Saintes!

We are in Saintes now! Saintes is this beautiful town near the ocean, and was once the capital of Roman Gaul and of the region of Aquitaine!  There is SO much history here.  Roman stuff everywhere as well as medieval.  We are staying at the youth hostel, which is very nice and very hostel-esque which I find comforting.  All in a room together, but we can do laundry and get breakfast.  The hostel is located right next to the Abbey.  This abbey had been inhabited for 9 centuries before it was turned into a prison during the French Revolution.  This abbey is stunning.  The inside is beautiful in its simplicity.  The church though that is attached to the abbey is the church of my dreams.  We walked around the town, and had dinner at this wonderful little restaurant that had delicious kebabs! It was right outside an old church.  It is interesting just how the French incorporate the already existing architecture into the current.  After dinner we were walking around town with our acquired gelato and we past by a large building with its huge doors open.  We peeped our heads inside and saw a large group of people sculpting! The couple who had been at the restaurant with us were there as well and encouraged us to come in (the man turned out to be a very posh Brit who kept expecting us to know things like speaking French and the current art culture).  He told us that these people get together once or twice a week and have wine and sculpt! Ah! What a life! They were carving all these different statues and sculptures, some looking like gargoyles, and some just from their imagination.  What was just magnificent for me was that their work shop was located inside an old romanesque.  There was a HUGE stained glass window inside, and carvings all over the place.  The sculptures of the Middle Ages would be working inside and around churches to create pieces to adorn the churches.  And today, the church is being used for people to create art, but that art is not necessarily for the church.  The church still serves as the tool though, the sanctuary, for these artists to come and use their talent.  Shouldn't all churches be like that? Even with the dying church, can we not just transform the church into something new, something useful, something that encourages people to use their talents to create something new? Who knows, a new church might just spring up from the remnants.