The Road Goes Ever On

Friday, May 17, 2013

Chateau of Chateaudun

Not in any of our guidebooks nor maps...

We decided to stop half an hour before Chartres to take advantage of the free
camping car aire at a place called Chateaudun; as you can see, we got the last place

As I began walking around, I got more and more impressed with the apparent
chateau under which we were parked

And more impressed

Especially when I saw the humongous old tower on the south side of the building;
so I resolved to walk up and inspect more closely

Enjoying some great old buildings on the way

Thus

Some of Renaissance age or style

Some in need of attention

Finally, the full chateau and the enormous tower

Thus

Looking into the interior of the now-closed chateau; none of
the signage was in English, and we were in a hurry to see
Chartres' windows in the next day's full sun light

So we'll save Chateaudun's chateau for another visit; here, a parting shot from the
highway; several days later I noticed it listed in Michelin's "100 Beautiful Detours"
book

Bourges Cathedral of St. Etienne, Windows

Bourges is not known particularly for its great 12th and 13th century windows. But we found them clean, well-identified, low-down, particularly in the ambulatory, so low-down you could touch them. A singular experience!

The colors are no less amazing than Chartres:
here, Lazarus and the Rich Man

The axe-man cometh

Last supper, Mary Magdalene washing Jesus' feet

Someone getting baptised

:Prodigal Son window

A major part of what we like about reading these windows: here, (the window)
a gift of the Brotherhood of Butchers

Beautiful color; here, the Discovery of the Relics of St. Stephen

Window of the Good Samaritan

Detail from the Judgment window

Kiss of Betrayal

Nice devils

Nero setting something on fire

Glass-blowers window

International Garment Workers' Window

Joseph being put down into or taken up from the well; I could go on...there
are scores of windows and hundreds of scenes, some obscure to our 21st
century eyes, many quite plain and easy to see in our 21st century ways

Bourges Cathedral of St. Etienne, Architecture and Sculpture

Vicki finished up early enough at Chenonceaux for us to drive over to Bourges that same day and see its great Cathedral of St. Etienne. We had visited Bourges on one of our first visits to France and remembered it as a knock-out. It is in that first generation of classic Gothics, along with Chartres, Amiens, and a few others. It was begun in the late 12th century and finished in the mid-13th. But Bourges is unusual in several respects, all of which make it even more interesting. It is not a Mary cathedral, for one thing, despite that great age of the Mary cult. And its shape is more the traditional Roman basilica, not the cruciform shape one sees almost everywhere else. Bourges cathedral is also seemingly much larger than many of the others, and higher. It has a nave and two aisles on either side, and thus five great halls. And portals. The additional aisles support extra tiers of blind triforia and then also extra tiers of windows. It's hard to convey this in either words or pictures. One has to be there and walk around the place, in wonder and awe, as was no doubt what was intended. I had not seen a real Gothic in some months and so was quite taken by it all.