Le Grand et Le Petit

Great things about the French no. 73 in a series: The World Closes for Lunch.

There are two benefits to this. Firstly it means that you know you're going to be able to find somewhere for lunch really easy; and secondly, if your lunch is a rather nice sandwich (and obligatory pain au chocolat) from a small boulangerie, those tourist areas can be almost 100% guaranteed to be a lot quieter between 12 and 2.30ish.

And so it was that early (sort of) we headed to the Abbey at Fontenay - a marvellous large site, which includes the first ever waterwheel driven hammer for the extraction of iron ore for rock in a massive forge. There we happened upon a film crew filming some 'tightly' dressed gentlemen sword fighting (strangely reminiscent of our trip to Villandry last year where the life of Rabelais (his young years) was being filmed). The time that we started meant that on leaving the car park was starting to get full, perfect.

From there to Vézelay, a fabulous hilltop town with a Basilica proudly sitting at the top (for a fervent non-believer and anti-fundamentalist I always end up visiting a lot of religious sites wherever I go, but just because I don't agree with religion doesn't mean I'm not utterly fascinated by religion). Anyway, Vézelay is on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, housing as it does a fragment of bone which once formed part of Mary Magdalene (allegedly, here you go, a little disbelieving doubt for you... The relic was confirmed by the Pope in 1058...).

En route 'home' we passed through village after village, each one making me want to stop for that photogenic, somehow stereotypical, French village shot. I'll have done it by the end of the trip.

Anyway, this shot, inside the Abbey at Fontenay, I liked for the scale given by the chap in red walking into the light from the windows (yes, I did stand there waiting for him t walk into the light). Later on, with a shot in the opposite direction, the same chap walking towards me scooted out of shot. Polite, but unhelpful. I wasn't going to complain, good day.