Back Home Part 2

Here is a view of the Ile de la Cite, from the east, as the invading Norsemen would have seen it way back when. Sort of. I don't think the architecture was quite the same then...

In all honesty, I found the Seine seductively alluring, a wonderful river.

Obviously, when in Paris a trip to the Louvre is in order. Here, a shot of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, one of the things I really wanted to see on this visit.

Apparently, so did all of Paris, that day-- at least, the ones that were not mobbing Mona Lisa seemed to all be jammed into this area of the Louvre.

A young friend of ours, upon seeing this sculpture and its many missing parts, commented that it looked more like a winged defeat but I was glad to see it and get a halfway decent photo. It was virtually impossible to get a photo from in front of it, any closer (I was up a staircase and across the way for this photo.) Truly, there were incredible numbers of people in the Louvre.

Admittedly, it was a rainy morning, not the best for wandering the streets of Paris. (Luckily, our hotel had a parapluie for us to borrow.)

When we left the Louvre, we had been there for 4 1/2 hours, and my poor husband was buggy-eyed with hunger and people/museum overdose. After a lovely cafe meal, we found ourselves walking towards the line for Ste Chappelle. We had previously bypassed this, not really sure we wanted to deal with the line for it.

With full tummies we were more up to it. And am I glad we saw it. When you enter (not the way Louis XI would have gone in, of course-- he used the balcony entrance.) you arrive on the ground floor, which was built for Louis XI's household's worship needs. It is quite lovely; now there is a gift shop there. However, in the rear corners are two circular staircases, one up, one down. At the top of the "Up" stairs one emerges into the Chapel that Louis XI had built for himself and family (actually, also to hold various relics, too). Truly, one can only gasp in awe.

I could not get it all, I did not have my fisheye lens, nor my old Canon A-1. The stained glass you see extends all the way along both sides of the chapel, to the back. The effect is beyond description. I loved this place. The windows tell various elements from the Bible, though I will be honest here, I found them difficult to follow. The fact my head was tilted way WAY back to see the top half did not help.

Interestingly, it is rather obscured from the roadside viewer by the Palais de Justice:

which I found somewhat odd.

Off to Notre Dame (yes, we did more than visit churches; I just took gazillions of photos of the churches, and in some other places the camera was discouraged). I personally prefer the exterior views of Notre Dame, though I am not sure why. When the line let us in, they were having Vespers so we got to hear some crashing and echoing organ music which was nice.

Notre Dame from the south.

Our dinner was again on Ile de St. Louis, though we had not intended to eat there.

However, my feet, despite being encased in my Birkenstocks (in which I have walked Miles and Miles) were again in major denial. Never have I gotten a blister from a Birkenstock but on this day I did. Grf. So we restrained our inclinations for a wondrous meal, despite it being our anniversary, and had a nevertheless delicious meal at a little restaurant on Ile St. Louis.

Don't worry, we celebrated the next night.

Oh, and, no knitting stores. All knitting was done, in Paris, on my bed with my feet straight in the air. Rather tough on chart reading. ;)