Kilkenny day trip and a River Dance

I took a quick day trip to Kilkenny on Tuesday to visit the famous Medieval town.  On the bus I met a lady who was visiting her sister for the day and she walked into the town center with me and pointed me in the direction of the castle and recommended a great local restaurant where I had a delicious lunch.  I started my time off in Kilkenny by taking a tour of the historic site with one of the local guides.  The tourism information center is housed in a Medieval building that is still owned by the Sheehan family.  The tour guide pointed out several fossils that were in the stones of the tourism building, which she said we would see throughout the town.  A few of the highlights of our tour were the Black Abbey monastery (no longer in use), the Saint Canice Cathedral, the KilkennyCastle, and the Black Abbey Road. 

Closeup of the Black Abbey Monastery

Black Abbey Road

Closeup of a fossil on the Kilkenny Visitor Center

Saint Canice Cathedral

At the cathedral I climbed the tower, which was pretty much straight up and down with very little wiggle room for backpacks.  I was able to take several photos of the town from all directions at the tower top.  I was able to tour the inside of the castle, most of which was renovated at various periods and did not reflect the Middle Ages in the interior.  The exterior of the castle was outstanding, as were the gardens surrounding the castle.

View of Kilkenny from the St. Canice Tower

Kilkenny Castle

A photo of me at Kilkenny Castle

I made it back to Dublin just in time to literally run to my hostel, change my clothing, and walk quickly to the theater to catch a production of River Dance.  Having only viewed the Big Top Chautauqua's spoof on River Dance, titled River Pants, it was grand to see the real deal.

Back on the Irish Isle

I am back in Ireland and I will be going to Kilkenny tomorrow for a day trip, more to come.....

Victoria & Albert Museum

I arrived in London today by train and after dropping my bags off at my incredibly nice hostel I hopped back onto the tube to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  The museum has a great collection of Medieval artifacts, not to mention their extensive decorative arts collection.

 The screen I am standing in front of was a rare screen to find in the Middle Ages and may have shielded the tomb of Richard de Wych, the Bishop of Chichester from 1245 to 1253.  The screen was originally painted red with gilded, but I think that I prefer it in black!  The Bishops followers believed that he performed miracles beyond the grave.

Two of my favorite reliquaries  from the V & A Museum.  The bust once contained a portion of a head a Bishop saint named Antiguis.  Many time the reliquaries were designed to take the shape of the body part that they held, like the hand below.  The relic parts of the hand would have been visible through the fingers, but have been lost.

 

Puces St. Ouen

This morning I went to the Puces St. Ouen, at Porte de Clignancourt to experience this enormous flea market.  Puce is French for "flea."  Flea Markets started in the Middle Ages when peasants purchased the old, flea-infested clothing and other discarded possessions of the wealthy.  The market space was created in the 1800's when the city wall was demolished. . Ouen is a suburb of Paris, but it is unlike the "burbs" we are accustomed to as this is where the poorer people leave, with the wealthy people living as close to the city center as possible.  Most of the 2,000 vendors sell antiques, but at high prices.  I ate at Chez Louisette, which is located in the heart of the market.  I had mussels in cream sauce for my lunch and creme burlee for desert, while listening to several different people sing along with the key board and accordion.  I did not take my camera along to the market, because of the tight spaces and prevalent pickpockets.

This afternoon I went over to river street vendors near Notre Dame Cathedral to buy a another painting from an artist who told me he is the best artist in France.  It was nice to find an artist who actually paints the art and is not simply selling prints of the original to unknowing tourists. Above is a picture taken earlier this week of one of the many bridges containing "love locks.", read the linked article for further information.

Chartres, France

West Facade, exterior (Royal Portal)

West Facade, interior (Royal Portal)

 On Thursday I ventured to Chartres (Shar-truh) to visit the famed Gothic Cathedral, Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, and to take a tour lead by English scholar Malcolm Miller, who has been studying the cathedral and sharing his knowledge through lecture tours for over half a century. The tour started in the royal portal where Malcolm 'read' us the stories in the glass windows located between the two towers.  What is most outstanding about this cathedral, the fourth recorded on this location, is that it was constructed in 66 years.  Many of the children that watched the church burn in 1194, helped rebuild the cathedral and also attended the dedication in 1260.  The church had been a important shrine for pilgrims to visit because it housed the torn veil or tunic (birthing gown) that was supposedly worn by the Virgin at Christ's birth.  The church had acquired the relic as a gift from Charles the Bald, the grandson of Charlemagne. It was believed that the saints interceded through their earthly relics.  What lead to the church being rebuilt so rapidly was the fact that after the ashes has cooled the veil was found in the crypt unharmed and it was taken as a sign that 'Our Lady' wanted a new church built on this location.  Recent dating of the garment and the weaving technique date the cloth to the first century A.D.

I also took a separate crypt tour with a guide named Annie, who had one of the English ladies translate what she was saying so that those of us who do not speak French were able to gain more knowledge about the building and artifacts. 

12th century mural in Fulbert's crypt

Crypt

I dinned at Le Serpente where I enjoyed soupe de legumes and mouse de chocolate, where the interior is covered by a large collection of tea pots.  I spent the night at Hotellerie Saint Ives, located behind the cathedral.  The building is a renovated monastery  with Meditative garden areas, which were unfortunately closed due to all the rain.  From my window I could view a garden version of a labyrinth.

Hallway of Hotellerie Saint Ives

Hotellerie Saint Ives garden

Labyrinth

This morning I returned to the Chartres Cathedral because they remove the chairs in order for pilgrims and tourists to view and walk the labyrinth, which is the largest surviving labyrinth from the Middle Ages dating from c.1200.  Many were destroyed in the 17th and 18th centuries because the purpose was no longer understood even by the clergy.  Modern day pilgrims still walk to Chartres from Paris, yesterday Malcolm told us of a group on a recent pilgrimage that said they could see the towers of the Cathedral for two days before their arrival on foot.  Traditionally the pilgrims would start by crawling in the church from the west, continuing on bended knee while meditating until they reached the center where it was thought they would meet God.

I also visited the Centre International du Vitrail (International Stained-Glass Centre) which house a permanent exhibition explaining the cathedral's stained-glass windows.  They had a really nice guide in English that explained all of the glass from Chartres.  Currently downstairs in the Loens Gothic cellar, c. 1200, is a outstanding display of contemporary stained-glass pieces.

Musee de Cluny & Musee du Louvre

Courtyard at Musee de Cluny, with gargoyles

 This morning I went to Musee de Cluny - The National Museum of the Middle Ages which houses the collection that was started by Alexandre Du Sommerard (1779-1842).  The buildings that the artifacts are located in are pieces of art themselves.  The first building is the only Gallo-Roman monument surviving in Paris, the "northern thermal baths' of Lutetia.  The second building is the Hotel de Cluny, built in the late 15th century, was the first example of a Parisian private mansion . Flamboyant Gothic style can be seen in the facades of the courtyard and chapel.  This morning the gargoyles in the court yard were still dripping rain from their mouths.  The Musee de Cluny is the home of the noted Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, which were purchased in 1882.

Manuscript from the collection of the Louvre

In the afternoon I viewed the objects from the Middle Ages and the Medieval structure that are part of the immense Musee du Louve collection.  I was able to bypass the long ticket lines with my museum pass, after waiting in the long security line.  One of my favorite pieces in the Middle Ages collection was a richly adorned manuscript.

Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame Cathedral

View of the windows above the alter in the upper chapel of Sainte-Chapelle

Today I visited two of Paris's most notable churches, constructed in the Middle Ages.  My first stop was Sainte-Chapelle which is noted for it's stained glass windows, which let an amazing amount of light in to illuminate the painted chapel walls.  A photograph cannot capture how both the lower and upper chapels glow with the large application of gold leaf set against the painted blue walls.  At this very moment Sainte Chapelle is undergoing a large restoration project on the windows in the upper chapel, the workers are working to the left of the alter in the photograph.  They will try to keep as much of the original leading as possible during the process.  During the rein of Louie IX he made Paris become a "New Jerusalem" with the purchase of the Holy Relics, which had belonged to the emperors of Constantinople since the 4th century.

A photo of me in the upper chapel

Ceiling of the lower chapel

After a cup of chocolat chard (hot chocolate) and a crepe filled with chocolat and coconut I ventured on to the next Gothic structure, Notre-Dame Cathedral.  Nortre-Dame is known for it's unique gargoyles and chimeras which cover the exterior of the building. The true function of a gargoyle was to take water away from the building, and they are so named because of the noise the water would make as it passed through the carved structure.  Chimeras or grotesques on the other hand were mythical creatures that were used solely for decorative purposes.  I climbed the tower in order to view the chimera gallery at close proximity, it was amazing to feel the stone that was was expertly carved in 12th and 13th centuries.

This chimera still watches over the city of Paris

One of the famed gargoyles of Notre-Dame