Senlis Cathedral

Here we are in beautiful and hot Chantilly, north of Paris, while unfortunately war and mayhem continues around the world. An air crash in India has killed 240 people, with one man miraculously surviving. And Israel has just attacked Iran, killing several of its leaders. It all seems very far away from here. This morning, James and I took a taxi to the neighbouring small town of Senlis. This beautiful medieval town, with remnants of its original walls still standing, has at its centre a magnificent cathedral. It was market day and the narrow streets were lined with stalls loaded with fresh vegetables, fish, honey and jams, crafts and clothes. We visited the ruins of the castle, which was abandoned in the 17th century when the Royals transferred their allegiance to Versailles. After coffee at a wee French café called Le Voltigeur, we headed into the cathedral, the smallest of the Picardie cathedrals but still very impressive. (The largest cathedral in the area is Amiens, which we have visited before.) There was a beautiful stained glass window about the life of Louis IX, starting at the bottom with him as a baby, then working upwards through his Crusader years to his death, and finally right at the top his ascension into heaven. There was a statue of Joan of Arc, who fought the English near here, and a memorial to a local priest who worked in the French Resistance during the 2nd World War; he died in a concentration camp in January 1945. It was an interesting visit and the interior of the cathedral was delightfully cool, which was great because it was a very hot day at 35 deg C, the hottest yet of our holiday.  
We visited a little crêperie under the shade of lime trees, and we both had lemon and sugar crêpes which were absolutely delicious. 
Back in Chantilly we had dinner at Le Sylvia brasserie before heading back to our excellent Best Western Hotel. The sky was a dark metallic colour and the air felt very close and thick, the heat was still coming up off the pavements. 
We heard rumbling sounds coming from outside and when we opened the windows onto our balcony there was a loud crash of thunder, followed by lightning which lit up the whole sky! It was very exciting and heralded large drops of rain that became heavier and heavier. The thunder and lightning continued into the night.