Madonna & Child

We visited Saintes this morning, stopping en route to take more sunflower shots and had a good look about the town (there is an ace roman amphitheatre there). After a sandwich of olives, bread ham and cheese from the market, took refuge from the midday sun in the cathedral St Pierre. The town and church had been destroyed several times over the years and it has that 'not quite finished look' of something that has been rebuilt again and again.

As we were wandering round (me stopping to take pictures every 10m and Mrs42 actually soaking up the place - we make up one good visitor between us), I came across this scene of a pregnant lady in a black dress and her young daughter in a pure white dress playing in the light of one of the stained glass windows. I hope the shot does the scene justice, with its juxtaposition of light and dark - I found it quite beautiful.

This afternoon we stopped at St Jean D'Angleley, the local big market town. It was OK but a bit of a disappointment apart from the chocolaterie...

An evening walk through a forest and we found lots of stag beetles with our hosts and their other guests.