pilgrim

in chartres, we met a tough australian who had just walked a huge chunk of the pilgrim's way from the french border to santiago

it was the first time i'd seen all the stamps which the pilgrims collect at each hostel on the route

now she'd come to chartres to study the labyrinth ... and she explained the difference between a medieval church's labyrinth and a maze ... the medieval church labyrinths have a spiritual or symbolic purpose possibly connected to the pilgrimage to jerusalem and they don't have dead ends

unfortunately the origins of their meaning were forgotten by the clergy and many were destroyed

here's an uncredited image downloaded from wikipedia's article on the cathedral at chartres

chartres ... the old post office

any old irons

plusiers des any old irons

piss-ups and breweries, french style

courbet's great studio painting almost restored in the musee d'orsay

http://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/collections/bienvenue/les-coulisses-dune-exposition.html

chartres

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartres_Cathedral

more stuff from chartres

NB

IF YOU GO TO CHARTRES ...

... STAY FOR AT LEAST TWO NIGHTS

... AND TAKE SOME GOOD BINOCULARS TO STUDY THE STAINED GLASS NARRATIVES

the best internet guide to the stained glass might well be adrian fletcher's ...

http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/France/Chartres/Window_Images/Chartres_Windows_07.htm

borrowed image

at the jeu de paume in paris, there is a big exhibition of wonderful photographs by the late richard avedon

i had a lot of delightful surprises and one big surprise

somehow or other, for nearly forty years, this triptych had passed me by ... i had never seen it

in the second room at the jeu de paume, the three prints, each about ten feet square, are displayed higher up the wall than in this picture from the milan show

so coming face to face with some of the "cast" of lou reed's "walk on the wild side" was quite a shock

for some reason that i'm not yet able to rationalize, i was immediately reminded of some of botticelli's great canvases, primavera, venus and mars, ... but of course warhol's factory had nothing to do with idealism ... maybe someone else can figure out the connection for me

any suggestions ?

a discreet little cafe

http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/visits/services/restaurant.html

not bad ... as cathedrals go

yapton church tower stands corrected

inside yapton church

the font at yapton

in yapton churchyard

gallopers

the folly at arundel castle

thanks to daz, the butter and marmalade stains have completely disappeared

nacrephiliac

land horse ...

... sea horse

it must be jelly 'cos jam don't shake like that

silbury hill

customer relations, nine elms style ... the vendor is on the right

there will be a short intermission .... whilst we regain our equilibrium after a cultural weekend

what's yours ?

craven street, WC2

stuff just laying around