Friday, September 16

Another full day of sightseeing today.  We were up at the crack of dawn - although in fact I was awakened by the garbage truck that seems to come down our narrow street every morning around 6:30 with enough sirens and noise to wake the dead.

We then set straight off to see the Louvre, the mecca of Paris museums.  Luckily we arrived early enough to avoid the crowds and went straight to see the most famous items.  Below are pictures of Kathy with her new friends, Mona (Lisa), Venus (de Milo) and the Sphinx.  Also below, one of my favourites, the Winged Victory of Samothrace (from Greece, 3rd to 2nd century B.C.).

Winged Victory



After 3 hours at the Louvre, we had also explored the medieval moats of the Louvre, and also the Egyptian antiquities - although we couldn't seem to find any mummies - and much to my surprise, it seems the Kathy has a macabre side and very much wanted to see something dead!!!  The apartment of Napoleon III was also very beautiful - particularly his drawing room (or whatever he called it - a salon, probably) which featured a spectacular chandelier.

After a quick lunch, on to Sainte Chapelle - which is the private chapel of Louis IX in the 1200s to house certain relics that he bought - purportedly including the Crown of Thorns of Christ and parts of his Cross. Despite the long line up, it was really worth it.  I did not really remember how beautiful the stained glass windows are - and the sun was out so they were magificent.  It is hard to describe the beauty of the chapel.

There was no sign of the relics,
so maybe Louis figured out that
he got taken by the seller of them

 - no doubt, he would have been
chagrined since he paid nearly
three times for these relics than
the cost of building this chapel!!

Whatever happened, it is a thing of beauty for Paris and tourists like me and Kathy!

Our next visit was to Notre Dame Cathedral, which as everyone knows is quite large and impressive.   Although I have to say that the Amiens Cathedral is more beautiful than Notre Dame - it was also built just after Notre Dame and is slightly larger.  In any event, you can't doubt the significance of this church to Paris.

We also visited an interesting excavation under the plaza in front of Notre Dame which exposed some of the original Roman ruins on Ile de la Cite.

Finally, we did a tour of the Notre Dame Cathedral itself, which after touring the Louvre for 3 hours and waiting in line for Sainte Chapelle was quite an experience.  We had to walk up some 400 stairs to the top gallery - called the Chimera Gallery due to the lovely gargoyle figures up there.  They were delightful - and one has to wonder what person had the twisted and wicked imagination to congure up these creatures!!

The Chimera Gallery was only a way point - we then climbed more stairs up to the belfry or bell tower where the last great bell of Notre Dame is located - its name is Emmanuel.  Turns out that the after the revolution, they melted down the other 3 original (and good) bells - so in fact, the Parisiens don't think much of the tone of these bells any more.  A restoration project is underway.  In any event, there was no sign of Quasimodo, although you could certainly sense his spirit!

Up one more flight of stairs to the top of the tower for a view of the Paris skylines - and then down.  Given our hard work, we had to stop for a quick refreshment - in a little bistrot on Ile St. Louis - on a great people watching corner.  Kathy is here drinking her drink of choice - now pronounced by her as rhum et Coca-Cola avec limon - or a Cuba Libre as it was called here.