The Porcelain of Limoges and Some Old Buildings

We made it to Limoges around 9pm on Wednesday, October 28, and we picked up sandwiches from a sketchy Kebab shop on our way to the hotel. They ended up being good, but I wasn't sure about it at first.

Thursday, October 29
Today Thea and I started off by going to the tourism office to find out all there is to do in Limoges (we didn't really do our research before coming haha). The woman at the tourism was really nice and gave us all sorts of information on things to do. She gave us information on a path to follow that goes around the Vienne River and points out interesting facts and historical information on Limoges. We started walking that, but deviated from the trail a little bit to see some other things...

First we walked by this shrine to the Madonna.

Cathédrale Saint-Etienne. Probably the ugliest front of a cathedral that I have seen in France. Thea and I couldn't figure out why it would be so plain and boring. 

On the contrary, the inside of Cathédrale Saint-Etienne is beautiful and has the typical gothic style.

This is what would be considered the front of the building which is because, so I didn't know why the outside is so ugly. 

Until we noticed that it is a tower built in front of the cathedral! Who does that? Crazy French :)

Walking around Limoges, you find a lot of these beautiful, old buildings

Walking around the garden of Cité des métiers et des arts.

Jardin de l'Evêché

The medallion of Limoges that we were supposed to follow along the trail, but it wasn't always easy to find.

Rue du Rajat was part of the trail going to the Vienne River. This is where kids used to play.

The Vienne River and Pont Neuf in the background

Porcelain shop at Le Musée Four à Porcelaine des Casseaux. We were able to see the old four (oven) where they would make porcelain! It was really cool, but we couldn't take any pictures of it.

Walking along the trail by the Vienne River. It was a beautiful day out! We have been so lucky to have such nice weather during this vacation.

The porcelain fountain infront of the Hôtel de Ville. It's beautiful, but I was expecting it to be a little bigger, especially with the emphasis the woman at the tourism office put on it.

Walking around les Halles (the marketplace). We had lunch at a restaurant across from it.

The pink building is the house that the artist Pierre Auguste Renoir was born in.

Walking around Limoges. They already had their Christmas lights up! 

Musée National de la Procelaine Adrien Dubouché (we got in for free, which made it even better!). 

We learned so much about the making of porcelain during this trip I think I could do it! But it's tedious work, so I would get tired of it. 

They had models of the ovens that would make the porcelain. This is kind of like the one Thea and I saw at the other museum.

First they would hand paint the porcelain, but then they found other techniques like using metal plates that would have the pattern on them.

One of my favorite pieces in the museum. They had many examples from all time periods and many different locations in France and around the world, but I like the simple purple flower :)

A pretty lamp made of porcelain.

After the museum we walked around and found this: Pavillion du Verduier, which is a beautiful building, but it is a little hard to see at night.

This is the ceiling of Pavillion du Verduier. Inside they had many different works of art by different artists that I think they were selling.

Thea and I got dinner at Bistro Jourdan, and then split this amazing café gourmand! It had chocolate cake, crème brulée, a couple different mousses. Best dessert I've had so far! We were so stuffed after that, so we just went back to the hotel and relaxed.

Friday, October 30

Today is our last day in Limoges and we kind of ran out of things to see. We just walked around and tried to find things to do, but we were also kind of tired of exploring. I was ready to go back to La Rochelle and be home, which I did later today. Here are a few things we found that we hadn't seen before:

We walked through the park, Champ du Juillet, which is right next to the trains station.

Thea and I thought it was hilarious that the train station is the number 1 thing to see in Limoges according to Trip Advisor. We were joking that people could just pass through Limoges on the train and just see the station and then leave. Really there are other nice things in Limoges, just not a lot.

Place Fontaine des Barres. This square dates back to the middle ages! The pyramid in the middle was built in 1615. Walking on history!

The carrousel in Limoges. Every town has one :)

Thea left before I did to go to Paris for Halloween and I left around 8pm to return to La Rochelle. Thankfully the trip back wasn't eventful. That's it for my fall break. 

Now I'm back to work and the kids tire me out, but they are always excited to see me, which makes me happy. :)