Oct 17, Part 3 - Paris: Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cite

Yesterday afternoon the sun came out brilliantly for the first time on this trip, and this morning was the first time in a long time I'd seen a Paris morning in bright sunlight. It was gorgeous. As we walked from our hotel to the Seine (last post), I was enjoying the fall colors and bright light.

These photos are my few pictures of Notre Dame with alluringly blue skies.

We're crossing the Pont au Double from the left bank onto the island, and this is the gorgeous view you get of the south transept, the rose window, and the flying buttresses from that angle. The spire has some of the most interesting sculptures on it - mainly interesting to me just because of the blue-green color contrasted with the spire itself. Well, yes, and it's interesting to see these figures on the roof of the church.

It was such a nice day that the artists were out on the Pont au Double. I'm not usually interested in the caricaturists, like this one, but I do enjoy seeing really fine drawing. I have tended to think that even though this is Paris, most of the street art was by artists who were not so good, but this trip we saw many who were excellent. This guy was probably quite good for a caricaturist, but that's not my cup of tea. We saw some good portraitists at Montmartre.

This is where the Pont au Double intersects with the Parvis Notre Dame (the square in front of the cathedral). I like the arcs of cobblestone a lot. I also felt a kinship with the person trailing their luggage. Whenever possible, I like to make Notre Dame the first and last stop of my trip. Fortunately, we still had some days left to enjoy the city. It was still a novelty to see blue sky over the buildings of the Prefecture de Police in the background.

Passing in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, we came to a corner at Rue d'Arcole and Rue du Cloitre Notre Dame. I've always enjoyed the tile paintings that are part of this building. I like them better than the dime-a-dozen assembly-link prints being sold to tourists at the shop. It was hard to get pictures of the tilework today, though, because of the scaffolding. This image is on the Rue d'Arcole.

This one is around the corner on Rue du Cloitre Notre Dame. It's really, really too bad about the stupid graffiti.

In the warren of ancient streets to the north of Notre Dame, this is the Rue Colombe (named after doves) going to the left, and the Rue Chansoinesse ahead. We were making our way over to the Right Bank via some of these streets that are so easy to miss.

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Oct 17, Part 9 - Paris: Quai Montebello - art along the Seine

From Quai St-Michel, we continued to stroll along the Seine. You stay on the same riverbank, only the name changes. I love this view of Notre Dame!

We found a vendor with animal stamps. We both love animals and Lee is a stamp collector, so we enjoyed looking, but didn't buy. I found a vendor who had a Paris touristy pocket knife with lots of blades and tools on it. I knew Sue would like it for opening things at work. For the longest time, she was using an "art" knife I have for pulling big staples and I didn't realize it! Now she'll have a handy tool for almost any purpose - with an Eiffel Tower on it, too :)

We liked these prints, espeically the one in the center with the dancers on the beach, because this artist's work from the same series was hanging in our hotel room on the last trip, when we stayed at the Hotel Les Argonautes.

Moving along, here's another view of the quai as we approach the Pont au Double. That's Lee in the white sweatshirt.

OK, so this is the kind of hack print I don't like, but the scene is . . . scenic.

Notre Dame is beautiful from any angle. The clouds are adding some drama today.

I thought this artist was pretty good. He's working in semi-caricature; I'd rather see a real portrait, but he seems to be one of the more talented. I wondered if he was a student, but we didn't disturb him. I like how he was emphasizing the kid's spiky hair.

Another shot of the magnificent cathedral and the clouds.

There is more. I really cannot get enough photos of this building. I think I keep hoping I'll get the perfect shot. I've taken so many where the light areas are burned out. There's so much contrast with the interesting shapes.

Flying buttresses - Notre Dame was the guinea pig for so much in Gothic architecture.

More Notre Dame.

Finally I tried setting my camera on wide angle, which I used also in the next post. I don't use it much and usually forget that I have that option. I like the result!

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Oct 16, Part 2 - The ancient schools and Notre Dame Cathedral

After breakfast we left Place Maubert and walked down Rue Legrange toward Notre Dame. Our goal was the Louvre - and remind me not to do this next time - we decided to walk. Yes, it's a wonderful walk, both historic and scenic, and there was a particular square I wanted to investigate again. It's not really all that far, either, but unless you're in whopping good shape and don't have sore feet or blisters by now, I recommend getting to the Louvre fresh and doing the walk afterwards. There is something to be said for walking TO the Louvre, I mean approaching it from this distance on foot, seeing the old city and how the Louvre fits into it, but once you've gotten inside and found out how warm it is, and how all you want to do is lie down somewhere, and then you've reached the Italian painting and seen the Mona Lisa and are ready to really start LOOKING at things such as the Egyptian section and the Roman glass, you find that you don't really feel like doing that any more, and that's a shame. So I say remind me to get to the Louvre fresh next time. I've blown it twice in a row now.

So anyway, we were walking down the Rue Lagrange. This narrow building is the intersection of the Rue Lagrange (the pavement you can see) and the one-block Rue Galande feeding into it on the left of the photo. There's a ton of history in these Medieval streets. You can feel it, but I don't have all the notes with me. My favorite place to get a good, fattening quiche is in the narrow building under that awning. I took slices of quiche back to the hotel for dinner a couple of times.

Here are the facades on Rue Galande. It curves, so we're seeing about half of it.

Rue Lagrange ends in the very short Rue du Fouarre - the street of straw. It consists of the three buildings you see here, and that's all. The books say it's named for the straw bales that Medieval students, including Dante, sat on for their outdoor classes. The building on the right has been some sort of educational facility for a long time. It has portraits painted on the outside between the second and third floors, and on the building between the portraits are painted the words, "Arts, Morale, Sciences." I love the blue facade. It's perfect in this composition. The tree to the right of the buildings is in the small park outside of St. Julien le Pauvre, and leading left out of the Rue du Fouarre is the Rue Dante.

A short block further on, we crossed the Pont au Double. You can see the Pont de l'Archeveche beyond. Immediately to our left is:

Notre Dame, the one and only. We're seeing it again on another cloudy morning. Not quite drizzly, I think, but very gray.

Dark. Too much light from the overcast sky in the lens.

In the square in front of Notre Dame is this sculpture of Charlemagne.

So now we're on the Ile de la Cite, still ambling our way toward the Louvre, taking the scenic route. Well, one of the many, many possible scenic routes!

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Oct 15, Part 2 - Approaching Notre Dame

What do you do in Paris on a dull and drizzly day? Or maybe the question should be, when do you visit the great cathedrals of Paris? Well, it was a dull and drizzly day and we thought we'd start by visiting Notre Dame and then it might be a good day to see the cathedral of St. Denis. I hadn't thought about this until later, but museums might be a better choice, since many cathedrals rely on their incredible stained glass windows to bring the interiors to life - or at least photographers rely on them. In any event, we decided to see cathedrals today. It was only a short couple of blocks from Place Maubert to Notre Dame. I don't know if approaching Notre Dame will ever not be a thrill.

It actually looks and feels more medieval in this kind of weather, don't you think? That's Lee in the don't-notice-me screaming yellow-green jacket and red backpack. But I like the colors, and when I get distracted taking photos, I don't lose him :) Today especially, the colors make a nice contrast.

Here's the Seine from the Pont au Double as we crossed to Notre Dame from the Left Bank. The next bridge you see is Pont de l'Archeveche. The bridges all have such history, but I won't go into that now. If I thought we walked a lot and saw a lot yesterday, we were about to do the same today.

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Oct 15, Part 3 - Notre Dame: In the south aisles of the nave

Although the stained glass would have been brighter on a brighter day, I have to say the colors are really lovely in this window.

And this is one of my favorite pictures of the trip so far. There's just something about it that I like.

Here's another very Gothic window in one of the chapels.

Like the image above with the chandelier, I think this one is another of my favorites - the shape and detail of the chandelier against the beautiful clerestory wall with the blue windows is breathtaking.

This is another of the aisles on the south side of the nave. I don't remember why I didn't take a photo of the main nave of the church, but it may have been blocked off. It seemed that there was more happening in the church this visit, and that I felt less free to wander and appreciate than on any of the visits in the past. Still, Notre Dame is special.

It has a feel like nowhere else on Earth, even for those who are not religious. It has an atmosphere that most people respond to. Someone wrote that to enter Notre Dame is to come home, even when you have never been there before. When I read that, I knew that was true for me as well. Notre Dame may be the heart of Paris, but for many, it's also the heart of the world in a way that's hard to explain. I gave it some thought. What happens when you enter? There is an immediate sense of peace - not just quiet, but of stability and security. There's a warmth represented by candles and sconces. Even though Notre Dame is Gothic and therefore pointed, it has a sense of roundness that denotes comfort. It has a gentle and inviting feng shui, not sharp and pointed. Call it what you will, Notre Dame seeps inside your skin and stays there. Here's a link that will tell you some of the exciting and historic things you will not see in Notre Dame.

This seems to be the rose window in the north arm of the transept, even though I was walking on the south side of the cathedral. In looking online for a comparison, it seems that the first panel in the bottom row of smaller windows has a red shield near the bottom on the south side. This one does not.

Candles. Not in focus, but the cathedral would not feel complete without them. I love the warmth they give on a cold day. And, they glow beautifully. Maybe next time I'll contribute one as well.

I'm not sure what this panel is called, but there are pieces of it on the north and south sides as you enter the ambulatory at the east end of the cathedral. I love the colors and I love looking at it. I read a book about the cathedral and the many historic works of art inside, but I've forgotten everything. Maybe when things slow down here at work, I'll find it and add some content to the post. The richness of color afforded by the gold in this wood sculpture is stunning. I can barely imagine the effect it must have had on the original viewers. It still inspires awe for aestheic reasons. I can't begin to describe what it might mean to the religiously pious.

The sacristy. This picture looks better if you click to enlarge it. You can see the arches leading away from the door.

There is certainly a sense of the magical and mysterious in this cathedral - and I don't feel it in every cathedral, and I almost never feel it in smaller churches, except for some of the ancient ones in Europe. It has something to do with age and place. There is something in the ancient stones, a peace, a mystery, a place where imagination can almost meet fulfilment. Where longing can almost touch completion. I believe that part of the appeal and addiction of hunting treasures in the D&D-type dungeons comes from a desire to be part of a similar atmosphere - at least for me I believe this is true. That's odd. I'd never thought of this before. It's a little like that feeling in a dream where you are about to connect with something deep. And then you wake up.

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Oct 15, Part 4 - Notre Dame: In the ambulatory

The ambulatory is the the area where you can walk around the east (apse) end of a Christian church. The altar is in the apse, and the ambulatory makes a path around it. Many small churches don't have ambulatories, but most or many cathedrals and really large churches do. In Notre Dame there are a lot of things to see here. There are chapels around the outside as well as a model of the cathedral. I don't have much to say about this group of photos. I hope they speak for themselves. Notre Dame was beautiful, peaceful, maybe a little more crowded than I would have liked, but hey - we were here off-season, I can't even imagine what it's like when it's peak time for tourists. It was cold and drizzly outside, and warm and inviting inside. One of the things I tried to capture in these photos is the decoration on the pillars and walls. It all means something. I couldn't begin to say what, and you may have to look closely at the dark columns, to find some of the emblems and designs.

I like this picture a lot, but I'm not sure who he is. I love the way the blue jewel catches the light. I've looked in the Blue Gide and the Michelin Green guide, and all I could find is that he could be one of the 18th-19th Century prelates buried there. Clearly, I have one more reason to go back to Paris :) I'm sure it's written on the tomb somewhere. Also, Geoffrey Plantagenet is buried near here. If you saw The Lion in Winter, you'll remember the Plantagenet boys, sons of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

This, of course, is a model of Notre Dame.

And this is a model of Notre Dame under construction. It was started in 1163, and was completed about 1365. That's reasonably fast; some cathetrals took several hundred years longer than that. Notre Dame was one of the earliest examples of a church with thin walls and glass windows that reached for the heavens. Along with the pointed arches and details of the trim, this would become known as the Gothic style. Scroll down on this page to 1163 for some chronology. Later today we would see the Abbey of Saint-Denis - the earliest experiment in Gothic design.

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