Reader careful - this post is one day out of order and I can’t figure out how to correct the problem !
So yesterday afternoon I started a long journey to Austria for a quick visit with friends. For the next few days I’m going to be completely off my Via Francigena pilgrim route.
First, a train ride to Dijon where I had four hours to look around. A bigger city than Besançon, Dijon’s downtown was full of people.
I started with the Cathedral, and what a joy it was to hear an organist practicing. These cathedrals can just look like a sad lot of stones. They come alive with colour (stained glass is the best for colour), movement in the form of worshippers or visitors, and music adds spiritual vibrancy.
Then down some lively pedestrian streets to the very central Palais des Ducs de Bourgogne. Built between the 14th and 18th centuries, this was one of the homes of this powerful French aristocratic family and is now the Fine Arts museum. This use is quite appropriate as in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Dukes were real “Renaissance nobility” and great patrons of the arts. Here is an inner court yard.
Just two things that struck me amidst many interesting pieces in this museum. Look at this portrait on wood from Roman Egypt, dated 120 AD. Doesn’t he look so real you could imagine greeting him on the street? The museum’s label said this is amongst the earliest portraits in the Western world.
And then this altarpiece. I must have stood and looked at it for fifteen minutes. Carved from wood and then painted and gilded, it was made in Flanders between 1390 and 1399 for the Chartreuse (Cartusian monastery) of Dijon. Its scenes are three dimensional and very detailed. Its figures are lifelike. The gold is stunning. The paintings on the back of the folding doors are exquisite. In my opinion, it is well worth a trip to Dijon just to see this. Unfortunately, my photos do not do it justice.
On my way back to the train station, this lady saw me admiring the outside of her house and insisted on showing me the interesting medieval inner courtyard. She claimed that one of her ancestors was Robert Browning, so I’m including her photo in the blog in case anyone spots a resemblance.
Eventually I got on a train to Zurich, spent the night there, and then today had a nine and a half hour train ride to Graz in Austria. There were so many snow capped mountains on the way and so many lovely views that I got quite sleepy and had a nice nap. The only picture I’ll include is of a village may pole, this being May 1!
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