On my way up I saw this church but I think people live in it. They had door bells and no one would let me in. It’s Sunday. All churches should be open!
I saw this sign as I headed up. I love signs like this. No translation necessary. You can easily figure out what they are trying to say.
Anyway, I kept heading up to see the Notre-Dame des Dunes. The statute is one of the things you can see from anywhere in Poitiers so I dug up some history. Thank goodness for Google Translate!
The statue is 6.30m high and was built in 1875 by Cardinal Pie, the Bishop of Poitiers.
At this time France was divided between the Catholic / republican ideas and the secular left anticlerical. To some the Virgin Mary’s outstretched hand shows her blessing Poitiers, to others she seems to have her hand above City Hall showing she is over the council!
There was a big fight about this in the early 1900’s but all the fighting has died down and most people just see her as a symbol of protection.
Then I turned around and madly started snapping shots of Poitiers! You can see everything (almost) from here. So this is the city I live in. The river that goes around Poitiers makes it look like an island. Or maybe it looks like a midlevel town missing it’s draw bridge!
It’s such a pretty day that I wanted to keep walking so I went to one of the lowest parts of town, the dog park. I saw a lot of pretty sights here and you’ve got to love the sign.
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