Vitré, and a visit

At the beginning of January, I returned to France while Aaron went back to visit his parents and then on to Philadelphia for a conference.  Before Aaron came back, I was able to welcome our first official visitor, Nathan!  It was great to see him and take him around the area.

Nathan, making sure the artillery is up to code.

The first night we just had dinner at home and caught up on the last few months of our lives, which took so long we didn't get to bed till after midnight!  This of course was no problem for me as I was still living on US Eastern Standard time.  It only posed a problem the next morning when I awoke at what I thought was the very reasonable hour of 9am.  Unfortunately, I had actually awoken just a bit after 11am and was confused because, although I've had my digital watch for months now, I still don't really understand what the different buttons do, especially when I've rolled over on them in my sleep.  Nathan also likes to sleep in, so he didn't notice anything odd, but I had promised him a visit to the castle in Vitré, a town not far from here.  The last train left just after 12pm, so once he realized my error, we had to rush to get out the door!  We made it in time and got to see the castle and churches, have a coffee and snack, and see some solid gold and silver art deco church items (of which there are no pictures because that was interdit and every step we took was watched by the guard).

Saint-Martin Church.

Our first stop in Vitré was of course the tourist office to get a map to show us around town (and to put on the wall later!) as well as to ask about the hours of the different attractions.  The office was closed, but luckily a very nice woman at the train station had maps and information for us.  Our next stop was the Eglise Saint-Martin, built in the nineteenth century.  Although it looks a bit old in the picture, once you've visited enough churches from different centuries, you begin to sense how old they are before even reading about it.  We walked around for just a little bit, looking at the rather modern and abstract stained glass, and then we decided we should find the medieval church across town, Notre-Dame.

Notre-Dame de Vitré.

This is a picture of the side of Notre-Dame, which is situated among all the other buildings in town and is thus rather difficult to capture in one picture.  I think it looks a bit deceiving, as though each archway should provide its own special entrance.  Robert I began the construction of this church around the time that he had his château constructed (1050-1060). The care of the church bounced back and forth between canons and monks for about a century until Robert III officially gave it to the monks of Saint-Melaine.  The church stayed the same for a while until the back-and-forth began again in the seventeenth century.  Of course, it was even more pronounced during the revolution when the religion was chased away from the church and the town hall, courthouse, and administrative offices where placed inside.  I'll spare you the details of all the different changes, but I'll show you a few pictures that I think represent what is most intriguing about it.

Monks' choir.

Entryway.

First, when you walk in, you immediately have a small, brightly colored chapel to your right.  You can feel the age of the building, but not much is left to deteriorate in this town; everything seems to be renewed and reused with each generation.  Just ahead of that, still on the right, is the monks' choir, which is like a whole extra nave.  The ceiling is what I find the most beautiful about the church; I've never seen one so decorated before.  There is an altar at the back of this nave, but also one in the center of the church that faces the main sanctuary.

Main sanctuary.

Pierre Simon window.

Ceiling, main sanctuary.

The main sanctuary also has a really fascinating ceiling, as well as a stained-glass window from 1537 created by a renowned Renaissance glass artist Pierre Simon.  When I first saw it, I thought it was rather new because there is so much detail, but I think it's mostly that it's really low with regard to most other windows of its age that we have seen around the country.  I'm not sure the picture does it justice, but I would definitely go back just to see it.

We saved the "best" for last and followed the churches with the castle since that was what had drawn us to the town from the start.  I see the castle every week when I'm on my way into Vitré to teach English to four adorable children, but I had never seen it up close.

Castle in Vitré, complete with rain.

The castle is still in fantastic shape because it has been built and rebuilt for the past 950 years.  Its changed hands as many times as the Eglise Notre-Dame de Vitré and served as many uses.  The castle itself is a museum, mostly displaying local art as well as some artifacts from the town in the past, and within the ramparts is the building containing the administrative offices of the town.  So if you were to be married in Vitré, that's where you would have to go!

The visit to the castle was followed by a coffee at a local bar where we warmed up a bit, and then the visit to the museum of church objects, where we weren't allowed to photograph anything.  You'll just have to take our word for it that it was interesting, especially the medieval paintings on the walls.  After that, we'd had about enough of the cold and wet weather, so we hopped on the train to head back to Cesson.

In the evening, we went to the Crêperie Sainte Anne in Rennes so that Nathan could taste a local galette bretonne before heading back to Cesson for an authentic glass of cidre breton.  We had great conversation and wanderings through the city, and I am looking forward to his return in a week's time so that he and Aaron can get to know each other a bit more.