I can't believe we waited so long to see Notre Dame. We walked by it a lot, and kept saying, we'll do it later. And now the time had come! It was built around the 1300s. They actually started building before that, but it took two hundred years to fully finish it! One neat thing I read is that the two towers are not exactly identical. One is a little wider. The architects chose to design it that way, to show that only God's work is perfect.
We climbed all 400 of the stairs all the way to the top!
The sky was a little hazy, but we still had great views! And we loved all the gargoyles and chimeras. Another tidbit I learned is that gargoyles are part of the gutters, and chimeras are just decoration. Not sure when I'll ever need to know that again, but it's still interesting!
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| yikes! This one is hungry! |
We climbed through this Anna-sized door, and got to see one of the bell towers.
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| Here's Daniel looking up at the big bell, called " Emmanuel." It's only rung on special holidays. |
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| looking up at the ceiling of the belfry |
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| There are twenty eight of these kings of Judah. During the revolution, an angry mob thought they were kings of France and decapitated the statues! The heads were buried for two hundred years until some diggers found them in 1977. So the heads on the statues are reconstructions, while the actual heads are at the Cluny museum. |
The stained glass was so beautiful! Pictures don't quite do it justice.
It was beautiful and quiet walking through the cathedral, even with all the people. I have to say, though, it's weird to see those souvenir coin machines inside. We've seen those in other cathedrals, and it just doesn't fit, to see this bright touristy machine in an 800 year old church. I guess it's not different from a gift shop, but it just seems weird.
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| If you look closely, it says "Point zero" around the gold star. This star is about 30 yards in front of Notre Dame. This is the point from which all distance in France is measured from. Cool! |
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| crowded on point zero |
We had a lovely picnic on the Ile de la Cite, which is a little island in the middle of the Seine.
Then we headed to the other island, Ile St. Louis for some yummy ice cream from Berthillon. Ice cream was a perfect treat after climbing and walking all over the place!
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| Salted caramel ice cream. THE... BEST....EVER!! |
1 comments:
Hi Wades! They did the lock thing in Cinque Terre on the coast of Italy too...must be a European thing. I'm really enjoying your posts...thanks for sharing. Are you looking forward to coming home soon? We'll be glad to see you at the pool!
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