Afternoon of Day 6 of our family holiday in Pas de Calais, France.

Continuing on from my Day 6 post, where we visited the abbey and windmill near Watten in Pas de Calais France on the morning of day 6, we drove south from Watten to visit the town of Saint-Omer.

Situated in the Pas de Calais region of France, Saint-Omer is named after Saint Audomar who first bought Christianity to the area.

The Town hall is situated in a large square and is home to a theatre, picture gallery and record collection. The square is surrounded by cafe�s and bars, it was in one of these we stopped for a very enjoyable lunch. We were persuaded by the girls to follow this lunch with cakes from the local boulangerie, also to be found on the square.

Picture courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons.

The main landmark feature in the town though is not its town hall and square but its cathedral.

The Notre Dame cathedral (cathedral of Our Lady) is a classic example of gothic architecture of the 13th, 14th and early 15th centuries.

Built from local limestone the building shines in the sunlight.

The inside of the cathedral is just as stunning as the exterior.

The nave above, and the beautiful arches forming a gracious aisle down the edge of the cathedral interior.

The high Clerestory windows were all beautiful stained glass.

As were all the windows and they were quite exquisite.

Everywhere we looked care and attention had been put into the construction of the building. A marvel when you think that they had no mechanical machines to help them construct it, just master craftsmen and a lot of hard work. The detail was evident in everything including the myriad of carvings all around the building�.

on door panels and indeed on the whole of the pulpit.

 

The piece de resistance of the cathedral though must be the ornate organ.

 

It stands floor to ceiling, intricately carved with gold and coloured inlays. Truly a work of art I�m sure you will agree.

It had been a really nice day out, exploring the surrounding towns and villages and seeing what they had to offer.

We rounded the day off back at the cottage, with a couple of family games and a DVD, Avatar I think It was. A really great film at the end of a really great day.

 

 

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Header Challenge 22nd September 2010 �All the Worlds a Stage�.

This weeks header challenge has been set by Gailsman this week and is �All the World's a Stage�.

Now being an English Literature student my first thought with that title is verse from William Shakespeare of that name. The verse is in   As You Like It, a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600.

It would have been produced at the Globe theatre in London.

All the World's a Stage

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

William Shakespeare

The stage is open to the elements and could only be used during daylight hours due to there being no electricity lighting.

The audience would be either down below the stage or stood or sat in the tiers of balconies.

So there you have it All the Worlds a stage the William Shakespeare way.

Check out the other members of the headbangers team entries by following the links in the right hand column.

For those of you waiting for part two of Day 6 of our France holiday I will aim to post it tomorrow.

Romanian Portraiture.

Taking portraits in black and white can add drama and definition to the subject.

When I took these photo's in Romania a few years ago, I consciously chose black and white to emphasise the culture and age of the subjects.

The age of this man is celebrated in the wrinkles on his face, enhanced by choosing to shoot in the medium of black and white.

The old women sitting in front of her house knitting.

The men socialising.

The Grandmother caring for her granddaughter.

I believe all these photos are aided by being taken in black and white.

Hopefully each of these pictures tells you its own story.

 The poverty of the people in the area where we stayed was noticeable but they didn't seem to be affected by it. The people of these rural, Eastern European communities smiled, laughed, and generally enjoyed life, without seeming to need the trappings we often take for granted in our western societies.

 Hopefully I have given you at least a peek of the characters behind the photos, through these black and white images.

These photos were all shot using black and white film on my old Canon 600 SLR camera.