Notre Dame

We were keen to see Notre Dame.  After the devastating fire in 2018, it had been rebuilt.  The opening was just a few months earlier.

But getting tickets had to be via a website/app.  They were only available for the next few days, and were usually "epuisse" - sold out.  But sometimes spots became available at the last minute.

We were having lunch at Saint Denis (the suburb) when our app showed tickets were available if we got there by 3pm.  We could, so quickly put our name down for 3 tickets.  When we got there, we just walked straight in.

It was so crowded inside.  Still, good to see, but hard to get an impression of the scale of it all.  We had a much better idea at Saint Denis!

However, some pics....

Inside....

This is the cock that was atop the original spire.  It was thought lost, but found again in the rubble.  Google the rooster of notre dame for more!

Soaring spaces!  The beauty of gothic architecture.

And a Metro snippet....  literally, "I mount with, I descend with.." 

Later in our trip, we found that baggage "abandonee" plays havoc with rail services.  They stop everything and check it out.

basilique cathedral de Saint-Denis

 

Today we went to the basilica of Saint Denis, to the north of Paris.  It was where the french buried their kings - when they had them.  But during the Revolution, the bodies in the tombs were thrown into pits and I believe the metal in the coffins used for other purposes - like weapons.   But somehow, many of the memorial statues survived, and are on display at Saint Denis.

The amazing thing, to me, is that this basilica is a record of every French monarch.  You can think of England,  where the kings and queens are buried at various locations around the country.

Saint Denis was the first bishop of Paris, and is the patron saint France.  He is also a cephalophore - one of several who had their heads cut off, but just picked them up and continued on their way. I bet the executioner just scratched his (own) head and wondered what to cut off next!  Pic from Google, of Saint Denis.

    

 The basilica from the outside

 

At the back of the church are the royal tombs.  Once inside, I was so busy studying the various monuments that I forgot to get an overall pic.  This one is from Google.  And there were over 70 tomb monuments, each one described.. 

 

Below is Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.  Not cephalophores!

 

However, the actual bones were scattered during the French Revolution. They were gathered and put together in an ossuary.  There are panels with the names of those whose bones are here

 Archaeological crypt

 

 

"If a grain of wheat falls on the ground, it doesn't die, it rests there. But if it dies, it has much fruit".  Not much of a sales pitch!

Crowded skies

We know that international flights have had to change paths given the unrest in the Middle East.  This trip, I saw many other planes in the sky.  

I saw SIX on  the flight from Yerevan to Paris.  

Hard to photograph, but here are some.

Another SQ flight, between Paris and Singapore

 

 

And the map seemed to reflect the changes...

 

Abbaye royale de Fontevraud

We all know King John of England, who was forced to sign the Magna Carta, in June 1215.  It is called a charter of rights, but they weren't rights for you and me - they were rights for noble folk, the barons - who had something to lose.

King John was an Angevin (Anjou) king, also known as the House of Plantagenet.  Such were the links between France and England, that his parents (Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine), his brother (Richard the Lionheart), and his second wife (Isabella of Angouleme), are buried at Fontevraud.  King John himself is buried at Worcester Cathedral - in England. 

Some pics:

Entrance to the Abbey complex.

The Abbey Church.

The giseants (recumbent effigies). The tombs were ransacked during the Revolution, and the bodies lost, but the effigies survived.

Richard the Lionheart

Eleanor and King Henry II

Henry II

Eleanor

Isabella

More pics of the Complex.

The refectory

The Kitchens

The town.

La Police Francaise

Another aspect of life in France:

We have seen episodes of the French police in action.  Once at the airport, where two were smartly walking a young lady in handcuffs through  the terminal.   All done very quietly.

Then we went for dinner at a brasserie in Angers.  (Pic courtesy of Google).

 I saw this young (well, 30s perhaps) lady coming from the basement to the restaurant, I think pulled along by another man.  Then when our orders were being taken, I saw two french police - very solid, wearing bullet proof vests - in the restaurant.  We asked the waiter what was happening.  He said there was a fight between two guests and they had called the police "for security".  Later three male french police, plus a policewoman accompanying the same lady, quietly but briskly left the restaurant.  The french are a very quiet folk - in public anyway.

And as you probably know, french words are either masculine or feminine - and this determines whether they get La or Le in front.  The police is considered a feminine word.  Good on them.

No pics - for obvious reasons.

And - the waiter asked us where we were from.  We gave our usual reply - Australie et Singapour.  He told us that just 18 months ago, he had been working in Australia.  Not in a French restaurant, but in construction.  He said that you get good pay working in Australia - glad to hear it - but he was born in Angers and had come back there.

La greve

We might not have seen many French icons this visit, but we have certainly experienced life in France!.

Today, 18th November there was a strike (la greve) of french transport workers. It was called a National Social Movement.   So we opted to leave Angers a day earlier and hopefully have an extra day in Paris. 

But even the Metro was "perturbe" (disturbed), and they were expecting hundreds of thousands to be in the streets, so we didn't risk going into Paris.

So we visited all the three terminals at CDG, and recee'd where we had to go tomorrow.

More on Angers

The hotel receptionist (who we later found was the owner) asked us why we had come to Angers. We explained that it was a convenient location for day-trips, and that we liked the city,  She explained that over the last ??5  years, it had become number one for local tourists (at least, I think that was the story) and was also number one in France for a place to live - for lifestyle,  And I can believe that.  It is close to Paris, good transport - when there are no strikes - and it is quite a relaxed place.  So there you go - hidden gem - with an amazing tapestry to boot.

Some random pics from this morning.

The Town Hall - only one tricolour/flag on this one - Bit skimpy!

A lady was helping her mother (presumably) into this taxi - a very large BMW.  No Toyota Camrys here!

Maison d'Adam, built near the end of the fifteenth century. Now is a shop selling all sorts of local creations.

And the French have DA's too!

Chateau d'Angers

The tapestry is housed in the Chateau d'Angers.  It was founded in the ninth century by the Counts of Anjou, the local noble family.

Some random pics...

The chapel, to the right.

The garden..

Outside our lunch place..

Inside the chapel.

And lots of cute streets - this is just outside the chateau.