scenes from around Roanne

You have seen the pictures of our cozy apartment.  Here are some shots from around town.  It is a quiet place and we walk quite a bit.  The front of our building is just past the end of the "marina" and the back of the building faces the Loire River.  Some of the boats list early 1900s as their hull dates, but most have been beautifully refurbished.

This is where we live on the Quai de l'Isle

 

Chapelle St. Nicolas du Port

  This sign is attached to the side of the building to the right.  I have not seen the building open or in use in any way.  The sign leads us to believe that it is very old and was used in some way with the river traffic that used to go up and down the Loire for the purposes of trading goods and shipping coal.   Our trip to the Chateau de La Roche taught us a little more about how the river was also important as there were a couple of mills that were built along the river to grind the wheat, which is grown in the farmlands around this town, into flour.

The Hotel d'Ville -- It is the Roanne City Hall

There are several churches in Roanne, but this seems to be the one where a majority of the weddings occur.  We have seen one procession and seen one wedding party taking their 'getting ready to leave' parking lot photos.  When a wedding has been performed they set the bells to ringing and they are loud.  The guests from the wedding follow the bride and groom out of the parking lot and continuously honk their horns.  We have heard at least five such convoys since we have been here. 

Colorful home downtown -- done with tile. stone, brick, metal, and colored roofing materials.  Very little of this building has been painted -- just some of the trim boards, front door, and window trim.  The roof tile pattern is amazing.

 This is another of the old churches in Roanne.  The official City of Roanne tourism office is just across the plaza from the church.  This plaza has a war monument (foreground), several places to eat, a green space, and an assortment of shops.  The small building attached to the church was once the parish house and it is so thin that I can almost touch both corners standing in the center of the doorway.  Now it seems to be a restaurant/bar.

Bridge to Le Coteau -- which is the town across from us. 

The rainbow is over Le Coteau.  We went for a walk after some showers had passed.

Boy Scout building and campsite built between the canal and the river

Marina with a partial view of the lock for passage into the canal system

Decoration on a rudder

 Our favorite boat in the marina -- the Maria.  She flies a European Union flag on the stern and has a flag staff 
near the bow that flies a French flag as well as one for the US, California, and New Mexico.

Full moon rising as seen from the midway down the marina on a lovely evening walk.