New construction, with functional shutters.
Interesting tree bark.
Walking to find the market.
I thought I had a pic of the marble pillars supporting the roof, but I guess not. After all the fluted piers we've seen elsewhere, it seemed strange to see plain, smooth, shiny, dark, maroon pillars.
This is St. Martin's. The crypt was open; we went down, quietly, and looked around. There were many commemorative and full-of-gratitude plaques on the ceilings and walls. I think they indicated those who made significant contributions to construction/reconstruction/upkeep.
I was familiar with zoos and museums and other non-profits selling tiles or bricks or plaques which honor donors, but had never thought about the fact that this is a very old and time-honored practice.
My daughter's take on this lovely day (including much better pics of the interior of St. Martin's) can be seen here.
Back outside.
This has an almost pre-Columbian look.
A piece of a very old structure.
With helpful (translated!) history.
Underlining the age of the settlement here........ And the fact that nothing is permanent...... Or static -- in the USA, the Really Old stuff is no longer used or inhabited, and is preserved and untouchable ("look, don't touch"). I'm thinking of Montezuma Castle in Arizona, as an example of this.
In Europe, where so many things are Very Old, the ... reverence? ... displayed here in the USA is not in evidence. Buildings are in use, often for their original purposes. One sees tv antennae sprouting from the roofs of half-timbered houses, and new stained glass (with no attempt to mirror an older look) in the cathedral.
We are not surprised when someone renovates and inhabits a 150-year-old house, here in the USA, but as we don't have any 500-year-old houses that are still in use, it seems odd to find them, elsewhere. At least, to me, it does. It makes perfect sense, but it surprises some part of my brain.
The (inhabited, I am pretty sure) dwelling at right butts right up to the defunct part of the old cathedral.
Cute (if expensive) tea balls.
Chartreuse! (I think the miniature garbage can is cute, but if I were buying, it would be the green one.)
I want to see inside the leetle skinny tower.....
Cool chimney.
Finally we made it to the market.
Wow. Wish I'd read, when I took the pic, that that cheese in the back was judged to be the best in France in 2007! I might have bought some, just to see how good it was!
I'm pretty sure the cheese I had with my supper at Karl (our last night in Bordeaux) was Ste. Maure..... It was good.....
We did buy mirabelles, Reine de Reinette apples, and, oh my, we bought bread. I think Hardouin was my favorite bakery of all. In addition to many kinds of lovely "plain bread," they made bread with tomato and pesto, bread with chocolate, bread with bacon and walnuts, bread with ... about 15 or 20 different delicious sets of inclusions.
They had tastes in little baskets of at least a dozen different breads. We tasted. And tasted. And took A Very Long Time to decide what to take. (note to merchants: when you have excellent products, giving tastes is a Very Good Marketing Technique. We'd have bought one bread, anyway, but wouldn't have chosen three......)
We got some "plain bread," and a couronne ("crown," "ring," "wreath") with bacon and walnuts (and cheese on top), and a very pretty small loaf made with brioche dough and cinnamon. All were delicious (though the walnuts tempered the enthusiasm of one of our party for the couronne).
Walking back to the hotel. Admiring the metal work.
A quiet street.
An elderly door. Click to embiggen, if you wish to have a better look at its interesting hardware.
I was amused by the old, and new, ways to talk to someone without opening the door.
In order to facilitate chronological traverse of these France posts, here is a link to the next post.
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