Le Puy-en Velay

     Bonjour!

 I left Louisville at 6:55 on Friday night via Atlanta to Paris. It was practically a miracle.  Every flight was on time, my luggage was first off the plane and my driver was waiting when I got there. I began my French culinary experience early, of all places, the Charles DeGaulle airport where I had the most unusual quiche.  It had carrots, pumpkin, potatoes, chicken, and lots of ginger topped with cashews.  It was very spicy and pretty darn tasty.

My last airport was the Clermont- Ferrand where a very pleasant young man picked me up for a ninety-mile drive to  Le Puy-en-Velay.  I looked at the speedometer at one point and it said 170 kilometers which is105 miles per hour.  I knew we were going fast but lucky enough my mental kilometers-to-miles conversion rate is not very good.  I had to look at the amount when I got to my hotel. Gulp! I will say he was a very competent driver and after seeing the speed, I just didn't look anymore.

     As I was riding to Le Puy-en-Velay I noticed all of the small mountains.  You can't fool this old gal, I know that when I get to the base of them, they are going to look really steep.   My hotel is a lovely, modernish hotel one block from the old town.

The first thing I saw when I got to Le Puy-en-Velay was this cute little cartoon on a store window.  I suddenly began to feel more at ease with hiking out of here.

            I walked another block and saw my first trail marker.  So good to see the familiar shell.

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According to Wikipedia: sometime between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, a local woman suffering from an incurable disease had visions of Mary. In her visions, she received instructions to climb Mt. Corneille, where she would be cured by the simple act of sitting on the great stone. Following this advice, the woman was miraculously cured of her ailment. Appearing to the woman a second time, Mary gave instructions that the local bishop should be contacted and told to build a church on the hill. According to legend, when the bishop climbed the hill, he found the ground covered in deep snow even though it was the middle of July. A lone deer walked through the snow, tracing the ground plan of the cathedral that was to be built. Convinced by these miracles of the authenticity of Mary's wishes, the bishop completed construction of the church by AD 430. Despite ecclesiastical pressures, which sought to combat the survival of pagan religious practices, the great dolmen was left standing in the center of the Christian sanctuary and was consecrated as the Throne of Mary. By the eighth century, however, the pagan stone, popularly known as the "stone of visions," was taken down and broken up. Its pieces were incorporated into the floor of a particular section of the church that came to be called the Chambre Angelique, or the "angels chamber." Most of these early structures disappeared and were replaced by the current basilica, a composite construction dating from the 5th to 12th centuries AD. While primarily an example of Romanesque architecture, the massive cathedral of Notre Dame shows strong Byzantine and Arabic influences in both its construction and decoration.

I managed to catch the last ten munites of Sunday Mass at the Cathedral.  The music was exquisite and the air was filled with incense.   I had my first Saint James Experience right inside the front door.

The organ pipes--beautiful hand-carved wood.

The Crucifix.

One of many very beautiful stained glass windows.

I walked the very steep trek up to The iron statue of Notre-Dame de France (The Virgin Mary) overlooking the town was designed by the French sculptor Jean-Marie Bonnassieux, and is made from 213 Russian cannons. It was presented to the town on 12 September 1860 in front of 120,000 people.

This is looking back at the Cathedral Quarter. 

I took a photo of the sign as I was walking up (pant-pant, gasp-gasp)

Looking out from the top of the statue.  I climbed up it too--kinda like the statue of liberty.  This statue had tiny one-way spiral step all the way up to the head.  I figured if I had climbed this far---what the heck.  Beautiful vistas.

All of the streets in Le Puy were narrow and made of cobblestones.

This cool statue was my landmark.  Every time I thought I was lost I kept finding it and then I knew how to get home.

Au Revoir until tomorrow!