Continuing along the route of the River Loire, we came to Tours. Built on the site of a Roman town and already a center for Christianity by the 4th century, Tours became the French capital in 1461, by decree of Louis XI. Later, under Henri IV, the capital left Tours for Paris and the city went into gentile decline. In the 20th century, WWII inflicted considerable damage on the city, after which most of the money left and the town degenerated to a slum filled with crumbling masonry. Fortunately, in the late fifties, an energetic and purposeful Mayor, in the person of Jean Royce came along, and over the next four decades, organized the renovation of the city to its present splendor – good job Jean! Tours also has a large university population and that too, has improved the city’s vitality. Checkout the slideshow
Showing posts with label Orleans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orleans. Show all posts
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Tours - the City
Continuing along the route of the River Loire, we came to Tours. Built on the site of a Roman town and already a center for Christianity by the 4th century, Tours became the French capital in 1461, by decree of Louis XI. Later, under Henri IV, the capital left Tours for Paris and the city went into gentile decline. In the 20th century, WWII inflicted considerable damage on the city, after which most of the money left and the town degenerated to a slum filled with crumbling masonry. Fortunately, in the late fifties, an energetic and purposeful Mayor, in the person of Jean Royce came along, and over the next four decades, organized the renovation of the city to its present splendor – good job Jean! Tours also has a large university population and that too, has improved the city’s vitality. Checkout the slideshow
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Orleans - Capital of the Loire Valley
Orleans and Joan of Arc seem to be inseparable. This city, on the banks of the River Loire, reminds me of the movie Groundhog Day in which the same day repeats and repeats. Wholly rooted in the past, Orleans seems to sleep walk from one Joan d'Arc festival to the next.
Joan was born in 1412 to fairly well-off farmer parents,
Jacques and Isabelle d'Arc in Donremy, a village of a couple of hundred souls in eastern France. See their home at right. A rough outline of her life and beyond is as follows: 1424, at age 12, the voices and visions begin, although she never revealed this to anyone until 1429 when it became politically expedient to do so; 1429, lobbied the Dauphin and others in Chinon to let her have at the English siege installations at Orleans; May 1429 routed the English at Orleans and hung out there for a couple of months; subsequent successes were lesser, stymied by various political intrigues and jealousies; captured by the English at Compiegne in 1430, apparently betrayed by French courtiers; first quarter of 1431 a scurrilous trial was orchestrated by the English, resulting 
in the famous bonfire; twenty-four years later in 1455, the court decision was reversed declaring Joan innocent and promoting her to martyr status - not much help to Joan as it turned out; four and a half centuries later, in 1909, she was beatified; finally, she was canonized to sainthood in 1920. Ain't politics great? For more details of Joan's short life, click here.
In reality, apart from the initial siege busting, there is not much connecting Joan to Orleans, which is an interesting city in its own right. To see some pictures around town, click here.
Joan was born in 1412 to fairly well-off farmer parents,
Jacques and Isabelle d'Arc in Donremy, a village of a couple of hundred souls in eastern France. See their home at right. A rough outline of her life and beyond is as follows: 1424, at age 12, the voices and visions begin, although she never revealed this to anyone until 1429 when it became politically expedient to do so; 1429, lobbied the Dauphin and others in Chinon to let her have at the English siege installations at Orleans; May 1429 routed the English at Orleans and hung out there for a couple of months; subsequent successes were lesser, stymied by various political intrigues and jealousies; captured by the English at Compiegne in 1430, apparently betrayed by French courtiers; first quarter of 1431 a scurrilous trial was orchestrated by the English, resulting 
in the famous bonfire; twenty-four years later in 1455, the court decision was reversed declaring Joan innocent and promoting her to martyr status - not much help to Joan as it turned out; four and a half centuries later, in 1909, she was beatified; finally, she was canonized to sainthood in 1920. Ain't politics great? For more details of Joan's short life, click here.In reality, apart from the initial siege busting, there is not much connecting Joan to Orleans, which is an interesting city in its own right. To see some pictures around town, click here.
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