en bourgogne

i'm taking a class on medieval art and architecture, with one of the greatest professors on earth, in a country replete with examples in situ. last weekend, we took a field trip to bourgogne, a rural region a few hours south of paris, to visit some beautiful romanesque churches (and eat some beautiful food)...

first we stopped at the abbey of fontenay, an 11th-century cistercian monastery. the cistercians rejected all graven images, so there is no sculptural decor on the site. but it's gorgeous in its architecture: the stones change color with the sunlight, and the simplicity of the design is very peaceful. this is inside the church:



you see how there are no sculptures on the capitals of the columns? and how the arches line up perfectly... the entire abbey is constructed along right angles and rectangles to show the order of god's creation.



my class and my professor in the cloisters - yes, it's only four students!

next we visited vezelay, a church which holds the relics of mary magdelene. we stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in the charming little village that night. here is the mist rolling over the hills in the morning:



and a cat in a flower box!



and, of course, the portal to the church, showing christ in majesty.



(i took lots of pictures inside but they didn't turn out so well...)

saturday afternoon we headed to autun, which holds the remains of saint lazarus. i think this church was my favorite.



these arches were built later; they are probably from the fifteenth century (the church itself is twelfth-century).



our trip back to paris was far too long and we got stuck in traffic, but i have to say the sunset was worth it... this photograph doesn't capture its beauty.



i have so many more pictures that it was hard to decide what to post here! visiting the provinces makes me love france even more. this country is basically one giant farm, which is easy to forget when you're living in a city as cosmopolitan as paris. we ate amazing food and drank incredible wine as well, all straight from the nearby farms. to finish, i'll leave you with a picture of a soufflé - amazing amazing amazing!!