La Manche

At Calais we shopped at the Auchon--much declined from previous years--and moved on to the Cite Europe humongous shopping center, which also provides an aire de camping-cars--and spent the night there. The Cite Europe and its Carrefours will be our new entry and departure point from the Continent. Anyhow, we made the crossing without incident, well, except for the unpleasant officer at the British Border "Force" demanding to see our tickets for leaving the UK. Fortunately, they were on our phones. Anyhow, we boarded, our 2019 visit to France and the Continent done, and sped off to Merry Little England.

Cite Europe was sufficiently impressive for me to want to
return...next May or June

Approaching British Border Force...with great apprehension

Adieu France, Europe...

Northward plies our ship, southward is fixed his gaze...

"White Cliffs of Dover?"

"You bring great Evil"

Friterie!

So we had driven the length of France, from Menton to Nice to Aix, through Provence and Burgundy, to Paris, Chartres and points further north, almost to Calais, and not once did we see a frites stand nor frites truck, something we used to see a lot, going back to '79. We had some decent frites at Bistro Paul Bert in Paris, but nothing along the way. Finally, just a few miles short of the coast, I spotted a friterie, we made a U-turn ("when possible") and headed for it. Having spent enough time in Flemland, we know our frites, and sauces. The best French frites are a distant third to Netherlands and Belgium, but a French friterie is well worth a stop, for the institution if not the food. (Maybe it's the proximity to Belgium that explains the appearance of friteries...we later saw quite a few near Calais).

Gerberoy Collegiale Of St. Pierre

The distinction between parish churches and collegiate churches is one of canon law and Roman Catholic polity; and way over my head. Or anything I care about. Nonetheless, in my construal, a collegiale is run by a group of clerics, no bishop, not a monastery or abbey, and is open to the townsfolk. Such came about by way of the great lands and wealth the Church accumulated in the middle ages. Be that as it may, the Collegiale of St. Pierre in Gerberoy stands out in my experience as the best documented little church--pound for pound, stone for stone--we've seen so far. And it has a few curiosities too. Well worth a post, for me, anyway.

West facade again

In the choir there are chairs; in the nave these interesting little cubicles...

Which at one time bore little nameplates

Choir

Nice old barrel vaulting

Nice spiral staircase to the sky box

In the sacristy, the documentation begins...everything you need to know about
religious (Christian) symbolism, church architecture, development, graffiti...

Alas it was all in French, but I could make out some of it and found it quite
informative

Back in the nave, more info

Including an extensive history

The gist of which is that the oldest bits go back to 1073 or
so, the town was besieged on numerous occasions, the
church rebuilt or renovated on numerous occasions, the
last being 1999, but the basic arrangement dating from the
14th century

And now an essay on the architecture...

And more

The list of those besieging the town in the 11th and 12th centuries is impressive
enough; Jean Sans Terre is John Lackland, aka King John of England

Fascinating little place...applause for those responsible; more than fitting for a
truly beau village

Trois Beaux Villages: Gerberoy

Our next beau village, still on the way to Calais, was Gerberoy, the prettiest of the three...

But first, in the tiny hamlet of Fleur la Foret, this old church...some stone, some
flint, some brick...

The various additions and extensions dated...here, 1599...1648 was down the wall
a bit

Finally we got to Gerberoy, passing through forests, hills, even
vineyards, all nearly within sight of the Channel

Main street Gerberoy

The market and mairie upstairs

Villa des roses indeed

City center in the market

Ancient vine

Everywhere, roses

Village lane

Upstairs to the collegiale, the parish church, 11th century origins, warrants its own
post (next)

The place is so filled with roses and gardens largely because
of the minor (=we'd never heard of him) Impressionist
painter Henri le Sidaner, who planted the place so he could
paint it

A bit of his garden, the church steeple on the right

The usual admixture of Romanesque and Gothic, side by
side

And no end to the roses

Ancient wall, pond with large goldfish, half-timbered dwelling

And more roses

And others

And when you're not smelling the roses, there's a fete and a wine tasting...in the
vineyard; and beautiful countryside

Indeed