Fougeres 2

Our walk in Fougeres continues...

So we are walking along in Medieval village

Appreciating the peach tree in someone's yard

And the pear tree

And...what's that?

It's the Kiwi House; in France no less; really Thai'd things
together (running gag)

And now we are at the bottom of the valley, at St. Sulpice's
chapel

13th and quite weathered stone

Thus

Don't tread on me (by the door)

The major relic here is Our Lady of the Marshes,
a sculpture found in the swamp as they were enlarging
the church; it's always a wonder the way these things
are found; one wonders also how such things found
their way into the swamp

Thus

Don't tread on me, episode #2

Altar and some of the beautiful wood in this old church

Sainte Viviane

So apparently if your church was deficient in the relic
department, you could order up one from the Vatican; the
Pope or his agent would send someone out into the Catacombs
to fetch some martyr/saint or other; for a price, of course;
I wonder whether they had a catalog; if you could buy parts or
had to get the whole thing...

Another interesting old church

Fougeres 1

After viewing the castle, we walked up hill to the old city, looked around, saw the big church, then walked back down to the Medieval village via the city garden.

Up in the town now, admiring pretty buildings

Clock towers

Statues of famous generals who are buried in Russia now

Interesting signs

Carefully watched by a 5 year-old boy with
binoculars

Our next stop was the St. Leonard's parish
church; 14th mostly

Flamboyant on the south side

Less on the north

Thus inside

But with this astonishing detail: a remnant of the 12th century
windows from St. Denis' abbatiale church in Paris, the first Gothic
structure, saved from the Revolution

We were now on the city walk, which is graced by the literary
notes of great authors about the town; as are so many French
city walks

Thus, and many more

The walk led through the city garden, down the slope to the
Medieval village

Panoramic view

Down concrete stairs, from the 19th century, as
we saw in Paris

A Breton shoe shows the way

Nice garden (more in a subsequent post)

Now in the so-called Medieval village

Fougeres Chateau

Our next castle and town were Fougeres, only a few miles down the road from Vitre. Another medieval castle and town, only this one dating back to the 1100's. Among the many who besieged, took it, and destroyed it, was Henry II Plantagenet. But it always got rebuilt. Historically, Fougeresians always knew it would become a major tourist destination and they'd get national funding.

One Fougeres' two aires is just below the castle; it was a warm
day, so we parked in the semi-shade and rested; don't want to
get castled-out before leaving France

Next morning: a formidable looking place; but as Ghengis Khan once said,
no wall is stronger than the hearts that defend it

The local river was re-routed to form a moat

Not one of the vulnerable points, one supposes

Moatley view

Now we're trudging up the hill to the town; note wall
communicating with town

Anyhow, here's a fuller view of the castle and environs; from
town; note hill behind castle

Ditto

So now we have walked the town and the
Medieval village and two churches and are
back in the hole where the castle is located

One of the precepts of military strategy is to
always seek the high ground 

Pretty castle

It's wall stretched right up into the city; attackers, one surmises,
could take the city, march along the wall right up to the castle,
and then rain arrows down on the castle's defenders from both
town and the hill behind; maybe call in an air-strike; during some
wars, even before gunpowder, Fougeres simply surrendered
without a fight; pretty castle, nonetheless

Vitre Church

The Notre Dame parish church in Vitre is a late Medieval church, 15th-16th centuries, flamboyant but not over the top Gothic. It has nice barrel vaulting. But its outstanding feature, for me, anyhow, was its outside pulpit. Never seen one of those. Trying to imagine how/why it came about. The exterior carving was also to my taste.

Vitre's Notre Dame parish church

Vaulting in nave

In chancel

But it's the south side where the action is

The outside pulpit

One sees this figure now and again; I guess it's supposed to make
us think of the Trinity; I think it's just creepy

This guy apparently thought it was pretty funny

Not at all sure what's going on here

On the top, not over it