Life's Illusions: La Toussaint

All Saints Day in France is part of a two-day national holiday known as La Toussaint. The French celebrate All Saints Day on November 1, the day for remembering Catholic saints, and All Souls Day on November 2, the day for praying for the souls of the deceased.

As many of you know, I have a proclivity for taking pictures of statues, many of which I find in European churches and cemeteries. I have only visited one cemetery on this trip, so far. The cemetery is located in the fortified hill-top village of St. Paul de Vence, France.

I remember thinking before I took the following picture..."Wow. A graveyard with a view." I'm sorry, I'm being irreverant. But look, you can see the Mediterranean Sea from this spot.

I'm not a religious person but for years I have found beauty in old churches and religious icons, especially throughout Europe. Maybe it all started when my Lithuanian great-aunt took me to a Russian Orthodox church in Bethlehem, PA when I was around 10 years of age. I remember the imagery of the church was overwhelming. In fact I still find Russian Orthodox churches to be especially beautiful and there is an excellent example here in Nice. The Cathedrale Orthodox Russe de Nice was built in 1912.

I tried to take some interior pictures of the cathedrale, but the rather large woman patrolling the area caught me. The French and Russian courts have decided that this building and it's land are the property of Russia, so I thought I shouldn't press my luck. I wasn't carrying my passport!

The trio of photos above were taken last year in Cinque Terre. The town is Levanto and the property is the Agriturismo Villanuova. This was an 18th century summer residence for the Genovese family Massola. The family has turned the estate into a B&B where I went to take a cooking class. The estate has it's own chapel, unfortunately only being used for storage. There I found the two religious icons. I really like the skewed halo.

The only other religously themed pictures taken on this trip are the three below. The first is the war memorial in Nice. The other two are churches; one in Villefranche-sur-mer, France decorated by the artist Jean Cocteau and the other is the cathedral in Antibes, France.

Although La Toussaint is a religious holiday, it is also a long weekend holiday for the French. Many sites and services will be either closed or operating on a limited schedule.

Therefore I have a lot of time on my hands and in honor of La Toussaint, I thought I would share with you a collection of the many church photographs that I have taken over the last 2-years.

To make this fun for all, I'm presenting the photos in a random order. All of my travel has been in France, Italy, Greece and Croatia. Try to match the photos to their geographic locations.

Answers are below.

P.S. When viewing the blog, you can enlarge a picture by clicking on the image. Who knew?