Sully Sur Loire

The Loire is a big river, even here, hundreds of miles from where it issues into the Atlantic. Our crossing en route to Bourges passed right by the attractive chateau at Sully sur Loire...and its plage.

The chateau

The chateaux of the Loire are all World
Heritage sites

Better view

And the historic plage just outside the walls of the chateau

Closer up

Beach volleyball, of course

Great river

Yevre Le Chatel

Our reservation at Camping Indigo Paris was up, and it was time for us to move on anyway. And so we left Paris again, resolving, as always, to return. Our plan was to wander generally south and west, in the direction of Spain's Costa Brava, but with explorations along the way of France's Central Massif, of the Ardeche Canyon, and the newly opened cave paintings at the Caverne Pont D'Arc. And a stop at the Cathedral of St. Etienne in Bourges, our favorite. Our first stop, on the way to Bourges, was the village of Yevre Le Chatel, which boasts a real 14th century chateau. This was the first of several "pretty little villages," on this part of our summer travels.

The chateau/castle, one tower of which

Walking about in the village

More castle

Village lane

A micro market was under way; we would see smaller markets
as the journey progressed

A happenin' place

View from the hill

Still more castle

The little church...locked up tight despite its
being Sunday

Gateway carving

Why Europeans are such good drivers

Church view

Pretty little village

Sainte-Chapelle, 2

Continuing our visit to the royal chapel of Louis IX...

Still more bonking

Vicki studying

Now onto the window about the acquisition of the Passion relics

The rose window...the vision of St. John

Details from which

Marble flooring

Sainte-Chapelle is better known for its glazing than its
sculpture; but the sculpture (much probably restored) is
definitely worth a look...here, a Judgement over the porch

Resurrection of the dead

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

Nasty critters

Us, there

Exterior, near the bow

Sainte-Chapelle,1

Sainte-Chapelle has been undergoing restoration and cleaning of its windows since the 1970s, when we first saw it. But Rebecca saw it during her Paris visit and reported the windows were totally done and clean and well worth another visit. So we got up early August 13th and were among the first to get inside that morning. Indeed it was almost like seeing it all anew. Sainte-Chapelle was the royal chapel of Louis IX (aka Saint Louis), rayonnant Gothic, built to house the Passion relics Louis had acquired from Constantinople, and with what some regard as the finest of 13th century windows. Certainly the cleanest.

Approaching Sainte-Chapelle, which is located within the
Conciergerie, the royal palace until the 14th century, on the
Ile de la Cite

Alas, the lower chapel, where palace employees could worship.
is now the gift store; in earlier times, the lower chapel by itself
was blown-away impressive...

But the upstairs is better than ever...in recent times; anyhow,
you can see we were the 3rd and 4th persons to enter that day

A look at half a dozen of the windows (details
follow), first the port side

Chancel

Then the starboard side

Depicts the acquisition of the Passion relics
(some of them miraculously survived the
Revolution and are housed now in the cathedral)

Cain bonks Abel

Adam and Eve and apple tree

Noah and ark

Moses...note horns...they change colors in different panels

Someone getting dunked

Joseph being helped out of the well

More bonking