Verdun

When I woke up this morning at 6.30 is was 13.5 C – does this count as a heat wave, or is it just summer?  The sun was up bright and early and getting ever hotter.  So just after 8.00 I set off on my rambles, complete with my handy walking tour map from the Tourist Office yesterday.  Ian was still not feeling all that great and opted to stay close to the toilet.

I had a wonderful morning moseying around the old town.

The big steps from the lower town to the upper town - looking from the bottom to the top....

...and from the top to the bottom (if you look ever so carefully you will see a cat sitting on the windowsill on the left - he is quite a character, wanting to get inside to his breakfast)

This is an unusual church - the main entrance door is on the side...

...as you enter and look to your right you see and alter with and organ above -part of the earliest 12th century construction

...and to the left there is an gob-smacking ornate gilded canopy, a copy of the one in St Peters in Rome

For me the best bit was the crypt.  It dates from at least 1135 but was destroyed in the 18th century.  After the WW1 when work began on the reconstruction of the cathedral the crypt was discovered and  eventually restored.

The back wall of the crypt

The stone workers "signed" each block that they cut

The cloister alongside the cathedral is another unexpected delight

It dates from the 16th century but these 4 sculptures date from the 12th century

Next to the cathedral is the Episcopal Palace.

And just 2 blocks away the Porte de Chatel, the oldest gateway in Verdun built in the 12th century.  The dwelling attached to it was built in the middle ages.

I loved this juxtoposition - the old (Middle Ages?) and the "new" 17th century Episcopal Palace.

The Saint Almond Lock Bridge, conceived in the 17th century, contains the mechanism to flood the upstream sector to prevent the enemy getting too close to the city.  It is still in working order (uhhrm, how do they know, have they done any flooding lately?)

Downstream from the Saint Almond bridge, the Augustins Canal, a mill house and the Episcopal Palace in the background

The old Augustins Canal

Look who has arrived - Leo. It is so nice to see them again.

Porte Chausee, dating from the 14th century, one of the entry gates into the city

It still has its portcullis - it looks really lethal, I hope it's well secured.

"Defense" by Rodin. Not the original but reworked for the Dutch who donated it to the city of Verdun after WW1

Ahhh, one little duckling on a pond near the boat

The afternoon was spent in more mundane matters - going to the laundry and cleaning the BBQ.  The warm sunny morning turned into a cloudy afternoon and then sprinkles of rain.  And there is rain forecast for the next 2 days.  You win some, you lose some – just go with the flow.