Paris Cathedrals

... the first cathedral you see remains with you forever as the cathedral of the world. - M.E.W. Sherwood

Notre Dame de Paris was my first cathedral.  Like the quote says...to me, it is THE cathedral. 

Sweetie Pie in Paris

It's beautiful from the front and you get an idea of the size from the side.

It's humbling to sit here.  It took 182 years to finish building the cathedral. We lite candles and caught part of a mass. It's very moving.

The ceilings in the nave are 115 feet high. 

The Grand Organ has 5 keyboards and 8,000 pipes

Gargoyles...but only from afar. One of these trips I'll get up close and personal.

The Church of Saint Sulpice was close by.  It's second in size to Notre Dame.

The Lady Chapel

This is the starting point of the gnomon.  A meridian line of brass was inlaid across the floor and ascending a white marble obelisk, nearly eleven metres high, at the top of which is a sphere surmounted by a cross. The obelisk is dated 1743.  In the south transept window a small opening with a lens was set up, so that a ray of sunlight shines onto the brass line. At noon on the winter solstice (21 December), the ray of light touches the brass line on the obelisk. At noon on the equinoxes (21 March and 21 September), the ray touches an oval plate of copper in the floor near the altar.

The obelisk with the sphere.  In the Da Vinci Code, the albino priest comes to Saint Sulpice in search of the keystone.  He breaks through the floor in front of the obelisk, only to realize he's been lead astray.  There is a sign in the church next to the obelisk....

"Contrary to fanciful allegations in a recent best-selling novel, this [the line in the floor] is not a vestige of a pagan temple. No such temple ever existed in this place. It was never called a "Rose-Line". It does not coincide with the meridian traced through the middle of the Paris Observatory which serves as a reference for maps where longitudes are measured in degrees East or West of Paris. (...) Please also note that the letters "P" and "S" in the small round windows at both ends of the transept refer to Peter and Sulpice, the patron saints of the church, and not an imaginary "Priory of Sion".

Not my first picture of this fountain.  I love the lions. 

La Seine...

A final reminder. Whenever you are in Paris at twilight in the early summer, return to the Seine and watch the evening sky close slowly on a last strand of daylight fading quietly, like a sigh. –Kate Simon

A floating bar and across the river...The Louvre.

The Louvre

And The Louvre...it really is huge

There are 37 bridges over the Seine and that doesn't include the pedestrian bridges.  This one is my favorite...Pont des arts. 

Most of the major sights in Paris are just off the Seine...this is...you guessed it...The Louvre.

Looking up at the Latin Quarter

This trip was relaxed.  We spent a couple afternoons just sitting on the banks of the Seine. 

View from the Eiffel Tower

And another

At night...with a little help from Photoshop.

Paris Windows

I am going to enjoy life in Paris I know. It is so human and there is something noble in the city… It is a real city, old and fine and life plays in it for everybody to see.   -Katherine Mansfield

Beautiful stained glass.  I love how the light through the glass colors the side of the window well. 

The light shining through the window highlights the pipes in the Abbey of Saint Germain-des-Pres 

Windows in our apartment.  They let in the light and the music from the Rue Mazarine

A side chapel in one of the cathedrals.  It's hard to convey how massive these cathedrals are if you haven't been in one.  They are humbling.

Part of Parcours des Mondes, the tribal art show that I went there to see. 

Beautiful scarfs

And more scarves

A hat shop.  I love the zebra. Every zebra should have a hat!! 

The clothes and jewelry were beautiful

Old tools and purses...of course they go together!!

Repetto...THE ballet shoe store. Rose Repetto made a pair of red ballerina flats for Bridgette Bardot which she wore in the movie "And God Created Woman".  A year later Audrey Hepburn wore black ballerina flats in "Funny Face".  Who doesn't have a pair of ballerina flats in their closet?

Lovely silver...I don't think this window display has changed much is 4 years. 

I love this bunny with her crown and trench coat in the window of Catherine Andre. I wish the picture was better.  I did buy a scarf here. 

Part of the tribal art show

Lou took this gorgeous picture of the church window. 

Window shopping is such a joy in Paris because they pay so much attention to detail. 

Paris Streets

Sitting there, alone in a foreign country, far from my job and everyone I know, a feeling came over me. It was like remembering something I’d never known before or had always been waiting for, but I didn’t know what. Maybe it was something I’d forgotten or something I’ve been missing all my life. All I can say is that I felt, at the same time, joy and sadness. But not too much sadness, because I felt alive. Yes, alive. That was the moment I fell in love with Paris. And I felt Paris fall in love with me.    -from in the final vignette of Paris Je T’Aime

On the street where we lived.  Our apartment was on the third floor on this street.

Just around the corner from the apartment.  Cafe Conti was a common stop for us.

Lovely little streets everywhere

Place de Furstenberg

Another view of Place de Furstenberg

And another

I want the apartment at the top

Lou taking a break underneath a statue of Nicolas Poussin, a french Baroque painter from the 1600's.

M. Chat...there is actually a documentary about Monsieur Chat

More winding streets...in the Latin Quarter

Latin Quarter again...a hangout for the students at the Sorbonne.

View out the apartment window

Dome of the Institut de France.  This was just down at the end of our street. 

Another pretty street in Saint Germain.  We had lunch at a cafe here.

Just another pretty face in Paris!!