SAUMUR WALKABOUT

Saturday in Saumur. The girls wanted to do some shopping before they have to go home. They are taking the train back to Paris on Sunday then flying home on Monday. Anna will be back at work on Tuesday.
Rich wanted to go across the river to a brocante, a kind of antique store cum junk store, but everything is closed in the country until 2 for lunch. We wandered down to the Saint Nicholas district to have lunch. I ordered a salad with a “white sauce” and Rich ordered a burger and fries. The salad was more like a soup, canned vegetables like peas and corn mixed with small cubes of white cheese, all floating in the white sauce. I should read the menu descriptions more carefully next time. Rich’s medium rare burger was very rare, blood rare, and had to be sent back for further cooking.
After lunch I took a walk around Saumur by myself while Rich went to the brocante. I saw a sign for an exhibit of tapestries in the Chapelle Saint Jean. I followed the signs to a little 12th century church that had steps down from the street level. The church was originally built by the Hospitalers of Saint John of Jerusalem then later it belonged to the Knights of Malta. It had a typically rectangular form – the Plantagenet style.
There were 5 large tapestries divided into 19 panels. The tapestries told the story of Saint Florent and Saint Florian, two brothers who defied the edicts of the pagan emperors Deocletian and Maximian and continued to worship the Christian god. They were arrested, tried, and sentenced to torture and drowning for their faith. While they were being tortured an angel descended from the heavens to save Floriant but poor old Floran was drowned in the river. Florent traveled to Candes to receive holy orders from Saint Martin then went on to found a monastery on a hilltop just outside Saumur. I wondered why the angel didn’t deliver Florian.
The tapestries were very detailed, many of the panels had a main image and several smaller images that added to the story. Also, they were in remarkably good shape, given that they were used at one point as covers for birdcages.