Cahors Day Off

Bonjour!  What a lovely place to have a much needed day off.  I lounged in bed until 8:30 and went down to the breakfast room for a croissant.  What a way to start the day. I feel like a real French Madame.  I went to the Casino (Supermarket) and there was a long checkout line so I went to the self-service checkout and figured it out--all on my own. Whoopee! I could move to France and just eat my way to heaven.  I would be five by five, lay on my fauteuil, nibbling French pastries all day!

  This is the statue of Francois Mitterrand Cahors behind the fountain on the main square.  I sat outside last night and had a glass of wine facing the statue and fountain.  It was so peaceful.

Such an interesting statue by Marc Petit.  I don't have a clue who is is but he was directly across from the cathedral so he/she/it must be important. The face looked like a man but he has pretty big droopy boobs.  And his legs leave a little to be desired.  Art!

The outside of la cathédrale Saint Etienne de Cahors

The ornately carved entrance way.

These are the most modern stained glass windows that I have ever seen in an old cathedral.  The cathedral is considered a national monument.  According to wiki, it is "an example of the transition between the late Romanesque and Gothic architectural traditions." The cathedral was begun in the 11th century.

We are still in the same church and this is the rose window. What a different style.

Beautiful organ pipes, surrounded by exquiitively carved wood.

I am assuming this has something to do with Easter.  When I first got there-there were about 300 children of about six years old. I saw them walking hand and hand from school. I guess the French don't have that separation of church and school thing. And they said prayers!  There was some sort of ceremony and the children were very quiet and well behaved. Probably because there isn't a complete separation of church and state. I know I behaved better because I was told that God was watching me.  Just saying. And I don't care which God you worship, it beats gangs.

I had to come back to get some photos and the white draping things made it hard to get a photo of the main stained glass window, easily one of the more ornate ones that I have ever seen. Stunning! It was made up of millions of tiny pieces of cut glass. I couldn't believe the range of stained glass windows in this cathedral.  It was not a huge cathedral either.

Aaaarg!  Rugby!

Cahors is a university town.  There were many students walking around and the air was electric with young people discussing new ideas.  Their unlined faces were so bright and animated. I can still remember when the world was brand new and we college-age kids thought we invented everything (and knew everything). Now I don't know where I put my purse or my keys and why I put the toilet paper in the refrigerator. God only knows what I did with what was supposed to go in the fridge.

This is the sign for the garden above. What is also interesting is that it faces Rue du Woodrow 

Wilson. I tried to find a connection between Wilson and Cahors but it must just be for his part in the war.

I have an interesting dilemma involving protocol and local customs.  Many of the bathrooms in France are unisex.  Okay, I am alright with that. After all, I was the girl who went to college with a flannel bathrobe that zipped from chin to the floor and had a roommate that was a very well-built nudist and I survived that but back to France.  Usually, the French bathrooms are like a guest bathroom in a house.  You go in, lock the door and do your business. However, occasionally, you go in and the first thing you see is a urinal.  In the case of this bathroom, there are two closet-like toilets--totally private-- but you had to walk by the urinal to get to them. Keeping in mind that you cannot lock the door that leads to these three things.  So today, I went into a different bathroom and a man was facing me, taking a tinkle, with a partition that just covered his privates.  I am sure that I am not supposed to peek, or laugh and point but do I continue to the rest of the bathroom?  Hmmmmm! And what if you go in safely, come out and there is a man standing at the urinal. You are certainly going to see the goods!

I must have lucked into the hottest place in town...this little creperie.  I was going to have lunch there today but the owner said she was full. So I made a dinner reservation.  While I was having dinner, I watched her turn away table after table.

My salad.  If you look at the left-hand top, there was a bruschetta topped local goat cheese round and crowned with a walnut.  The top right-hand corner was a little serving of amazing honey which was to be drizzled on top of the cheese.  The salad had a tangy vinaigrette, which balanced the entire dish perfectly.

This was my crepe with cheese, tomatoes, and onions.  Crepes in France are not rolled up soggy things topped with gloppy sauce but rather flat crisp pancakes.  This was delicious.

Well, who could resist dessert in a creperie?  Not me.  I had a salted caramel crepe.  Yum!  Dennis better be prepared...on those nights that we don't have included dinner I will be looking for another creperie.  And he will love it.

This is the bridge that I leave on tomorrow morning.  I have an 18.6-mile day unless I get lost and then it will be longer.  Believe it or not, I walked 9.1 miles today just seeing the sights.  It was a fabulous day.  I could stay here for a week!

Good night to all.