Cathedrals – Page 3 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

June 10, 2019 Cologne GE

Another long drive today as we decided it was time to move on from Germany. Just like with Spain we thought we had enough time to see most of Germany and it turns out we have missed most of the central part of the country. We wanted to make one more stop on our way out of the country in Cologne.

Cologne is one of the largest tourist destinations in Germany and has the most visited place in Germany in its Gothic Cathedral. Since it was on the way towards The Netherlands we decided to spend the night here. Again we were both up pretty early and got an early start so our drive to Cologne was nice and easy if a bit long.

We got a nice spot in the aire facing the Rhine River so we have spent part of the day watching the river barges going past. After settling down we headed towards the city center to join the crowds at the cathedral. Our route was along the Rhine, and for the last mile the path was a sprawling flea market. Between the flea market, the holiday and the five river cruise boats docked along the river the river walk was jammed with people.

One of the five river cruise boats docked along the waterfront.

We finally reached the cathedral, and had a quick walk around the exterior before going in. Much to our surprise the entrance was free. This cathedral is still Catholic unlike many of the churches we have been visiting lately which started out as Catholic, and were converted to Lutheran after the reformation. The exterior is massive and the spires are the main attraction. Construction was started in 1248 and suspended in 1473, it was finally completed in 1880 after over 400 years of suspension.

The exterior of the cathedral, it is hard to capture the scale of the building.

One of the gargoyles about 100 feet above ground.

The interior is attractive, and the stain glass is pretty though we presume it is all post WWII. The Cologne cathedral would probably make our top 10 list of cathedrals if we were keeping one, but closer to number 10 than number 1.

The interior houses a reliquary of the three kings, which was the original reason to build the cathedral.

The mosaics on the floor were extensive and intricate, they were the highlight of the cathedral for us.

Cologne is also famous as the originator of Kolsch Beer, so that was the next attraction we headed for. The first place we went was Peters Beerhouse where the first waiter asked if we were there to eat or to drink, we replied drink and he immediately showed us to a standup bar in a corner next to a bar, and the place where waiters return the used beer glasses. This was in a huge place that could easily seat several hundred and it was 90% empty. The tradition in Cologne is to serve beers in small glasses so that the beer remains cold, the server is supposed to come by frequently so you can get refills. In this case after the first round the waiter came by and said his shift was over so we needed to pay up. So we were out of there.

The server on the right in this picture is carrying the traditional Kolsch Beer Caddy, so he can provide cold beer on the spot.

Hoping that was an aberration we headed over to another famous Kolsch place which again was largely empty, this time we got to pick out table and sit, but the service was not particularly friendly so we decided to cut our losses and head on back to François thru the slightly less crowded flea market. Ton cooked a great German meal of pork cutlets, spatzle, sauerkraut and kraut salad so the day ended on a positive note as we enjoyed our meal while looking out on the river traffic on the Rhine.

Some of the river traffic we have been enjoying this afternoon.

May 23, 2019 Dinkelsbuhl GE

We slept well with a natural white noise machine going all night in the form of the Lech River running at near flood stage behind us. The plan for the day was to follow the Romantic Road further north to a town called Rothenburg.

The Romantic Road is quite pretty but it reminded us of hundreds of miles of roads in France without the marketing. As we were driving we could see some flooding from the weather over the past few days.

Ton mentioned that she wanted to stop at a town called Dinkelsbuhl before we got to Rothenburg. I pulled into the parking for RV’s and was checking the pay machine to see how much it would cost for a couple of hours. I noticed the cost for a night was only €6 so I went back and asked Ton how nice was this town supposed to be? We went back and forth for a few minutes when a German couple came over having noticed the French plates and thinking we could not figure the machine out, we told them our dilemma. They were adamant that we should spend the night here as it was cheaper and the town was really special.

Dinkelsbuhl turned out to be a gem. It is a walled town with many of its towers still preserved.

One of the 18 towers still in place in Dinkelsbuhl. Some of them looked like they were private residences.

It is just big enough to have a lot of interesting things to see, but small enough to manage on foot. It is very well preserved, but still feels lived in.

This is the view as you enter the town thru one of the gates in the wall.

It really helps that the sun was out today, and for the first time in about a week we did not need to be in rain gear, or to have it in our bag on standby. We took advantage of the good weather to sit in a beer garden and try a couple of the local beers.

We have not seen any storks since Alsace. There were several pairs here.

Ton really liked the logo of the brewery today.

Our final stop was at the cathedral, when we walked in two musicians were playing a composition for two xylophones. They were recording the piece, but rather than closing the cathedral during the recording they just put a sign at the back of the cathedral asking people to be quiet.

The recording session we were allowed to observe for a few minutes.

We finally headed back for a relaxing dinner, Ton really made a nice chicken and spatzle dish. She is really doing a great job mixing German, Thai, and American cuisines. The day ended with a quick run thru an Edeka to make sure we have the refrigerator full for the next stop. Once again the flexibility of not having reservations and our own house on wheels allowed us to make a new exciting discovery.

May 11, 2019 Breighau GE

Today was certainly less hectic than yesterday. We woke up a little earlier than usual, but were in no hurry to get going for the day. After puttering around for a while we decided to head into Freiburg.

Freiburg is supposed to be one of the greenest cities in Germany, it is full of walking trails and bike paths. When we checked in I got a lecture about how to sort our garbage before depositing it at the campground.

This walking trail follows the river from the campground to downtown Freiburg.

The old town walls are mostly gone but two of the old gates are still in place. We headed to the Cathedral square and were surprised by a very large farmers market. We spent about an hour poking around the market looking at the various vegetables. There were three sausage grills going that were doing booming business. I was drooling, Ton was more impressed with the number of vegetables for sale.

One of the three sausage carts. The number of sausages was impressive, and the smells were to die for.

We went in to see what the interior of the cathedral looked like. As we went in unlike almost any other cathedral we have been in many people were sitting in the pews. It turns out there was an organ concert scheduled in a half hour so we sat down and waited. The concert was really nice, and the cathedral was packed.

The organist just sitting down to begin the concert.

In fact when we left the concert the city center of the town was really packed with people. We were both startled with the number of people as this is not a big city, but it was really busy. After one more pass thru the city we headed back to the campground.

This gargoyle is mooning the city hall. The story is that when the cathedral was being built the town council told the stonemasons working on the cathedral that they needed to work faster, and with more detail. This gargoyle is the response from the stonemasons guild to the request. It was done quickly and with a great deal of detail.

As soon as we got back the wind really started howling, and then rain kicked in. We did get our laundry done which is always a landmark event on these trips, so all in all a productive day.

September 24, 2018 Chartres FR

Our plan when we arrived was to head towards Spain, so of course we drove north today to Chartres. Along the way we decided to visit Normandy and Brittany on our way to Spain, so we had to divert north to get to Normandy.

We decided to visit Chartres primarily to see its Gothic Cathedral. We visited Sens Cathedral the other day which is billed as the first Gothic Cathedral, and Chartres is supposed to be the best example of a Gothic Cathedral. Chartres still has its’ original stained glass as during both wars they removed it and stored it safely. During WWII the cathedral was in danger as the allies moved towards Paris, but an American Colonel successfully negotiated with a German General to declare Chartres an open city, so there was no battle fought for the city.

The exterior of the Chartres Cathedral. Note the contrast between the recenly cleaned upper part, and the uncleaned lower part. The maintenance of these buildings is daunting.

On our way out of Chinon we decided we wanted to visit a winery, we drove thru the countryside only to find it was closed. Disappointed again, we wrote off getting a taste of any Chinon wine, but on our way out of town Ton spotted the new tasting room for the winery we had driven out into the country to see. Pierre and Bertrand Couly had opened a new tasting room on the highway to Chartres, Chinon Red wines are what we call Cabernet Franc in the US. We spoke to the wife of the owner and she did a great job explaining the wines of the area. She was aware of Oregon wines as her husband had spent some time at Sokol Blosser winery in Oregon in the 1980’s.

The very fine winery Pierre & Bertrand Couly. As the owner said you do not have to have an old facility to make traditional wines.

The three hour drive to Chartres was uneventful as the “N” road that we used most of the way was quite good. We parked in a free overnight spot, and walked about a mile into town to see the cathedral. The cathedral was indeed impressive, and the interior stain glass windows were among the best we have seen in France. The cathedral was constructed in the early 1200’s after the previous Romanesque Cathedral had burned. The cathedral is deservedly a UNESCO world heritage site. Besides admiring the beauty of the building we also again discussed the maintenance of these immense buildings. Just keeping the exterior clean is a full time job.

One of the stain glass “Roses” at Chartres, this one dates from around 1210 and is the original glass.

After touring the cathedral we decided not to wait for the light show, so we walked back to François. Frankly we were a little peeved with one of the attendants who would not let us take the last crypt tour, and did it in a way that seemed unnecessarily officious to us while simultaneously refusing to speak English, even though we had just heard him giving an explanation of the tour in perfect English to another person. I hope he was just having a bad day. We had a light dinner and a relatively early night as we have a long drive to Normandy tomorrow.

Some of the art work in side the Cathedral.

September 26, 2018 Coleville FR

We are still on the Normandy peninsula basically moving from the area of Utah Beach to Omaha Beach. We got a late start as we decided to take care of some housekeeping chores in the morning. After Ton paid some bills and we knocked out a load of laundry we headed out for Omaha Beach.

When we arrived at the center of Omaha Beach it was quite crowded with several bus loads of Americans taking their lunch break al fresco around the memorial. We poked around for a while and mourned with a fellow Oregonian about the football teams loss on Saturday to Stanford.

Standing on Omaha Beach in front of the Sculpture to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the battle.

Done with Omaha we headed over to the American Cemetery in Coleville. This cemetery is maintained by the US Battlefield Memorial Commission and is the final resting place for over 9000 soldiers and sailors from the battles around Normandy. After the war the families of the fallen were given a choice to have the bodies shipped home or buried in place, so this does not represent all of the Americans killed in the battle.

he view towards the memorial and reflecting pool.

The visitor center and the grounds are inspiring and a true honor to the young men who are there. The visitor center has an excellent display about WWII and D-Day. After you walk thru the visitor center you enter the grave sites, and the location overlooks Omaha Beach and the Atlantic. The site is immaculate and clearly lovingly taken care of by the French staff.

When we completed the tour at the cemetery we headed into Bayeux which is about the only major city that was not leveled during the invasion. It is also famous for the Bayeux Tapestry which is a famous medieval artwork. As we entered the city we made a quick stop at a Carrefour Market to restuff the refrigerator. We headed into the city but just missed our opportunity to see the tapestry as the museum was closing. We took a quick walk by the Cathedral to look at the Norman style Cathedral, and then headed back to François for the night.

A gargoyle on the Cathedral at Bayeux. They are not only an interesting feature but actually serve as the drains for the gutters when it rains.

October 6, 2019 Lyon FR

The jet lag is starting to wear off so we woke a little earlier to head into Lyon. We purchased an all day pass for public transport in Lyon which is a good deal for €6 as we wanted to cover a lot of ground today.

On the way to Lyon we asked a young gentlemen to confirm we were at the correct bus stop, and ended up chatting with him most of the way to downtown. He is trying to start a company to refill wine bottles directly rather than sending them to recycling first and then remolding them. He told us there is a similar program going on with beer bottles in Oregon that we were not familiar with. We enjoyed a wide ranging conversation from tax methods to population density of Oregon vs France. These small contacts are always fun and encouraging.

The finish line of the Lyon Marathon, Ton was trying some tricks with her camera so we caught some ghosts running the marathon.

When we finally arrived in downtown Lyon after a detour due to a market along the route and getting caught in a major traffic jam, we ran into the finish line for the Lyon marathon. We spent a little time watching the runners finish, and enjoying the good mood of the spectators and runners as they crossed the line.

Our next stop was the Roman theater which was pretty close to the finish line, the problem was it was about 600 feet higher on a pretty steep hill. There were two funiculars up the hill which were covered by our transit pass, but I could not find them so we ended up climbing the hill. The Roman theater is quite large and well preserved. It is still used to stage plays during the year, and holds about 6000 people in its current configuration. During the Roman era there was a second wooden deck that accommodated another 5000 people.

The Roman Theater in Lyon is one of the largest in France.

In the distance we saw a cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary and headed over there. It was a fairly modern cathedral built around 1872. The story about the cathedral is it is on a hill overlooking the original cathedral in Lyon Saint-Jean. In the 1500’s when the plague was going thru Europe the town prayed to Mary that if she spared Lyon from the plague they would do an annual procession to the top of the hill, and the plague skipped Lyon. In the 1600’s there was a cholera epidemic in the area, and the citizens again prayed to Mary and promised a church on top of the hill if Lyon was spared, and it was. Finally during the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 the citizens asked Mary to spare them from destruction by the Prussians this time promising a cathedral, which was duly built when the Prussians by passed Lyon.

You rub the Lions nose for good luck as you enter the cathedral in Lyon.

We also found the funicular so our trip down to the main city was much quicker and easier on the knee’s. I have become quite reliant on Google for navigation, and it was at this point that I realized that despite Lyon being the third largest city in France, its transit system was not loaded into Google maps. So now to get to our next destination I had to go back to the old way of trying to compare a city map with a transit map to figure the best way to get to a food hall with several famous restaurants. It was not pretty but eventually we arrived just in time to watch all of the restaurants close up for the day.

The food hall that was just closing up as we arrived.

So instead we headed back to François where Ton prepared me a delicious meal.

April 15, 2018 Albi FR

The day started out with a visit to the cheese shop under the supervision of Patrick the campsite owner. He also had a French couple in tow who turned out to be from the Yonne department of Burgundy which is our honorary French home, as that is where François the RV is based. We ended up with about 1/3 of a kilo each of three Cantal cheeses, one is called Cantal, one was called Salers, and the last was a blue cheese from the area which one food critic labeled the best he had ever tasted. The Saler cheese is a variant of Cantal that is only produced in two months when a certain flower is in bloom in the region, as the flowers mixed with the grass makes the cows milk that much better, you have got to love the French! We will give you a report later if the flowers make a big difference.

Patrick leading us down the road to the cheese store.

After two days of cold and damp weather we decided to head south in search of sun and heat. We had originally picked out a target of a town that was about 130km as the crow flies. But when Ron punched it into the GPS, the route said it was over 400km’s. Ron cursed and figured he had punched in the coordinates wrong. But after some further study of the map it turned out that this was really a case of the proverbial you can’t get there from here.

This cow is a Cantal which is a breed unique to the area around Salers.

Ton likes Cows and this calf is the cutest she has ever seen, it almost looks like a sheep.

After some further study of maps, Ton proposed the town of Albi as a destination. It was south, the roads looked reasonable, and best of all it was the hometown of Toulose-Lautrec which is both of our favorite French Artist.

The bridge in the foreground was built around 1300 and is still used for traffic today.

The plan for the night was to stay in the Aire in Albi. The GPS led us close to the medieval old town down increasingly narrow roads, and only about 500 yards from the final destination we came to an arch that the road was going under, but the road under the arch was filled with construction equipment. After some studying of the map, and a little maneuvering in tight quarters we headed to our alternative route to the aire. About half way there we fell in behind a Dutch RV that appeared to be going to the same place. Again within about 500 meters of the aire we ran into some more construction and the Dutch pulled over and parked. Ron parked up behind them and knowing that almost all Dutch speak English he walked up and asked them about the aire. It turns out that the road to the aire is under construction and while you can barely make it there, it was full anyway. The husband said that they were thinking about parking for the night at a site we had passed on the way in, but the wife switched from English to Dutch and told him no way they were parking there. I don’t speak a word of Dutch but I didn’t need too to understand that conversation.

Ton and I decided to just leave François where he was and head into Albi to have a look around. Albi turned out to be a real Gem. This is why you do these trips without agendas, to find places like this. Our first stop was the Toulose-Lautrec museum. The museum has an incredible collection of his art, because apparently the Louvre turned down the collection when his parents offered it to them. The museum is housed in the Palais de la Berbie which is the old palace of the archbishop of Albi. The building is as impressive as the art collection.

An example of the art in the Toulose-Lautrec museum.

The exterior of the Toulose-Lautrec museum which is in the old palace of the archbishop.

Next door is the Cathedral of Albi, which is the largest brick church in the world. We went into the Cathedral and it was as impressive as the outside. We got a break as one half which usually costs 5 euro to get in was open in preparation for a concert so we got a free look at it.

A view of the ceiling of the cathedral in Albi.

May 1, 2019 Troyes FR

Today is labor day in France so we knew we were going to be limited in our sites as most everything was closed. Since we are in the Champagne region we decided we should go to some wineries. Ton did some research and while Chateau-Thierry is in the heart of the high end champagne country she decided we should go to southern Champagne as it has smaller family run wineries vs the big world wineries like Dom Perignon. We aimed for a town called Riceys as it has a lot of family run wineries.

After an uneventful run over very quiet roads due to the holiday (no trucks) we got to Riceys and found two free aires on winery sites. But it is a small town and as it was a holiday everything was closed. After a little poking around Ton suggested we head to Troyes which was only about 45 minutes away.

Ton made a great call, as Troyes was a beautiful town to walk in, even though almost everything was closed. Troyes has one of the best collections of half timbered homes in France and most of the city center still contained these wood timbered building. While many of them have been modernized and turned into name brand businesses they still bring a great feel to the town.

A sample of the wood timbered homes in Troyes.

We also toured the cathedral as it was open. As our first cathedral of the trip it did again impress us. It was interesting as it has a lot of 20th and 21st century religious art on the inside.

The three wise women inside the cathedral in Troyes. A modern interpretation of the three wise men, we think, the sign was only in French.

A gargoyle on one of the churches in Troyes.

Troyes is also the home of the founder of the Knights Templar and the local tourism office uses the knights to help you on the walking tour of the town.

As we continue to find; often times the best days on these trips are ones you did not plan on.

May 9, 2019 Strasbourg FR

Today was a day of rest for François but not us. The weather is starting to wear us out a little. We shut in yesterday to let the heavy rain pass thru. Yesterday the weather app was saying it would be better today. They were wrong, today was just as miserable, we had periods of very heavy rain mixed with showers, and the temperatures were in the low 50’s.

Our Stellplatz (German for Aire) is located a few hundred yards from the Rhine, so we decided to head down there to start the day. The river was flowing pretty fast and there was a large river cruise boat parked there. It was a nice park, but after talking about it we decided to go ahead and head in to town for the day despite the bad weather forecast.

A German Post mail bicycle. We followed the mail lady down the road for a while on the way to the Tram.

As we stepped off the tram in the center of Strasbourg we saw a “Free” tour going buy so we decided to join in. It was a good tour though I think everyone’s motivation dropped when the rain and wind really started kicking in. Strasbourg looks like it has a lot to offer. It is an interesting blend of French and German architecture.

The old town of Strasbourg is built on an island in the Ill River.

We ended the tour in a windy downpour, so we dived into the Tourist Information Office with about 100 other Americans. We were debating whether to call it a day, but decided to spring for a boat tour as the weather app said the rain was going to let up a bit later in the day. The boat trip would have been great except for the pounding rain but at least we were inside. We went by the European Parliament which is quite an impressive modern building. We did not get any pictures due to the heavy rain.

Our last stop for the day was the Cathedral. It is another very beautiful building. The highlight of this cathedral for us was the astronomical clock. The gold hands on the clock represent the solar time, and the silver hands the local time. It also figures that rotate around at certain times of the day representing the different phases of life parading past a figure representing death.

The astronomical clock in the Strasbourg Cathedral.

A modern version of the last supper from the interior of the Cathedral.

After the Cathedral we called it a day heading back on the tram to Kehl. We had a short sun break where I leant a young group of Belgians our water can so they could fill their RV with water, one of the guys told me that he had recently hitchhiked from Miami to Houston, (never got the reason why) and could not believe how generous the people were on that trip. Shortly after that another band of rain drove us into François for the night.

September 20, 2018 Sens FR

Today the jet lag won, so we slept in very late. After we were finally going we had a nice lunch. As we were getting ready to head into town to see the sights in Sens, we met our neighbors who were a nice Australian couple Peter and Robyn who had rented a RV from French Motor Home Hire. After some introductions we realized that they were on the last day of their motorhome trip, and were trying to get rid of some stuff before they turned their RV in. As a result we received some things to stock our vehicle with. Their agenda for the day matched ours so we decided to walk into town together.

We visited the cathedral in Sens which adds to our list of magnificent cathedrals in France. The size and the intricacy of the construction is really awe inspiring. The special thing about the cathedral in Sens is the stained glass windows. They have examples from the 12th century thru to the 18th century. Sens cathedral is also where Thomas Beckett from England spent his years in exile, before returning to England to be executed by King Henry II.

After spending some time in the cathedral we decided to try to find a store to get a French mobile phone. After some issues we decided that it would be good to get a local phone. There was supposed to be an Orange store in downtown Sens, but when we got there it was out of business. We also decided to make a final stock run to Auchan and Lidl for more food. Now our refrigerator is really stuffed.

We had separated from Peter and Robyn to take care of the phone, but when we returned we ended up joining them for a beer and to exchange stories and information about places to go. One beer led to a couple, and we ended up at a Pizza place across from the aire. It was a great night and we hope we run into them again in the future in our travels.

April 28, 2018 Merry-Sur-Yonne FR

Our night in the parking lot at Flavigny was uneventful, except after the warm nights in Provence it was quite chilly back in Burgundy. When we woke up and got going Ton decided that the candy tins at the factory here in Flavigny would be great gifts so we needed to kill time until it opened at 930.

Ton remembered there were some spectacular canola fields as we came into town. We decided to take a short walk up to get a closer look. It was a nice walk and we enjoyed being out in the quiet French countryside.

Ton in front of a huge field of Canola. This is the last canola photo, we promise.

After completing our purchase at the candy factory we headed over to the town of Vezeley. It is another one of the most beautiful villages in France. We were back on D roads of Burgundy. The countryside in Burgundy is definitely much quieter than the countryside in Provence, so the drives are a lot more enjoyable and the scenery is terrific.

A town in Burgundy. The roads in Burgundy are much quieter than in Provence.

Several people we had met on the trip said that Vezalay was a town not to miss. It is another of the most beautiful villages in France, and as you drive towards the town it is quite striking. The weather has taken a turn for the worst with temperatures in the 50’s and on again, off again rain. But we caught a gap while we walked up the hill to Vezeley’s Cathedral. The town was interesting and pretty but once again felt touristy, especially compared to Flavigny. While we were in the cathedral a mass started with about 15 nuns coming out to join the mass.

The Cathedral in Vezeley. It is a very striking white color, and interesting because it has less art in place than other Cathedral’s we have visited.

The last stop of the day was at Merry-Sur-Yonne which has a nice ring to it. The campground here is first class, and the bridge into the small village over the river Yonne is quite pretty. Ton has declared it the nicest campground she has been in, though we both did grumble a little about paying €19 after several nights of free or nearly free camping. However, the warm reception from the British owner, warm unlimited showers and the electricity have reduced the grumbling. At the end of the day we walked down to the Yonne River and had a quiet end to our day.

The bridge over the Yonne River near our campground.

April 11, 2018 Cluny FR

Last night we decided to head south for the trip. It took us up to now to finalize our plans, though we are going to make daily plans so how far we move each day is up to debate. The problem is we keep finding things to do so we are not covering much distance. In fact after 6 days we are sill in Burgundy and are only 175 miles from our starting point.

Today we had two stops in mind, a cheese factory outside Dijon and the Cluny Abbey. The first stop was a factory that specializes in soft cheese manufacture. We did the self guided tour. This involved peering thru windows at workers who tried to look unimpressed and watching videos of the process. It was interesting if a little impersonal. The fun began at the end where we were given five cheeses to taste and of course some bread and wine to go with them. Ton really liked the cheeses as she likes softer cheeses. Ron is a cheddar fan which makes him pretty much a charlatan, at least in Burgundy.

Some of the workers in the plant performing one of the three cleanings each cheese gets.

Our long drive of about 60 miles began after that. On the way to Cluny we came to the town of Cormatin it was pretty well developed and we where trying to figure out why, when we saw an interesting Chateau on the river. We were already by it when we decided to go back and check it out. The signs said open, but the door to the ticket office was locked and the tourist office was also closed for lunch. So we had to settle for some photos over the fence before moving on to Cluny.

Looks like it would have been an interesting walk but we could not find anyone to take our 6 euros.

Our destination for today was the Abby of Cluny. At one time the largest building in Christendom before the building of St. Peters in Rome. On arrival in town we were looking for the town aire. After much circling around including one trip into the heart of the town down narrow one way streets we found a parking lot kind of in the right part of town. It had four or five RV’s parked up so we decided why not join them.

The original church went from the point of this photo to the spire below. That spire is one of the three that were in place in the church.

We headed into town to take the Abby tour. The Abby is now mostly in ruins with only 10% of the original buildings still standing. What is there is really impressive and it does not take much imagination to see the beauty of the remainder. The rest was lost because the order that originally built it ran out of money to maintain it and they ended up selling it to the town. The town then dismantled the church and sold the stone locally and in Paris. If it was standing today in it’s finished state it would surely be one of the biggest attractions in Burgundy if not France.

A view of the town of Cluny from the tower of Fromagges next to the Abby.

When we returned to our parking lot there were only two other RV’s left so Ron came to the conclusion that this was not the aire. After some googling he got a map to the aire. When we arrived it was clearly an aire. The problem was that instead of being free as advertised it cost 10euro, and you had to call the town police to pay up, and failure to call in a timely manner increased the cost to 22euro. Eventually we found a nice lady who made the call for us. So tonight we are watching a parade of horses go by to the local stables in the town Hippodrome next door.