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| One wing of the hall |
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| The other |
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| You can basically tell the Bad Guys by their having seven heads |
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| Thus; adoration of the Bad Guys |
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| Good Guys have wings; or halos |
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| Heavenly city |
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| According to the Medieval French, who did not have American football, it was not the Four Horseman but rather the "myriad cavaliers"; not one for the Gipper |
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| Angel and kingly person |
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| God in his Mandorla thing |
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| Death on horseback |
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| Aerial combat |
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| Sticking the Bad Guy(s) |
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| Sleep of the Righteous |
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| Vicki on the long staircase from the river up o the cathedral; a right turn takes you to the chateau |
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| Angers chateau; a giant Medieval fortress; they removed the pepper-pot domes (the conical black things) back in the16th century, replacing them with gun platforms; the age of artillery was upon them; it would look a lot more French with the the pointy domes |
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| Military architects and historians have long criticized the French for making their castle moats too decorative; but it does make them look French |
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| Inside the castle, the royal residence and chapel |
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| An original window, 13thcentury |
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| People, like Nature, abhor empty spaces; the French solution, as here in the otherwise empty chapel, is contemporary art; we'll see much more of this approach, which sometimes works, further in our travels |
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| Back on the grounds |
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| The governor's residence |
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| Up on the battlements; French battlements, of course, and Anjou is big-time wine country; note slab stakes, slabs of the local blue schist which is the dominant building color here (schist happens) |
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| Again from the battlements, the Cathedral of St. Maurice, and its large west towers |
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| Not all that far from Brittany, our first dolmen since 2010, the Dolmen de la Fontaine de Son |
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| And--we'll be crossing the flooded Loire shortly--here's our first Chateau of the Loire, Montrueil-Bellay, not all that famous, but stunning enough |
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| And thus we land at the municipal aire in Angers, right on the Quay Monge on the River Maine, a few hundred meters from everything |
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| View from the driver's seat |
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| The cathedral across the bridge |
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| Artsy view |
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| And the Angers Chateau, which we'll tour Friday; best thing is, courtesy of the Department of Maine et Loire, the camping aire has free wifi! We're getting spoiled! |
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| The Baptistry of St. John, a 4th century Christian building, reputedly the oldest such in France; indeed, pretty old; unfortunately, closed for lunch, 12:30-3, so we missed the innards |
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| Big square and Hotel De Ville, obviously re-done pretty recently |
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| Church of St. Hilaire-Le-Grande; 11th century, with many modifications; this is a seriously interesting Romanesque church; and very old |
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| Nave view; what's interesting is the forest of columns, resulting in 2, maybe 3 side aisles; some accounts say the original wood roof burned--they always do-- and it was decided to go with a stone vault; but the distance to vault was too great, so additional columns and interior buttresses were added for the effort; the result is pretty interesting and unique |
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| Thus; much experimentation was going on in these days, developing Romanesque, hitting on ideas that would become known as Gothic... |
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| And thus: ever seen an interior flying buttress? |
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| Apse |
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| Much old frescoe here |
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| Arched barrel vaulting in the transept, with interesting crack |
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| Vaulting in the nave and crossing |
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| Windows with cobwebs |
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| More frescoe |
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| West facade; this church has been through a lot in the past going-on-10 centuries... 100 Years War, Wars of Religion, Revolution; but to me there's not a hint of a sculptural program here, certainly not what one would expect of a Gothic... |
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| A few monsters high up on the east side |
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| And Chip and Dale |
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| On the square of Notre-Dame-La-Grande |
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| Notre-Dame-La-Grande is a 12th century Romanesque job, reputed to have the weirdest and most idiosyncratic facade in France; we didn't think so; but then our standard for weird has gotten much higher recently |
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| The interior looked interesting, arched barrel vaults and paint, but, Vicki noted, they were having lunch, and it wouldn't do for us to go in to gawk and take pix and laugh |
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| So instead we took in the antiques and collectibles market next door |
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| The oboe I have always dreamed of finding at such a market; but not at the price I had dreamed of... |
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| Joan of Arc is very big here; I will not post pix of the many statues and other likenesses of her we encountered |
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| Our next stop was the Cathedral of St. Pierre; many Medieval church buildings are asymmetrical, so to speak, but this one's west facade is particularly wanting; even had the left tower been built, it would have been of a different size and scale than the right one |
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| Nice Judgment tympanum |
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| Inside, it has the feel of a Gothic, if not the height; the vaulting is of the Plantagenet pre-Gothic style; many of the arches are pointed; many are not |
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| It has some nice blue windows |
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| And the giant Clicquot organ (runs on champagne) |
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| But the big draw is the 12th century lancet window at the head of the apse, a Crucifixion, given by Eleanor of Aquitaine, with her and her husband, Henry II of England, and their four sons (including famous Richard and infamous John), pictured at the bottom |
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| Thus; we last saw them as Peter O'Toole and Kathryn Hepburn in The Lion in Winter |
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| It is most unusual to see a woman--other than Eve, Mary, or the Sybils--depicted in one of these churches; nonetheless, here is one, working, possibly sewing, along with other depictions of bakers, butchers, hunters, etc., in the choir |
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| Grilling a martyr |
