Nieuil L'Espoir

Our plan was to continue on to Poitiers and to see the sights there. But those sights were simply more churches, and we figured we had seen enough churches for one day. In Poitiers we might also have visited the famous battlefield where, in 1356, the forces of the Black Prince actually captured the French King Jean II (and there was no policy of catch-and-release in those days). But no one knows where the battlefield was. Sic transit, Gloria. Anyway, at length, we found a free camping aire in the little town of Nieuil L'Espoir, perhaps 15 miles from Poitiers, and spent the night there.

To our great surprise and delight, the Mairie at Nieuil L'Espoir provides free wifi for campers. (Well, you have to play a 30 second advert to connect; and reconnect every hour). Still, fairly incredible and wonderful. Rain was forecast the next day, so our plan was to just sit in Nieuil L'Espoir for the evening and morning, enjoying the free wifi, and take the bus into Poitiers in the afternoon, rain or shine. This plan did not pan out, however, although we did continue enjoying use of the free wifi.

Wednesday morning we noticed that things were rather quiet in the village. (We had also noticed a surprising number of French campers and tourists everywhere the past week, but attributed this to the May 1st holiday and the French knack for turning any holiday into a three-day weekend or a week's vacance). Walking around, noticing the tri-color flag everywhere, especially war monuments, a large gathering of citizens at the community hall next to the Mairie, and looking at my watch, I finally deduced that it was May 8th, another French national holiday. VE Day. No bus service to Poitiers, either.

For a while we hoped to be invited to the festivities, maybe some free champagne for the honored Liberators, but had to settle for the free wifi. In between rain showers, I took several long walks in the pretty village and around the large park in which the aire is located. Nice place. And free wifi.

Tree-line avenue leading into Nieuil L'Espoir

The camping aire

Town center and church

8 Mai 1945

Community hall

The Mairie, with its free wifi

Very large chain-saw sculpture in the aire; by one Antoine
Thomas;  indeed the largest such sculpture I have ever seen,
and the only one not of a grizzly bear

One of three large ponds in the park; which was honey-combed with biking and
jogging trails; this is the fishing pond

Educational displays all around (mostly natural, environmental)

Every tree and bush labeled

Thus

And, of course, a big playground; nice place, Nieuil L'Espoir

Chauvigny Church Capitals

As I was saying, not large, Romanesque, painted, barrel vaulting in the nave, nothing terribly exceptional for the 12th century...

Until you get to the apse and look up from the altar to the
column capitals...

Then all Hell breaks loose..right over the altar

Literally...

Taking the old Doric, Ionian, Corinthian thing to new
heights, or depths, if you prefer... 

I didn't collect the whole set

Only the most lurid

And amusing

And imaginative

Of course

It went on, though,

And I was worried the serious and reverential French tourists were going to
call the gendarmes

About the crazy Americaines rolling in the aisles at St. Pierre's

But it all had a happy ending, and we left peaceably; and the Parish Church of
St. Mary and St. David in Kilpeck, near Hereford--http://roadeveron.blogspot.fr/2009/
10/parish-church-of-st-mary-and-st-david.html--now has a serious rival for the title
of "most hilarious church"

Chauvigny

We proceeded further into Poitou, stopping for the town of Chauvigny. Its principal sights are on its hilltop, some castle ruins and its St. Pierre church.

View of Chauvigny hill, ruins and church

Entrance to ruins; note they are working on propping up this
wall...

Church tower and more ruins

Still more ruins

The hill is steeper than it looks

Exterior view of church and tower

On the inside, Romanesque, painted, barrel vaulting

Except in the two aisles, 4-part Gothic ribs; nothing
particularly exceptional until...

Abbaye Church of Saint-Savin-Sur-Gartempe

Next morning we drove on across Limosin, seeing only Sedans, alas, but arriving at 11AM at the little town of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, our destination the abbey church there, another World Heritage site, 11th-12th century Romanesque with barrel vaulting and noted for the frescoes on the vault and elsewhere. We toured it until Miller Time (noon for the French), then walked around the apparently disused abbey, along the Gartempe, crossed the Medieval bridge, took more pix, and headed on to our next sight, in Chauvignon, now firmly in Poitou.

From the modern bridge over the Gartempe, the abbey and its church; it is
broadly rolling hill country here and you can see the 14th century spire
many miles away

Nave view; the colors--all painted--are striking, but the thing
of interest, apart from the frescoes, is the barrel vaulting; to
me, it looked like they did the equivalent of six bays in one
campaign, then started adding the rather conspicuous arches
between the barrel vaults toward the stern; in any case, this is
I guess one of the earlier attempts in Medieval architecture to
build a stone roof, that is, a stone roof on a BIG building

Wider view

Looking up into the big crossing tower

In the apse

Scrape away some plaster and paint and you get to see how
the thing is really put together, which can be a bit unnerving
at times

Frescoes on the porch ceiling

Still processing this one...I really should have paid more attention in Sunday
school

OK, now to the main event, the frescoes on the ceiling,
mostly Old Testament items

Building the Tower of Babel

Noah & ark

Pharaoh's chariot and rising waters

I swear they did not cover this in Sunday school

Garden of Eden, etc.

River Gartempe and the Medieval bridge

Vicki on the bridge

And now for the something completely different department:
in the abbey church gift shoppe, a Mucha tapestry; really
Thai'd things together