Tours

Woke up this morning in Tours. (That's a city in France.) I went to the cathedral, and it's like I've been here before. They've definitely got a Gothic cathedral. Huge, impressive, and some very nice stained glass. Most of these windows tell a story, and there are nice explanations with diagrams about every windows. For instance, there is St. Martin's window, (Martin of Tours, of course) and there in pictures is the story of his life; his meeting the beggar and giving him half his cloak, his becoming a catecumen and being baptized, his temptations with the devil, etc. They are quite amazing.
Of course, being in Tours, I had to visit St Martin's basilica itself. It's definitely not a gothic church, but a small 19th century edifice - the gothic basilica having gone to ruin (though it must have been huge) and destroyed. But they found St Martin's tomb (approachable in the crypt) and located the altar directly above his tomb once again.
Again an amazing town, with remains of the old city walls and other historic sites, and not enough time to explore. I was even going to go to the fine arts museum (on recommendation) but it wasn't open on this holiday, as weren't most of the stores. The museum did have one of the biggest trees I've ever seen growing in front - a Cedar of Lebanon, planted in 1804! Not really tall,  a mere100 feet,  but so wide, more than110 feet in diameter, the lower limbs need to be propped up. The trunk more than 25 feet in circumference.  Amazing! The things one finds when not looking.