Saint-André Cathédrale/Have a free history lesson.

Thinking the church that I went to yesterday wasn't old enough (1860) to be classed as an absolute Bordelaise ancient experience, I sought out the biggest church I could find in Bordeaux. Saint-André Cathédrale. I walk past it pretty much every day and it's absolutely massive (124m long and 23m high to be exact). It rained on and off all day today so I thought it would be a good time to explore indoors.
It was built in the 11th century as a Romanesque style church, but today only the inside walls of the nave remain from the original (if you don't know what a nave is, Wikipedia has a fantastic diagram. I had to use it lol). It was rebuilt during the 12-16th centuries in a more Gothic style. It was dedicated by pope Urban the II in 1096. Apart from all of history that's ever gone down in this church, the most noteworthy was the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Louis VII, who later became king of France, in 1137 (Eleanor is a pretty interesting character to read up on, plus who knew you could be schooled in hawking?).
The Pey-Berland bell-tower was built separately from the main church between 1440-1446. It's topped with a golden statue of Our Lady of Aquitaine (Eleanor of Aquitaine), which was put there in 1862. Originally, the statue wasn't actually there, and the tower was much higher than what is it (approx. 50m high). But a storm in the 18th century caused some of it to crumble and it was never rebuilt, so they just put a statue on it (classic French). Apparently there's a spiral staircase inside which you can climb. I didn't do that today, but I think soon!

Saint-André from the street

Half of the northern face - too long to fit in one photo

(didn't think of taking a panoramic)

Northern Portal

Northern Portal doors

Not sure what or who this was. I couldn't find 

anything on the net about it either

Windows

The Nave

Massive paintings on the walls

The nave - facing towards the back of the cathedral

and the organs (they're quite famous - the Organ 

International Festival of Bordeaux happens here

every summer!)

A statue

Stone carving in the wall

Taking photos of myself - facing towards the front

of the cathedral

The roof

Wall paintings

Wall stage!

Front - the choir

The choir

Window above the choir

One of the coolest lecterns ever

Southern side

Southern portal

Southern side towards the front

Pey-Berland bell-tower/

Tower Pey-Berland

When I got home, I was chatting with Léa over dinner and asked her if there were an Anglican churches nearby. She sadly replied no, all of the churches in Bordeaux are Catholic, except for one Protestant one and a Mosque. I think the service I attended yesterday had strong ties to the Church of England, she was very surprised to hear that.
I'm getting better at cooking for myself now. It's only taken a month... I was always cooking quiet healthily, but I'm experimenting more with what I make and the meats I chose to use. This morning I poached eggs for breakfast, fruit and yoghurt for lunch and, for dinner, I sliced a beef steak up into chunks and cooked potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and snowpeas in a sauce kind of like beef and black bean. It was yum!

Poached eggs

Dinner