Bourges is number two on my "must see" list, right after Amiens, but France rail travel doesn't make it easy to get there, even though the town is smack in the center of France, has a university and claims to be a tourist spot.
Paris has six main railway stations, each serving a different geographical part of a country about the size of Texas. A couple of the stations overlap service areas -- but the droit hand doesn't know what the gauche is doing -- or at least that was true today. I ended up in the Montparnasse area, which I have never explored before, then walked for five and a half hours around a couple of neighborhoods that were new to me plus one familiar one.
I finally reached the elusive St. Germain des Pres church, for which I've been searching for days - don't ask me how I've missed it -- it's huge. According to my friend Wiki, the original abbey was founded in the 6th century. It's of the Romanesque style, rounded arches, lower vault and smaller windows than the Gothic churches display, but does provide a very medieval atmosphere.
The Montparnasse Tower towers over the train station and everything else in the area. It's said to offer the best view of the city because "from the tower you see the Eiffel Tower, but you can't see the Montparnasse Tower." I was too early for the visitors' tour, and the foggy/gloomy day didn't offer the possibility of any good pictures, so I didn't wait around.
...and then a miracle occurred. The angels wept. I wept. Cheers rang throughout the land. I actually figured out how to get from here to there using a map and I DID NOT GET LOST. THE MAP WORKED. I will admit I inadvertently took the longest way possible to reach Luxembourg Gardens, but dammit, I got there.
I'm posting a couple of pictures I took there today -- the first two that have little color and bad light are not all my fault; it's a very cold, miserable April day. I'm also posting a few pictures my son Mike and I took three years ago of the Gardens, in sunnier September. The last photo is one of the 20 queens and/or saints of France that surround a central area. According to Wiki, they were commissioned by Louis-Phillipe in 1848 -- I find them charming. All of their clothing is portrayed differently, and their attitudes and poses are dissimilar, but I can't help but think many look like George Washington. Maybe not.
