This is the entrance to the marvellous Hôtel Lallemant in Bourges, which also houses the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. I would have photographed the entire front facade but there were gardeners in view, watering the flower containers with vivid yellow hosepipes.

This is my favourite of all Bourges's monuments, an outstanding example of Renaissance architecture, built over 500 years ago. Imagine the thrill of stepping under the very arch where princes and nobles walked before us - not to mention the workmen who were imported from Italy, along with their materials and their skills, to the centre of France.

Some experts find symbols of alchemy everywhere in the house, such as the ball of flames over one of the porticos; others think this could represent the burning down of an earlier building, commissioned by the same family Lallemant, in the Great Fire of 1487 which destroyed a third of Bourges.

The walls of the inner courtyards have rows of terracotta plaques in the Roman style, mostly damaged now by weather since terracotta cannot resist frost. The windows are very fine and the stonework everywhere is of the highest quality. Some of the details of humans and animals still puzzle historians.

The narrow curving staircases lead to quite small rooms with examples of 16th and 17th Century furniture, paintings and tapestries.

Still higher can be seen glassware and tableware, like this fruit dish supprted by two girls wearing the costume of the Berry region.

I love discovering antique toys. The game with clown's hats is a bit of a mystery but it's easy to imagine a little boy playing at being a postman. The kit includes money, rubber stamps and the postman's képi.

The porcelain doll is very similar to mine although better preserved - probably never played with - and the much larger boy doll has the typical pronounced painted eyebrows of dolls of the Victorian/Edwardian period.

I'm determined to find out more about the alchemy symbols to be found in the Hôtel Lallemant. An hour or two is not enough!

Click on the pics!