A drive through north-west France

[RooFlyer]

No prices?

First Class. Included.

 

[RooFlyer]

Second, since you will be driving through Dinan, if you haven't already been there, I would make the 33 minute side trip to Saint Malo.

Always appreciate your advice on France. Yes, I have the morning of next Tuesday in St Malo.

 

[ellen10]

Love St Malo. We ate the best moules and frites from a van overlooking the Fort.
And Dinan famous for crepes and galettes.
France is all about the food!

 

[RooFlyer]

Got to LHR T3, retrieved my stored bag GBP50 ! But worth it not to have to cart it up to Manchester and back. Checked in to my flight to Budapest and then joined the LHR T3 Lounge Crawl. There were 15 of us, an amazing number for the location. A greater bunch of dedicated flyers and lounge crawlers you'll never see. Arranged by @JessicaTam - thank you.

A few random pics.

As stocked by the CX F lounge.



AA First



Qantas



World record attempt for the number of S&P squid in one order - 12 (delivered in 2 lots)





BA First





I and I think most of us got to CX J and F, BA J and F, AA J and F, QF. I also got to the AMEX lounge courtesy of @Flashback , who it was great to catch up with again. Oh, and the Avanti First Class lounge in MAN(chester rail terminal).

 

[RooFlyer]

Time to leave. I think there were 6 of us on this flight to BUD. For me it was a quick overnight transit before heading to CDG.

BA870 LHR 20:37 BUD 00:01, A319, 2C Left a fraction early and arrived 15 mins early.

An OK flight - Euro biz, but I had a shadow





Dinner





A walk down to the Ibis Styles. See pics and comments here. Was Ok for a quick overnight.

Back to the terminal in the morning.



Check-in queues very long! Lots of Chinese and American (especially) pax off cruises. Check-in for my flight opens 2 hrs before departure - I was there 3 hrs prior . I stood around for a while and then asked one of the helpers in the terminal where KLM would board from - gates round the corner she said.



So I went there and ..



Zounds! Everyone was there early, like me, but they didn't spend 20 mins in another part of the terminal. I joined the 'Sky Priority' lane (pic above) and fortunately, got chatting with some Americans behind me. They were off a cruise, and one of the cruise helpers pointed out that they could use the self-bag drop machines a few meters away. So could I!


So through security OK and to the KLM 'lounge'. Airside at BUD



A shared lounge - shared with half the airlines on earth, it seems.



Not much more than basic. Beer seemed popular in the morning.



Stupid steps in the lounge.





Very loud Chinese and Americans in the lounge - I bailed and walked around the terminal.

 

[RooFlyer]

KL1364 deo BUD 11:35 arr AMS 13:40 (arrived a few mins late).
B737-800, 1C
Virgin Atlantic Reward

Slightly more leg room than BA.



Although it was obviously lunch, KLM 'did a Qantas' and seemed to serve breakfast. Egg, yohhurt, muesli etc.



Served in a nice box (easy to distribute), in individual serving containers.



Awkward, though. No room for the bread roll - tray table next door (vacant) used.

 

[RooFlyer]

At Schiphol, 3 hour transit the KLM Crown Lounge. Pretty good, but I was too zonked to appreciate it.










So, which way to the gate?



KM1409 dep AMS 16:30 arr CDG 1745, 1C
Virgin Atlantic Reward

Another meal in a box - just a short flight. Twas OK.

 

[RooFlyer]

At CDG on the CDGVal to T3 stop, location of the Novotel. Been here a couple of times before, so got a good room I asked for. Review and pics here.

Next morning to AVIS at T2. A wait and then voila! an upgrade. No thanks. I specified a small car and that's what I wanted, for fuel economy (petrol here abt 2 euro/litre). The guy grovelled around in his key drawer and found a car of the same category. Kia.

The rental car park is u/g and enormous!



My car - only when I got in I realised it was a manual - that's why it was a low category!! Decided to bite the bullet and continue.



A week in and its been a decent car. Good fuel economy and I drove a manual up to about 7 years ago ...

 

[RooFlyer]

Fist day of the drive. CDG to Angers via Chartres. 350km and by far the longest day's driving.



At Chartres, a visit to the cathedral and I have a ticket to the Treasury for 12:00, so I needed to not delay. I found thos site very good for getting tickets to a number of monuments and places I wanted to visit.

Home

tickets.monuments-nationaux.fr

Wikipedia:

It was mostly constructed between 1194 and 1220. It stands on the site of at least five cathedrals that have occupied the site since the Diocese of Chartres was formed as an episcopal see in the 4th century. It is one of the best-known and most influential examples of High Gothic and Classic Gothic architecture. It was built above earlier Romanesque basements, while its north spire is more recent (1507–1513) and is built in the more ornate Flamboyant style.

"[O]ne of the most beautiful and historically significant cathedrals in all of Europe," it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979, which called it "the high point of French Gothic art" and a "masterpiece".

The cathedral has been well-preserved and restored: the majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 105-metre plain pyramid completed around 1160 and the 113-metre Flamboyant (late Gothic) spire on top of an older tower. Its three great façades are adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.

I was also fortunate to discover Q-Park - parking lots in key locations in many of the old cities where you can reserve a spot on line for a certain period. Recognises your number plate so you just drive in. I made it to the cathedral bang on 12:00



The Treasury had the usual gold and silver church pieces on the (small) top level



This from abt 1220:



Then down spiral staircase to the lower, and for me, more interesting level.

Statues from the 12th century, from the church portal of that time.



Original paintings, maybe 13th century





Building the cathedral





You had to then exit the building, and re-enter the main entrance.





The flying buttresses are massive, allowing more glass and window-area to be used.

 

[drron]

Time to leave. I think there were 6 of us on this flight to BUD. For me it was a quick overnight transit before heading to CDG.

BA870 LHR 20:37 BUD 00:01, A319, 2C Left a fraction early and arrived 15 mins early.

An OK flight - Euro biz, but I had a shadow

View attachment 509859

View attachment 509860

Dinner

View attachment 509861

View attachment 509862

A walk down to the Ibis Styles. See pics and comments here. Was Ok for a quick overnight.

Back to the terminal in the morning.

View attachment 509863

Check-in queues very long! Lots of Chinese and American (especially) pax off cruises. Check-in for my flight opens 2 hrs before departure - I was there 3 hrs prior . I stood around for a while and then asked one of the helpers in the terminal where KLM would board from - gates round the corner she said.

View attachment 509864

So I went there and ..

View attachment 509865

Zounds! Everyone was there early, like me, but they didn't spend 20 mins in another part of the terminal. I joined the 'Sky Priority' lane (pic above) and fortunately, got chatting with some Americans behind me. They were off a cruise, and one of the cruise helpers pointed out that they could use the self-bag drop machines a few meters away. So could I!


So through security OK and to the KLM 'lounge'. Airside at BUD

View attachment 509871

A shared lounge - shared with half the airlines on earth, it seems.

View attachment 509868

Not much more than basic. Beer seemed popular in the morning.

View attachment 509866

Stupid steps in the lounge.

View attachment 509867

View attachment 509869

Very loud Chinese and Americans in the lounge - I bailed and walked around the terminal.

These days stairs in the lounge are not just stupid but down right crazy and worthy of a real blast to lounge staff.

 

[Quickstatus]

I drove a manual up to about 7 years ago ...

Surprised there are still manual cars for hire. Maybe it is an EU thing
Still, manual driving is "forever" muscle memory.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Surprised there are still manual cars for hire. Maybe it is an EU thing
Still, manual driving is "forever" muscle memory.

It is. Like AC is the work of the Devil, many believe God still drives a manual.

 

[RooFlyer]

On the night of 10 June 1194, another major fire devastated the cathedral. Only the crypt, the towers, and the new façade survived. The cathedral was already known throughout Europe as a pilgrimage destination, due to the reputed relics of the Virgin Mary that it contained. A legate of the Pope happened to be in Chartres at the time of the fire, and spread the word. Funds were collected from royal and noble patrons across Europe, as well as small donations from ordinary people. Reconstruction began almost immediately. Some portions of the building had survived, including the two towers and the Royal Portal on the west end, and these were incorporated into the new cathedral.

The nave, aisles, and lower levels of the transepts of the new cathedral were probably completed first, then the choir and chapels of the apse; then the upper parts of the transept. By 1220, the roof was in place. The major portions of the new cathedral, with its stained glass and sculpture, were largely finished within just twenty-five years, extraordinarily rapid for the time. The cathedral was formally re-consecrated in October 1260, in the presence of King Louis IX of France, whose coat of arms can be seen painted on a boss at the entrance to the apse, although this was added in the 14th century.

Some of the stained glass - the blue a speciality. Most of it dating from the 1220s.

Early in the French Revolution a mob attacked and began to destroy the sculpture on the north porch, but was stopped by a larger crowd of townspeople. The local Revolutionary Committee decided to destroy the cathedral via explosives and asked a local architect to find the best place to set the explosions. He saved the building by pointing out that the vast amount of rubble from the demolished building would so clog the streets it would take years to clear away. The cathedral, like Notre Dame de Paris and other major cathedrals, became the property of the French State and worship was halted until the time of Napoleon, but it was not further damaged.

The Choir screen is 100m long (wraps around both sides) and was created in the 1500s.

 

[RooFlyer]

Lunch at a cafe next to the cathedral.



Egg cocotte and mushrooms. And beef Parmentier - shepherds pie,

 

[RooFlyer]

Onto Angers, where its the Novotel at Lac de Maine for the night. A decent place, next to a small shopping centre and with free parking. Covered in the Accor thread.

Next morning Angers cathedral before the Apocalypse Tapestry at the Angers Chateau. Thing I'm liking about France is that there is usually well signed parking in or close to the historic areas, and whether its free or not. And then there is Q-Park that you can book in advance. In Angers there is an enormous free car park close to the cathedral and Chateau.



Looking towards the cathedral and the Chateau.



I was a bit early, so walked around the neighbourhood and saw a few of the half-timbered houses - maison à colombages.

Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, it is known for its mixture of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, and its ornate Baroque altar and sculpture. It also has an extensive collection of stained-glass windows, including several elements from the late 12th century, one of the earliest uses of grisaille glass in combination with coloured glass, and two rose windows depicting the Last Judgement and the Apocalypse, unique in French renaissance stained-glass.

The nave is mostly 12th century; choir and transept 13th century; altar canopy 18th century.





The northern rose window 'The Last Judgement and the End of Time', showing the second coming of Christ and him resurrecting the dead. 15th century.



Current organ built in 1617.



While I was there a couple of people disappeared up into it and started rehearsing.

 

[RooFlyer]

Then to Angers Chateau.

In the 9th century, the Bishop of Angers gave the Counts of Anjou permission to build a castle in Angers. The construction of the first castle begun under Count Fulk III (970–1040), celebrated for his construction of dozens of castles, who built it to protect Anjou from the Normans. It became part of the Angevin Empire of the Plantagenet Kings of England during the 12th century. In 1204, the region was conquered by Philip II and the new castle was constructed during the minority of his grandson, Louis IX ("Saint Louis") in the early part of the 13th century. Louis IX rebuilt the castle in whitestone and black slate, with 17 semicircular towers. The construction undertaken in 1234 cost 4,422 livres, roughly one per cent of the estimated royal revenue at the time. Louis gave the castle to his brother, Charles in 1246.

In 1352, King John II, gave the castle to his second son, Louis who later became count of Anjou. Married to the daughter of the wealthy Charles, Duke of Brittany, Louis had the castle modified, and in 1373 commissioned the famous Apocalypse Tapestry from the painter Hennequin de Bruges and the Parisian tapestry-weaver Nicolas Bataille. Louis II (Louis I's son) and Yolande d'Aragon added a chapel (1405–12) and royal apartments to the complex. The chapel is a sainte chapelle, the name given to churches which enshrined a relic of the Passion. The relic at Angers was a splinter of the fragment of the True Cross which had been acquired by Louis IX.

Or, TL;DR



Aerial view - by Carsten Steger - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, File:Aerial image of Château d'Angers (view from the southeast).jpg - Wikimedia Commons)
The L shaped building at top left is the tapestry gallery.











I bought my ticket on-line, so bypassed the small queue and made a beeline for the tapestries. But here is the Chateau interior in general





The gate-house



The Chapel, 1410

 

[FlyingFiona]

two rose windows depicting the Last Judgement and the Apocalypse, unique in French renaissance stained-glass.

Interesting, I wonder why it was no longer a common subject for windows in the Renaissance period.

 

[RooFlyer]

On to the tapestries.

The Apocalypse Tapestry (or the Apocalypse Tapestries , or the Angers Apocalypse ) is a representation of the Book of Revelation by John of Patmos, created at the end of the 14th century on commission from Duke Louis I of Anjou . This work is the most important surviving set of medieval tapestries in the world. The set, composed of six successive pieces, each divided into fourteen panels, was executed based on cartoons by Hennequin of Bruges and testifies to the prestige of its patron. The tapestry was bequeathed to Angers Cathedral in the 15th century by King René .

One wing of the tapestry building



I was the first into the hall, but there were some people there preparing an exhibit in a case, which was a bit odd, but they give some scale. The two wings - its huge.





A few random pics of the tapestries.



Obviously, a lot of hellfire and death!

'St Michel fights the dragon'.







'The woman receives wings'





'Second trumpet : the shipwreck'

 

[RooFlyer]

'The worship of the dragon'





'The 'myriade' of horsemen'





'The frogs'





... and so on!