Paris and the Heart of France
Day 4: A Castle in Construction
After an early morning walk to take some pictures, another enjoyable breakfast with fresh warm chocolate croissants, we loaded up the bus and began our journey out of Paris. Our bus driver took us on a great scenic route passing by the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champ Elysees, and then along the Seine past all the major historic sites.
We were heading south of Paris to the province of Burgundy, to visit Guedelon where a team of some 50 craftsmen are building a medieval castle complex using period-correct materials, technology, tools and techniques. This project is rediscovering and documenting lost methods and techniques of medieval times. Craftsmen and historians come from around the world to Guedelon to gain first-hand knowledge of techniques that is not only helpful for understanding history, but extremely practical for historic preservation and restoration projects.
Our guide chuckled as she told us one of the mistakes they had made. They had started by building the outer wall of the castle. But as they prepared to build the drawbridge and gate house, they realized that the nearly completed wall had made it nearly impossible for them to work on the drawbridge and gatehouse, let alone anything else inside. So they had to tear down a good section of wall, and add a bridge over the moat, so they could keep working.
After our included picnic lunch at Guedelon, we had some free time to walk around the village to see various craftsmen making things for the project. We continued our bus ride to Bourges passing through picturesque villages and valleys.
Bourges is a medieval town with narrow streets, so we had to walk a couple blocks to our centrally located hotel. The walk was particularly enjoyable since we passed directly by the incredible Palais Jacques Coeur, which was right next to our hotel, the 4 star Best Western Plus Hotel D'Angleterre. After checking in to our rooms, we were excited to explore the city tour with our local expert guide. We started by hearing about the history of the nearby Palais Jacques Coeur, and a brief peek into the interior courtyard.
We walked through the town to the nearby Saint-Etienne de Bourges Cathedral. This gothic cathedral was built in the 12th and 13th century, and is designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. We started by looking at the impressive carved panel depicting The Last Judgment over the main doors.
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We then walked over to peek inside the Bishop's house to see the stairway, and then walked around what was his private garden. While we were there, the city, that at that moment was filled with steerable soap-box derby sort of cars in all of all shapes and sizes as they were preparing for next day's race.
Across from the Bishop's house is the Bourges Cathedral. One of rather unusual things about the Cathedral is that since it is built on the side of a hill, the crypt actually has windows. The Bourges Cathedral has amazing stained glass that is much closer to eye-level than normal, making it far easier to enjoy, read and understand.
One of the fascinating things was realizing that much of the stained glass is in areas that would have been off limits to common folk, so the intent of the windows was really to be used as a teaching aid to the clergy of the church.
We enjoyed walking through a really pretty area of homes, which is much like it was in medieval times. We visited Bourges covered market before heading in the direction of our restaurant. We happened to be in Bourges during their annual music festival, when townspeople perform many different genres of music.
Along the way, we stopped to see a group of women dressed as cowgirls line-dancing to Taylor Swift. We certainly did not expect to see that in Bourges.
We also stopped briefly to listen to the town's brass band, as had apparently almost everyone else in town.
For dinner (included), we went to Restaurant Au Senat. Like all of our dinners, the food was excellent. On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped and listened to a local band playing Beatles and classic American rock and roll.