We went back to Angoulême last weekend to kick off the festive season gluttony with a birthday party for Guillaume’s grandmother. I’m still trying to metaphorically patch up where I burst at the seams, and my girth has considerably expanded… but really, I’m just creating health and fitness resolutions to be made and broken for 2008.

It’s high time I mentioned a little more about Angoulême though, as it’s a nice enough place with the unique oddity of being France’s self-crowned “comic book capital”. If I were to elaborate on the French obsession with BD (from bande dessinée, the French term for comic strip), I’d be here all day… so I think it’s sufficient to recommend that you have a look in a French bookshop, marvel and the quantity and variety of BD available, and then come back to me if you have any further questions.

Central Angoulême is surrounded by the city wall ramparts. These ancient fortifications give the old town a strange, elevated feel – from the Charente River below it almost looks like a castle in the sky, levitating above the rest of the urbanscape. From the ramparts, the view stretches on, as far as the eye can see, over the river, train station, industrial areas and then fields. Come mid-September, the usually serene character of this setting changes completely, as Angoulême hosts the historic Circuit des Remparts race, which is, incidentally, the world’s largest gathering of pre-war Bugattis and British vintage cars… (save that one for the local pub trivia night!)

A centre of printing and paper-making since the fourteenth century, Angoulême is now associated with the graphic arts of animation and illustration. Home to the national comic book museum, the Musée de la Bande Dessinée, the town also hosts the annual Angoulême International Comics Festival. Even on a day-to-day basis, you can’t ignore Angoulême’s connection with comics, as the town is decorated by murs peints or comic-book fresco painted walls, which makes for a great wander through the picturesque and pedestrianised old town centre.