Gargoyles galore, and more, day 3

Silly title, but the gargoyles on top of Notre Dame are wonderful to see up close.  This time Thomas spent the day with us, and on our last morning in Paris we arrived at Notre Dame well before the towers opened (in order to avoid the crowds) so that we could climb up and see the city from the gargoyle-vantage point.

Before climbing the towers, however, we walked around both outside and in.

Inside Notre Dame, lined up along the aisle, were nine new bells cast to celebrate the cathedrals' 850th anniversary.  Apparently the four that are there now, from Napoleon's time, have somehow degraded and fallen out of tune.  In the 17th century there were 20 bells, however all but one were melted for cannons during the revolution.  These new bells, meant to recreate the sound of the old 17th century bells, will be hoisted into the towers by Easter.

The tower opened at 10am, so we stood in line for it a little before, and soon started climbing.  As Julia says, Paris must have the densest concentration of tight, spiral, stone staircases in the world, and this one seemed to go up and up... We didn't count , and I think it's about 400 steps to the top of the south tower, but well worth it.

 

 

Just the "color" of Paris is beautiful, mostly defined by the limestone. 

Benjamin really wanted a French cap... looks good on him, n'est-ce pas?

After a break in a nearby café, we walked over to L'Île de la Cité.  Tucked behind the Palais de Justice on the island, is the Sainte-Chapelle, a beautiful Gothic cathedral built in the early 13th century.  The upper chapel is surrounded on all sides by stunning and huge stained glass windows (which are currently undergoing renovation, so one side was covered in scaffolding, but the space is still amazing)

The newly cleaned stained glass wall of the Sainte-Chapelle

 After seeing the chapel, we did a quick pass through the Conciergerie in the Palais de Justice, where hundreds of prisoners (including Marie Antoinette) were held during the revolution, before being sent to the guillotine.  Seeing the courtyard where the women prisoners waited before being loaded onto a cart which took them to their death was very sobering.

The gate of the Palais de Justice is
pretty impressive.

Benjamin was very excited when he saw the front of the
Palais de Justice:  he recognized it from  (the new)
Pink Panther movies with Inspector Clouseau.

After lunch the boys and girls split up:  Boys to Musée de l'Armée at Les Invalides (including Napoleon's tomb), and girls for a walk, and to the renowned Galeries Lafayette department store.

Here are a few shots from Les Invalides:

Outside the army museum. (Benjamin took this picture.)

In the courtyard.

 The tomb of Napoleon lies beneath the huge gilded dome, and the huge sarcophagus apparently contains six concentric coffins which house the emperor's remains.  Thomas reports it was all very bombastic.  The army museum itself had lots of swords and armor, to Benjamin's delight.

Panthéon

Julia and I meanwhile walked past the Panthéon (which looks more like St. Pauls's in London than the Pantheon in Rome), into Jardin du Luxembourg, then took the Métro up to the Opera (since it was close to the big department stores).

I should include here, that compared to Munich, there are a lot of beggars here, on the streets, outside of cafés, and even people who come onto the trains with small kids and walk along holding a cup and mumbling a sad story.  We saw many people sleeping in the Métro too.  It was hard to ignore them, but we weren't sure what to do.  I had always thought France had a good social safety net.  It's quite something to observe the range of wealth in this city.

The Opéra building is Palais Garnier, which is a stunning.

The Lafayette department store is a pretty impressive place.  The ground floor has some incredibly priced watches (like for 25k Euro) and jewelry (including a de Beers diamond section).

Looking up into the domed ceiling at Galeries Lafayette 

Julia and I found prices more in our ballpark a few floors up (and I bought her a cute spring skirt), then we had a tea break at the restaurant on their top floor -- which has a view!

View from the Galeries Lafayette.

We met the boys back at the apartment, and had a final dinner in Vins et Terroirs.

Ravioli in front, lamb in back...

Bouef bourguignon and baguette...

Four days in Paris was just about perfect.  It's a beautiful, interesting city, and, wow, they know how to make good food.  We'll miss the baguettes and pasteries!