Second, we had a very productive day seeing the sites of Paris. First stop - Notre Dame Cathedral. Looking at the building from the outside, it is so hard to believe that it could have been started in the 12th century. It is a magnificent piece of gothis architecture. And it feels like everywhere you look you find something new.
Back outside and a different view from Pont L'Archvehe. It's one of those lock bridges...
We walked along the left bank and popped into the Shakespeare and company bookstore - where 90 or so years ago you could have run into Ernest Hemingway or James Joyce. The store is wonderful, everything a book store should be. Slightly organized chaos. A solid collection with many of my favourites and I'm sure many more favourites to be found. You are also entirely surrounded by other bibliophiles, which is generally a pleasant experience.
From there we kept wandering, up to the end of the island and onto Pont Neuf - which as my dad pointed out is in a scene in one of the Bourne movies. As we crossed the bridge, we headed towards our next stop, the Louvre. I'm not a big art person really. Sculpture would be my favourite, and it's the classics of those - when someone can create the likeness of a human body from stone, it amazes me, but much of the art world is wasted on me.
But, we're in Paris, so we did the highlight tour of the Louvre. Unlike what many say, I could not spend a whole day there, let alone many, but I did enjoy our couple of hours - the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Michelangelo's Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave and of course the Mona Lisa.
After a packed day, we headed back to Montmartre for a lovely French dinner - dessert was really the best part though. Or maybe the wine. Oh and I got to change clothes! So that was a wonderful ending to the day.
I always enjoy the gargoyles at any venue with gargoyles, but the Saints ranked high as well here. I don't really understand how you become a saint while stepping on the little guy, but hey.
I do understand that getting your head chopped off is not an impediment to becoming a saint and may in fact be an asset. And even better you may be the patron saint to this humble city (St. Denis). Even better if you can find your head and hold onto it.
Inside, as amazing as the outside...
Dieter and Johanne wanted in on the action.
From there, we headed back onto the Ile de la Cite to Saint Chapelle, another gothic church, surrounded by the Palais du Justice. The line for Saint Chapelle was long and there was a sign saying they stopped letting people in between 1:00 and 2:30. It was 12:40. So we got in line. It wasn't moving quickly, so we were hedging our bets a bit. Started chatting with the people behind us in line who were from Bolivia. She told us that her grandson was at uni in Canada. In Vancouver, well turns out, with more discussion and some questions, he's actually at university in Squamish. At Quest. Small world. Anyways, Saint Chapelle, was built for King Louis IX between 1242 and 1248. When we first got in, it was nice, but I was questioning why so many people had been standing in line. Should have known, we were in the commoners area. Up a little spiral staircase and ta-da! Wow! The stained glass in this place is like nothing I've ever seen and I have been in my fair number of churches for a non- church goer. It is definitely more glass than stone. So beautiful.
From there we kept wandering, up to the end of the island and onto Pont Neuf - which as my dad pointed out is in a scene in one of the Bourne movies. As we crossed the bridge, we headed towards our next stop, the Louvre. I'm not a big art person really. Sculpture would be my favourite, and it's the classics of those - when someone can create the likeness of a human body from stone, it amazes me, but much of the art world is wasted on me.
But, we're in Paris, so we did the highlight tour of the Louvre. Unlike what many say, I could not spend a whole day there, let alone many, but I did enjoy our couple of hours - the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Michelangelo's Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave and of course the Mona Lisa.
You hear often how the Mona Lisa is much smaller than expected. I actually thought it was bigger. Probably because I had heard so many times how small it is. It is a beautiful painting, but I like the sculptures better.
After a packed day, we headed back to Montmartre for a lovely French dinner - dessert was really the best part though. Or maybe the wine. Oh and I got to change clothes! So that was a wonderful ending to the day.
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