the middle island.  I ended up looking at the train schedules to see if I could get an earlier one back and decided o take one around 7:15.  After getting a cup of tea at a popular local hangout - it was a pleasant bar/cafe with a lot of regulars - I headed off towards the campground.

By this time the sun was starting to go down, and it was almost completely set by the time I walked the mile plus to the chapel.  There was still virtually no one else on the island (one guy walking a dog and a few kids playing on the playground), especially one I got onto the campsite.  It's about a half a mile of just one straight road headed towards the far tip of the island and I got farther and farther away from any signs of life as it got darker.  Now, I am not one to get nervous traveling on my own, and I am never uneasy in in cities or bigger towns when I do.  Some might find this strange, but the open countryside makes me far more nervous than any city; sometimes people are astonished that I'm perfectly comfortable walking alone around a city at all hours of the night while unpopulated areas make me uncomfortable.  This was one of those times.

Oh well, it was still quite early, just around 6:15pm.  And I was cheered up when I finally arrived at the chapel as it definitely tickled my sense of whimsy: it would be the perfect setting for a ghost story at this time of day - nearly dark but that point where there is just enough light to cast everything into shadowed relief.  Not to mention the chapel itself is imposing and clearly very old, with just the main door and another tiny sidedoor closed with iron bars, and only two windows at a height where you cannot see in at all.

Also my camera batteries just happened to die when tried to take pictures so I had to make do with my camera phone.  Someone should write Poe-inspired short story about this place.

And then I made the long (when walking, it's only about a mile and a quarter) journey back to the train station, and thus concluded my trip to Amboise.  Stay tuned for the castle and da Vinci's palace!  They were awesome.