The Journées européennes du patrimoine are/were this weekend

which means that all of the churches and public buildings were having events, giving tours, and the museums all had free admission to the public this weekend.

I missed out yesterday. I spent most of the day inside playing guitar, except for one trip to the riverside to indulge my childhood dreams. The other day I got a (probably) silly idea to start learning to skateboard. Not like the kind of skateboarding I wish I'd learned to do when I was still young enough to learn it, but just kind of A to B. For fun. So that's what I did yesterday afternoon. It went surprisingly well, except for my being completely right-side-dominant. I am virtually incapable of balancing if I use a left-handed stance (right foot forward) so the act of propelling myself forward is exhausting, since I can only push with my right foot. I'm not sure if that made any sense. Anyway, I had a lot of fun, and came home happy.


Maria came home from her trip last night, and the three of just kind of hung out at the apartment. I was on the ESPN site watching the play-by-play coverage of the OU-TU game, and wishing it was a closer match. It was awfully satisfying to put TU back in its place, after their fans had been talking so much trash.

This morning I woke up and left. I'd heard the catacombs at the cathedrals were going to be open as part of this festival, so I went over to St. André by my house, which turned out to be closed. The photo at the top left is some stone detail that I really appreciate. I think it might be my favorite part of the cathedral. Most of the drain pipes have some kind of leaf or something near them for decoration -- the lizard is, as far as I can tell, unique to the structure. It definitely makes the building, for me.

So, having failed at the first cathedral, I walked over toward the river and south toward St. Michel, which is the gothic basilica maybe 15 minutes walk away. They were having a sort of flea market in the square by the church, which seems to be a kind of habitual thing, but looks totally bizarre (let it be noted I could have made the "bazaar" pun and decided to spare you - be grateful).

I just sort of meandered to St. Michel's, seeing some new things along the way. One thing I photographed that I figured I'd post was this fountain. I'm not sure if there are still laws about public waters sources, but it kind of seems that there are, since all of the decorative fountains have "non-potable water" signs on them. Anyway, I keep seeing these fountains for people to get real drinking water from. Here's an example of one by the river. It's just kind of an interesting idea, considering water fountains in public places like museums or malls don't seem to exist.

I finally took some pictures of some familiar places near the river. The chamber of commerce (or, that's what I have gathered it to be) is one such place, and there were gaggles of people on tours at Place de la Bourse, for some reason. I guess it's part of this "patrimoine" thing again. This picture is one wing. There are two wings that are symmetrical with a stand-alone center portion, for some reason, and this big fountain out front. The gaggles I speak of are mostly behind me while I'm taking this photo.

It's really amazing to live in a place where there are so many pedestrians out and about, even when the sky is overcast and halfheartedly spitting rain. I don't know how I will be able to adjust to Oklahoma, where the lack of a car is so crippling.

St. Michel was closed, presumably for a mass, to reopen an hour after I arrived there. I contemplated waiting it out, but instead abandoned the idea to wander back toward home. I had my camera and several other water-sensitive items, and was worried about real rain beginning to fall. On the way home I passed Le Musée d'Aquitaine, which is the closest museum to my house. I didn't look at their permanent collection, but I did stop in on their traveling collections, since they were more fleeting. One was called "Des animaux, des dieux, et des hommes" -- Animals, Gods, and Man. It was an interesting mix of things that rarely had a lot of anything to do with one another, but there was one exhibit that was mostly stone work from ruined churches or cathedrals, or things that had been replaced -- broken tombs, headless saints, broken stained glass -- that I found to be particularly beautiful. To the left was my favorite piece, the stone frame of a rose window. I couldn't see any posted information about it, so I don't know where it came from.

I came home and napped for a while, and then Maria and I went over to St. André (it was open this time) and looked around. They were preparing for an organ/trumpet/vocal concert, so we stayed and watched it. The place was packed full of people, and the music was pretty. Honestly, I enjoyed looking at the cathedral more than anything. That seems to be a recurring theme.