I'm not lost, just wandering: The day of the bees

The day's sightseeing started out well enough. I visited l'église Saint-Sauveur, which was very nice and had a little informative brochure. My next stop was Saint-Sauveur du Marché and I was disappointed to find I couldn't go inside (or, I wasn't able to find the way in). Whatever the problem, be it inaccessibility on the part of the building or incompetence on my end, I didn't go in. I then walked in circles because I made the mistake of following street signs to Saint-Etienne-le-Vieux, rather than following my map. Finally having found Saint-Etienne, I was delighted with the look of the old church and stopped to take some pictures. At which point I was assaulted by a bunch of bees.

Okay, maybe just two or three, but that is not the point. The point is that they flew into me. The point is that they got themselves caught in my hood and my hair. The point is that once they started stinging me the whole ridiculous scene didn't end until my sweatshirt, hair tie and hairpins, and everything on my person - bees included - were on the ground next to me. I stomped on the bees, and my pride, for good measure, picked up my things, and relocated to what I hoped would be a demilitarized zone. After I put myself back together, I tried to go about finishing my sightseeing for the day. The afternoon ended with some crazy man walking in front of my picture intentionally, while blowing bubbles and yelling about how the church had been built by slaves. Between this and the bee stings, I had had enough. I feigned iPod-induced deafness and walked away.

Saint-Sauveur (formerly Notre-Dame-de-Froide-Rue)

The west nave

Bells belonging to one of the other churches - I thought they were pretty with the light from the stained glass.

Apse of the west nave

A pretty grate...

... throwing pretty shadows.

One of the interesting things about Saint-Sauveur is that it has two naves. I didn't get many pictures of the older east nave because the light wasn't as good on that side of the church. This one is blurry, but it's centered so you can see the two apses: the one on the left belongs to the east nave; the one on the right, with gothic windows, belongs to the west nave. Even though the east nave is older, its apse had to be rebuilt, so it has a younger, Renaissance style.

The gothic apse

The renaissance apse

St. Anne and the Virgin

The gothic windows

Frieze on the renaissance apse

Along rue Froide, there is a spiral staircase built into the side of the church (which doesn't lead anywhere now)

The old main entrance, on rue Froide

Saint-Sauveur-du-Marché (Starting to get confused about the names? I was, too.)

So, here's what I've figured out about the names... this church used to be named Saint-Sauveur. It was deconsecrated and Notre-Dame-de-Froide-Rue - the first church - was renamed, becoming the current Saint-Sauveur. Different signs called them different names and all of the street names are associated with the original names... not confusing at all. I half expected to find one church with all four of the different names.

Palais de Justice

A pretty spot found, while walking in a big circle

Taken just before I was attacked. If you've ever been outdoors with me, you may know that I normallyhave a very 'live and let live' relationship with bees. Different from my policy on other bugs, bees get special treatment, in part because I find some of them to be cute and in part because I don't doubt their capability to hurt me before I hurt them.