Visit to the old cathedrals: Notre Dame et Sainte Chapelle

It's been a few days since we have blogged (yes, in modern English usage any noun may be verbed) and we finally now have a quiet Sunday afternoon (no football here --- unfortunately!) and so it's a good time to fill you in on our ramblings. On Friday night, Grace & Kevin went out with friends Anders & Karin to a nice little french restaurant across town while Megan kindly entertained les enfants (Kathleen, Josephine, and Sara) at their place. We had a very nice meal - from aperitif through the entre, plat principal, the fromage, and of course, dessert (I have a rule never to skip dessert in France). Oh, there may also have been a couple of bottles of wine in the mix somewhere. Very nice indeed; also very expensive, but thank you Grandmas for the Christmas gifts that turned into a nice evening.

Yesterday, it was time to get out into Paris and we decided to start at the beginning - "point zero" (of France) in front of Notre Dame. Here we are getting out of the Metro on the island in the Seine which is the oldest part of Paris on which stands 2 cathedrals - ND and the amazing Gothic cathedral of stained glass and light, Sainte Chapelle, which is surrounded by the Palais de Justice. The facade on Notre Dame has been cleaned in recent years and you can see that they were still decorated for Christmas, with a nice tree in front. You now can get a really good look at the carved figures - all of which were meant to tell stories to the parishioners, the vast majority of whom were illiterate. You don't need to have read the Bible five times to catch the drift of some of these, for example the one below which depicts a final Judgment scene (which strikes me as rather popular in the medieval Church). In the bottom panel we find all different kinds of people, from peasants to soldiers to royalty, rising up out of their coffins to be judged by an angle and a (the?) devil holding a balance while Jesus (seated above on a throne) looks on. Jesus is displaying his wounds (there is a cross to also remind us) and holding his hands up in a manner either to indicate that He doesn't play favorites or that the fates are already determined for each soul (I'm not sure which). The unhappy damned are led off in chains by a couple of devil henchmen, while the saved look piously upward (but also don't appear very happy about the whole ordeal, if you ask me). There is tremendous detail like this all over the cathedral and it boggles the mind to think of the laborers and artisans who dedicated their lives to building it (which took 200 years - probably 10 generations ). Another post will concentrate on the gargoyles, but don't let the little ones see. The inside is, of course, no less spectacular. There is a constant stream of tourists milling through the church, which is a little weird, but at least no services were going on (Saturday midday). The Rose windows and other works of art are truly impressive. I'll paste a small version here, but you can also access the entire slideshow at the link on the top left to PicasaWeb (under Useful Links). We also visited Sainte Chapelle, and I have decided that its worth a repeat on a sunny day - hopefully when some of you are visiting! According to our guide book (Rick Steves) this is the pre-eminant Gothic cathedral and I am not going to argue. The stained glass is awe-inspiring and I'm sure that is how it was meant to be. Pictures will not do it justice, but neither will words so.... what can you do?

Today, we had success in the local market - the lady didn't even laugh when we mistakenly asked for the tarte with potatoes ("apples of the Earth"), instead of just plain apples . Maybe she didn't hear? Now, speaking of that tarte.... it's time to end this post!

Cheers all - and remember, don't feel too sorry for Bret Favre, he is a sentimental favorite, but he'll still look better with a very dirty uniform.
Go Giants!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRIP!