9/2/17 Nevers (Again!) 9/3/17 Bourges

We had two errands that took us back to Nevers.  We had to return the little speaker we bought, and we needed to stop by at the Europcar to extend our car rental for one more week.  At the end of next week, we will drive to Amboise (2.5 hours through Chateau country!) and after a week's stay, we will travel down south to Aix-en-Provence (6.5 hours) where we will return our car.

The Carrefour in Nevers:

This is the largest store we have ever been in.  It is roughly twice

the size of the Super Target in Denver.

John's new favorite snack.  French radishes dipped in butter and

then salt.  To Jane Swalling - a big thank you for

introducing us to this treat!

Apple tarts by the hundreds.

 We arrived at the store shortly after noon.  The exchange department was closed from noon until 2:00 PM.  It's France!  With some time to kill, we walked over to McDonald's.

The ordering is totally automated.  There are six touch screens.  You choose your language (they list at least 10 different languages) then select the food you want via pictures, the zone you will be sitting in (there are 4 zones), and they deliver your order to you at your table.

No counter service at all.  Wondering if the new McDonald's at The Continental Plaza will be like this?  Safeway thinks that a self-checkout is "too confusing" for us old folks.  I think we could handle this!

9/3/17 A beautiful Sunday!  We drove to Bourges to visit the Cathedral and the home - well, palace - of Jacques Coeur, local legend.  The town center is lovely, with many half-timbered buildings, winding, hilly streets, and shops galore.

There are several small parks scattered in the downtown area.  The flowers are still beautiful. Just beginning to fade.

Cathedral St. Etienne de Bourges:

The gardens adjacent to the cathedral:

 Center aisle:

Side Chapel:

JACQUES COUER (1395 AD-1456 AD):

The son of a merchant, he was quite the business man, trading with merchants all over France, the British Isles, North Africa and the Middle East.  He lent Charles VII of France the money to fund his war with the British.  The king appointed him tax collector.  He was responsible for collecting the salt tax for the whole of France. He owned 40 manor houses across the country (the majority obtained as payment for debts) including one here in Sancerre, as well as six ships used for trade.  He had warehouses filled with silks, gold, furs, carpets, and precious stones. Inevitably, some of his debtors accused him of being implicated in the death of the king's "official mistress" who died at 28 after giving birth to her fourth daughter.  As he was executor of her estate (the king was VERY generous), he inherited all of her wealth.  Her body was exhumed in 2000, and it was found that she died of mercury poisoning.  He was imprisoned and had a large part of his property confiscated.  He was able to bribe his way out of prison, and escaped to Rome where he was under the protection of the Pope.  He died from injuries he received fighting the Turks in defense of the Church.  Following his death, the king vindicated him, and returned some of his property to his children.  

The satchel in his right hand is overflowing with coins!

Maybe he should have been a bit more subtle.

His Palace in Bourges:

The palace is housing an exhibit of the clay sculptures of Georges Jeanclos (1933-1997:

Biographical Info:

"Georges Jeanclos is one of France's great twentieth-century sculptors.  His work is rooted in the traumatic events of the Second World War.  To escape the round-ups that threatened French Jews, his family was forced to hide in the woods; Jeanclos, barely ten at the time, had several close brushes with death.  Decades later, he would respond to these seminal events not by locking himself away in his own experience but by opening up to universality and paying attention to all forms of suffering, past and present."

"Jeanclos' choice medium was clay.  He transformed it into thin sheets which he then shaped human figures.  Simultaneously children and adults, men and women, their faces almost identical.  Some are dormeurs resting beneath a coverlet of clay; others hidden within urns bearing Hebrew letters drawn from the Kaddish; others are boat travelers bound for the Beyond; still others are kamakuras, meditating bronzes lost in contemplation of the soul's gardens.  To all these, Jeanclos would later add Pietas, amorous Adams and Eves, couples tenderly gazing at or stroking one another.  His images reveal both the undeniable weakness of human beings and the invincible strength of love; by the simple fact of their existence, they help us live."

Tzvetan Todorov, 2011

Doorway to the East Gallery:

The Chapel:

 How you feel after climbing up and down all those steps: