27/01/2018 Photos of Auxerre across the Yonne river taken on depature 30/12/2107 / Today's bird count.

Maximum temperature 9C, minimum 0C. 3 mm of rain measured this morning.  Total this month now 197 mm!! North Easterly winds; 8 km/h with up to 22 km/h gusts.

Église Saint-Pierre d'Auxerre in Auxerre. The church was completed in 1658 and is apparently in quite bad condition at present. They plan to start restoration this year which is good news!

As above, zooming in a little closer.

Closer to the centre of the town is the cathedral Saint Etienne, which was built between 1215 and 1233.  More photos inside the cathedral are in an earlier post HERE

As above a little closer....

and closer still. Odd selection of pinnacles to the tower!

The Abbey of Saint Germain which was founded by Queen Clotilde in the 5th century. 

As above... so 3 very large large religious structures in quite a small and otherwise undistinguished provincial town!

and a little closer

The bell tower in the front of the abbey. 

I mentioned in a previous post that Auxerre is built on the west bank of the Yonne river, which is a tributary of the Seine and is 292 km (181 miles) long.

Today we did the French bird count.  Two hours of watching what was going on in the garden here at home.  This was the result.  Some breeds I could not sex!

English	Latin	French	Total	♂	♀
Common Blackbird	Turdus merula	Merle noir	1		1
Common Chaffinch	Fringilla coelebs	Pinson des arbres	1	1
Common Wood Pigeon	Columba palumbus	Pigeon ramier	1
Dunnock	Prunella modularis	Accenteur mouchet	1
Eurasian Blue Tit	Cyanistes caeruleus	Mésange bleue	6
Eurasian Collared Dove	Streptopelia decaocto	Tourterelle turque	2
European Goldfinch	Carduelis carduelis	Chardonneret élégant	1
European Robin	Erithacus rubecula	Rougegorge familier	1
Great Tit	Parus major	Mésange charbonnière	3	2	1
House Sparrow	Passer domesticus	Moineau domestique	11	5	6

For those interested I have started a series of photos taken on Nevis in the Caribbean here.  Both Part 1 and Part 2.  More to follow

20/01/2018 Taking a look at Saint-Etienne Cathedral in Auxerre on the drive back from the UK at the end of December 2017

Maximum temperature 12C, minimum 4C.  As I type this, it is very windy and pouring with rain outside; this weather is forecast to continue for another week!   Westerly winds; 30 km/h with up to 71 km/h gusts.  Very unpleasant to say the least of it!

Auxerre is built on the west bank of the Yonne river, which is a tributary of the Seine and is 292 km (181 miles) long.

Taking a look at some of the boats; this one is a floating restaurant. You can see the bridge across the Yonne in the background.

Standing by the river, looking up at the town with  a view of Saint-Etienne Cathedral behind on the left.

We walked up the hill to the cathedral, but because there are so many buildings around it, this was the best closer view I could get.  The cathedral is Roman Catholic and built between the years 1213 and 1233 in Gothic style  over an 11th century crypt.

The grand entrance into the building.....

and a closer look at the amazingly detailed carvings over the doorway!

Looking upwards from the doorway, showing a gargoyle, which probably 

acts as a rainwater spout.

The spectacular nave.

and looking up at the beautiful vaulted ceiling.

Looking up at the stained glass windows

More stained glass, in beautiful colours.

as above.

The following morning, before we left to drive home, we took photos of the town from the other side of the Yonne river; these are really the best photos of all - so more of Auxerre to come.

While the weather remains as it is I will not be going anywhere to take photos and the camera remains in its travel bag as it has done all of January so far!

17/01/2018 More photos from our return drive from the UK 29 December.

Today's maximum  9C, minimum  5C.  14 mm rain measured.  Total rain this month so far 116 mm; it just keeps raining!!  Wind speed 20 km/h with 43 km/h gusts NW wind.

With the continuing wet weather and still not feeling 100%, I am sorry not to have picked up my camera this year, other than for one single sunset.  I will be taking time out at this rate, until spring decides to arrive.  These are all past photos as stated above.

After our walk around Arras (see previous post), we headed for our next destination of Auxerre.  When we planned this return trip home, we had not taken into account that we would both not be feeling well, and that the weather would be so wet!  We had expected cold, but not damp as well.

Our route from Arras to Auxerre.  I have written about Reims and Troyes in past posts

I was surprised how many wind turbines there were to be seen in this area; as most of you know, they are my pet hate!

We went through some pretty horrible weather!

I saw this church in the distance while driving by Villeneuve-au-Chemin.  I was interested, when I looked it up, to discover that placed on the top of the spire is a 7 metre high statue of the Virgin, which you can just see in this photo.  The church is named Saint Joseph Chapel of the Angels and was built in 1864-1891 by Father Carbot; he was Abbot of the town at the time.  It used to be a stop over for pilgrims.

We arrived too early to book into our hotel, so took a short walk around Auxerre.  Some of the beautiful old houses of the town...

As above. There were few people around, due to the weather!

As above.

We were the surprised to find this small square of old houses, complete with a British red telephone box ....

All was explained in this sign!  Auxerre is twinned with Redditch, a town in Worcestershire in the UK.  Presumably the phone box was a gift.

More old houses close to the abbey.

The Abbey of Saint Germain which was founded by Queen Clotilde in the 5th century.  It was closed while we were there, but they do have guided tours.

The bell tower in the front of the abbey.  In 1811, the Romanesque bays that connected the bell tower to the choir were destroyed, so the spire is now isolated.

The old military hospital.

A few more photos were taken the next morning as we were leaving which will follow in another post.