Dinner was at a restaurant called Lion de Bruxelles and the specialty of the house is des moules, mussels in English.
I did not have the house specialty because I am not a fan of mussels (nor do I care for oysters, clams, or snails which all have a similar texture consistency). I did however caption pictures of what my Aunt Basia and Cousin Eric (pictured below) ordered.
They are both traditional recipes. Eric chose the steamed mussels:
And Basia chose this broiled presentation. While I don't like the texture of the mussels the flavor of that light, creamy herbed butter sauce kinda makes my mouth water!
Below is my cousin Patricia and her daughter Camille. We didn't order anything exciting for dinner so I did not take a picture. In fact, what I ordered was kind of awful! Haha! It was just a steak but I have not yet perfected how to order it. It seems as though the French like their beef more rare rather than well done. Personally, I like mine medium or medium well. Pink... but not bloody. So far no matter how I order it it always arrives too rare for my tastes! One of these days I'll get it right! One thing is for sure though, I now know why our French family always enjoys our "cowboy" steaks.
The final picture from dinner is my dessert. It was a "Gaufre de Père Michel", A waffle with an apple compote, a caramel sauce, and whipped cream. It was good but you can see they kinda burned the waffle and the caramel sauce is "real caramel" which is not quite as creamy as what we are familiar with at home. As pretty as it was the taste could have been better but I will tell you it was good! (I am such a critic! I have watched too many cooking competition shows! Hahahaha!)
After dinner we went to the Bourges Cathedral where we did a city walk around the cathedral and the surrounding neighborhood. Construction of the Cathedral began late in the 12th century and was finished in 1230. Bourges was home of King Charles VII. Because the construction of the cathedral is such a long process it is not uncommon for the original master builder to pass away before seeing the completion of his work. This was the case with the Bourge Cathedral, however, the finishing builder kept the same vision of the original builder making very few changes.
A fun fact: sunrise in France right now is around 6am and sunset around 9:30pm (as I write this this it is currently 9:48pm and looking out the window I can still see clearly across the street. There are no street lights in this small village so when the sun sets it is very dark. Since we just had a full moon the night is well lit but by next week the night will be pitch black as we complete the moon cycle.). I mention this to highlight the fact that it was after 10pm when we started the walk. The area is beautifully lit. To follow the tour you follow the blue lights. Let's go!
This is actually the back side of the cathedral. You can see the scaffolding where they are working on restoration. The work takes away a little from the picture but it also is very exciting to see the care they take of this living history. Do you see the blue light?
Photo credit to my little cousin Camille. I'm sitting right next to the grand portal doors.
This is the best picture I have of the doors. You will see a few more here. I don't think that the pictures really do justice to the artistry of the doors. I find myself oddly attracted to the doors and I am sure there will be more to see before my stay is over!
From time to time you will find plaques by the door that will tell you why they are significant.
This door has a plaque (see below) and it tells you that General Commandant Marachal Foch from the 8th Army Corps lived in this hotel January 14 - August 22, 1913.
Below is the Hotel des Echevins (The Alderman's House). It is now a museum for the works of Maurice Estève. The house was styled after the Palais de Jacques Coeur.
This is a picture of the cobblestone streets. They are beautiful and have an air of romanticism. HOWEVER... they can also be a death trap! They are very uneven and often slippery after so many years of wear and tear. I need to remember to warn my students who are traveling with me next spring to take care with their foot wear. This is most certainly not the place to wear high heels!
These pictures (above and below) are of the same stairway. It is a very quaint little passage (notice it is lit in blue to mark the way as a part of the tour). It is only about 4' wide and is made of cobblestones and marble steps. The bottom picture shows the marble steps more clearly. If you look closely you can see how they are worn and warped after centuries of use. Think about that. CENTURIES OF USE. Incredible!
Another passage way with questionable (yet beautiful) cobblestones!
These next few pictures are of the Hotel Lallement. Again, you see the use of the buildings as a screen and the projection of images to tell the story. It's really cool because it helps you appreciate the history so much more.
In the picture below the projector casts an image of a carpet on the floor and the chair in the corner has a haunting light that suggests the presence of the aristocracy.
As the lighting changes you see how the focus of the space changes. As you go through the tour, besides seeing images projected, you will also hear music of the era and recorded voices that share the history of what you're looking at.
Another cool passage way cast in the blue light of the tour.
In the next two pictures it is a bit difficult to see what my focus was. I was trying to show the moon (two nights past the full strawberry moon) which was still shining bright and full. I captured it within the archecture of the cathedral and while the pictues don't really do it justice it was very cool to see in real time!
This final picture was taken in stealth mode. Haha! There was a group of teenages/young adults doing what they do best... hanging out, drinking, smoking, and playing music. It was a great moment of everyday life and I'm glad I got to take the picture. How cool would it have been to just hang out at a UNESCO World Heritage site? On the other hand, I wonder... since this is a part of their everyday life, do they appreciate the beauty and the antiquity? What do you think?
I hope you have enjoyed my little tour! If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the Cathedral of Bourges and the surrounding buildings you can visit this site:
BOURGES CATHEDRAL
If you enjoy reading, consider reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. And, if you're not a reader it is also available as a mini-series film (I've linked the trailer below). The book is set at the same time as the construction of this cathedral. You will learn about the construction of a cathedral (how the heck did they do that magnificent work without electricity and modern construction machinery?!) and all the people involved from the Bishop to the peasantry! It's really fascinating!
Pillars of the Earth
Follett wrote a sequel to the book called World Without End. This book was also made into a mini-series and the trailer is linked below.
World Without End
Be sure to let me know if you read and or watch either of these stories! Follett has a personal passion for cathedrals and so his presentation is truly brilliant. Though I will admit, I may be a bit enamored with the work having had the honor of visiting several cathedrals throughout Europe.
Thanks for visiting!
A bientôt!
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