Dome and bell tower

Here's a view of the back, eastern end, or apse, of the cathédrale St.-Pierre d'Angoulême. We walked around the building, but I took no photos of the western façade. I didn't get far enough away to get a decent shot. The dome covers the octagonal walls over the crossing of the nave and transept below. The bell tower rises over the northern end of the transept.

A prominent feature of Romanesque architecture is the rounded arch. There are plenty of them here.

The weather people are still warning us of the tempête (storm), now named Ciarán, that's headed for the northwestern regions of France. As usual, our area is on the eastern edge of the storm, so the forecasts vary for the amount of wind and rain we should expect between Wednesday and Thursday. For certain, the brunt of the storm will hit the coast of Brittany with extreme winds and dangerous storm surges. Wind and flood warnings are posted for most of the Atlantic and Channel coasts.

La rue d'Arc

As we approached the cathédrale St.-Pierre d'Angoulême, I noticed this little street and decided to take it. It's easier to have the dog on the little streets that have less traffic than the larger ones. It led us right to the back side of the cathedral.

La rue d'Arc, Angoulême

The weather people are talking about a storm on Thursday that will bring very high winds. I am not looking forward to that. We'll spend the next day or so putting away anything outside that could blow away.

Fall

We interrupt the Angoulême travelogue for a little fall color. This is our neighbors' catalpa (one of two, the other is directly behind this one). Every autumn we get a nice burst of yellow and gold from these trees, not to mention other trees and shrubs in their yard. We're moving into the peak for fall color now.

Our neighbors' catalpa, seen from our deck.

It rained most of the day and through the night last night. I don't know how much we got, yet. It's still too dark to read the rain gauge. Last week, the gauge overflowed, so we know we're getting a good amount. The rain comes in bands, so it has a chance to soak in between bands rather than run off. That's a good thing.

The bell tower in black and white

As we got closer to the cathedral, the views changed. We ended up walking around the building, but not going in. With Tasha in tow, we'd have to go inside one at a time, the other keeping the dog occupied. Since Ken didn't have his camera, he wasn't all that interested in seeing inside. And, while I'm sure it's an impressive sight, I've seen a few cathedrals in my time. Still, walking around the building, and through the neighborhood, was good.

Le clocher, cathédrale de Saint-Pierre d'Angoulême.

This morning we woke up to gusty wind and some rain. I'm planning to go to the market this morning for some egg rolls from the Asian vendor, to have with today's lunch of a shrimp and snow pea stir-fry. That is, unless the weather gets worse. I'm also going to make a supermarket run. And tonight is the night we turn our clocks back an hour. The excitement never ends!

A glimpse

I've mentioned a few times that Ken and I were heading toward the cathedral on our walk through central Angloulême. After leaving the Carnot monument, we caught a glimpse of it: the dome over the transept and the bell tower poking up above the neighborhood.

Looking up the Rempart Desaix toward the cathedral.

The Cathédrale Saint-Pierre d'Angoulême, built in the romanesque style, was completed in the twelfth century. The bell tower was completely reconstructed in the nineteenth century. All according to Wikipedia.

Looking north

Well, sort of. It's actually kind of northwest. This is the rue Waldeck Rousseau, seen from just behind the Carnot monument in central Angoulême.

Rue Waldeck Rousseau, Angoulême.

I had no special reasons for taking this photo other than the fact that I was there. As it turns out, I was looking in the general direction of the town where our vacation rental is located. We were making our way toward the cathedral.

Looking south

This is the view from just behind the Carnot monument (yesterday's photo), looking south over Angoulême and its suburbs. The street below is the rue Louis Desbrandes.

The view toward the south from the Rempart Desaix, Angoulême.

As I mentioned before, Angoulême is built on a plateau above the Charente River. Streets climb, some rather steeply and with hairpin switchbacks, up the hill to the old city. I stood at the edge of what remains of the city's defensive wall for this photo.