150 Churches in Paris and elsewhere

  It is odd that it took me a while to add Rouen cathedral to the blog, given that I walk past it almost every week on my way to work. It is mostly famous for having been painted by Monet (I mean he painted pictures of it) at different times of day with different sunlight effects. I finally went in to take photos shortly before closing time, so all the parts behind the main altar got missed out. Will have to go back to add more pictures. I also included more outside pictures than usual, but then the outside is spectacular. Some of it goes back to the 11th century. Fabulous Baroque side altar, check. Low-key style pulpit, check. Soaring Gothic arches, check. Handy sword, check. Thirteenth century stained glass, check. Also, a pretty confessional. Richard the Lion Heart is buried here (well only his heart actually), as is Rollo (the duke not the chocolate). Information in English Information in French Information in Picard

  Leeds RC Cathedral (St Anne’s cathedral)   Cheerleading for the martyrs   I used to live in Leeds in the 1980s, and I regularly change trains here deliberately ( on the way to visit my Mother) so I can have lunch with one of my best friends. I asked him to take me to a couple of churches and we started with the catholic cathedral (remember, people elsewhere, that most cathedrals in England, and all the ones which are over 500 years old,   are Anglican, not catholic). This cathedral, completed in 1904, has a fine statue which I think is St Anne   teaching Our Lady (her daughter), but I am not sure. There is also a Lampedusa cross, made of bits of wood from a shipwreck in which many refugees died on their way to try to start a new life in Europe. You will find a memorial to the Yorkshire martyrs, a bunch of guys and gals who were killed by Elizabeth the first because they were catholics. (In Bradford there is actually a school named after them, the Yor...