Church of Saint Gilles (the Virgin appeared here in 1947. Jeanne d'Arc also appeared here in the 1400's. The Duke of Windsor made an appearance in 2012).
We hit the road for Richelieu, intending to stop and have lunch there but instead wandered through all the little villages on the road to Île Bouchard. Everything was closed there too, partly from it being Monday but mostly from it being The Great Recession. We did a walkabout. Île Bouchard is on the Vienne river. The original island is connected by two bridges. There's an upper town and a lower town. We walked through the lower town first, ending up at the Saint Gilles church. In 1947, a group of children had the Virgin and Saint Michael appear to them in this church. It was interesting to read the account of the "apparition" and the historical and social context of such things. According to the church history, France was on the verge of civil war. The Virgin called on the children to pray for France. People have been doing that in this church ever since, but the businesses that closed during the Recession are still closed. The sinners have triumphed.
The Duke of Windsor tries out a new knot.
There were only two restaurants open. The Auberge d'Île was very fancy-schmanzy and equally pricey. We crossed the street to the Auberge de Pavillon Bleu where they had a prix-fixe lunch for €11. We sat outside and drank a pichet of red wine with our Chicken a la Basquaise. And we had another pichet with the crème brûlée and peach tart.
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