Paris – A Traveling Fool

October 2, 2022

Grand France River Cruise – Notre Dame de Paris

This trip was the first that I have taken to Paris without spending any time inside of Notre Dame de Paris. It and Westminster Abbey in London are my favorite cathedrals. They are both very old, very large, and very historic.

It is believed that there have been religious structures of various sorts and sizes on the site of Notre Dame almost since the Parissii first inhabited the Île de la Cité in the 3^rd century BC. In 1710, the Pillar of the Boatman, which was part of a Gallo-Roman temple to Jupiter, was discovered beneath the cathedral. The remains of an early Christian church, the Cathedral of Saint Etienne, built in the 4^th or 5th century AD has also been discovered.

In 1160, the buildings on the site of where Notre Dame is now were all demolished so a new, much larger cathedral could be built in the Gothic style. Construction began in 1163 and lasted until 1345, though there have always been additions and adjustments made throughout its existence. Analysis of the vault stones that fell during the 2019 fire indicated that they were quarried in Vexin, which is northwest of Paris.

The choir was completed in 1177 and the high altar was consecrated in 1182 as part of Phase One. Phase Two involved the four sections of the nave behind the choir. This lasted from 1182 to 1190. Building of the west façade began in 1190.

Although the flying buttresses were replaced by larger and stronger ones in the 14^th century, they were originally created in the 13^th century and are now considered (because of scans showing that the upper part of the building hasn’t moved at all for the past 800 years) to have been part of the original design. This was a new innovation at the time to allow the buttresses themselves to carry the weight of the walls. The walls could then be taller and thinner, with more windows.

During the French Revolution, the statues along the West façade of biblical kings were mistaken for French kings and beheaded. Many of the original heads are now inside of the Musee de Cluny. After the Napoleonic Wars, the cathedral was in such bad condition that its demolition was being considered. Author Victor Hugo (who also wrote Les Miserables) wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame in order to save it.

During the Paris Commune of 1871, the cathedral was threatened again. The Communards had the furniture piled up to set on fire when they realized that burning Notre Dame would also destroy the hospital next door. Fortunately World War II only created some minor damage from stray bullets.

On April 15, 2019, a fire broke out in the attic of the cathedral which ended up destroying the spire and the forest of oak beams supporting the roof. The stone vaulting in the ceiling ended up with several holes, but did not collapse.

The stabilization of the building was completed at the time of my visit in September of 2021. So the photos of all of the scaffolding and bracing that I took was erected to prevent any further deterioration and keep things safe for the teams that would be involved in the reconstruction.

Prior to the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, the two towers of Notre Dame at the western façade were the tallest structures in Paris. They currently contain the ten (originally fourteen) bells of the cathedral. Some smaller bells in a carillon in the spire and in the roof were destroyed in the fire. Although the fire threatened the towers, the firefighters were able to protect and save them from destruction.

The copper statues surrounding the spire had been removed a few days before the fire. The weathervane at the top of the spire, which contained a tiny piece of the Crown of Thorns plus relics of Saint Denis and Saint Genevieve fell when the spire fell. It was recovered with the relics intact in the rubble shortly after the fire.

The gargoyles are the rain spouts. The other creatures that decorate the building are called “grotesques”. Several of them are chimera, a mythical creature with the head of a goat and the body of a lion. They seem to mostly be in pretty good shape.

The three rose windows sustained damage, but are essentially intact. Just one needs to be dismantled and stabilized.

The first clocks in the cathedral were clepsydras, which were used to tell the hours, marked by striking bells. In 1766, these were replaced by a mechanical clock which was located at the north portal. In roughly 1812, the clock and its bells were moved to the north tower.

A new clock made in 1867 was located in the forest underneath the central spire. It was destroyed by the fire. A nearly identical movement has been located at another church that will be used as a model for creating a new clock for Notre Dame de Paris.

The paved area in front of the western façade is called the Place du Parvis Notre Dame. Originally Notre Dame would have been somewhat hemmed in by other buildings. So the parvis was created to provide more majestic sightlines to the main entrance of the cathedral.

Over the centuries, the square has been greatly enlarged. A statue of Charlemagne was installed on the south side of the square in 1882 and the point zéro medallion was installed in 1924. This marker was used as a starting point for measuring distance on the National Route system in France.

Since the 2019 fire, the eastern half of the square has been closed off to be used as working space by the restoration team. In addition to Charlemagne, a statue of the Virgin and Child was also located near the parvis at the time of my visit. It was one of thirty seven representations of Notre Dame that were part of the cathedral. I don’t remember ever seeing it before, so it could have just been temporarily outside of the cathedral.

In 1965, excavation work began to create an underground parking facility under the parvis. This was when many ancient foundations, some going back to Roman times, were discovered. So the Archaeological Crypt was created beneath the parvis. Normally this is open to the public, but was not while I was there.

Next time – Thoughts while on trip about experiences, learning new things, family history and a general knowledge of the history of a place.

September 14, 2022

Grand France River Cruise – Paris Louvre & Île de la Cité

Paris is one of my very favorite cities. I think it is for a lot of people. The history, the culture, the food, the art – so much to do and see. Or, just hang out at one of the sidewalk cafes and let Paris parade by.

I am separating a post on just Notre Dame Cathedral from this one on the rest of my visit to Paris partially because of all of the photos I took of the cathedral. That post follows this one.

The included morning excursion on our full day in the city was a choice between a coach trip of the entire city of Paris, or a walking tour of part of Paris. Since I had been to Paris a few times before, I chose the walking tour. It was to take place mainly on the Île de la Cité, which was the location of the origins of Paris.

A Celtic tribe called the Parissii inhabited what eventually became the Île de la Cité starting in the middle of the 3^rd century BC. In 52 BC, the Romans settled on Paris’ Left Bank and called their settlement Lutetia. Eventually Lutetia joined with the Île de la Cité becoming Parisius and then Paris.

During the 12^th century AD, the royal residence was located at the western end of the Île de la Cité and Notre Dame Cathedral was being constructed at its eastern end. As the marshland on the Right Bank began to fill in, the city expanded in that direction. At this time the medieval Louvre fortress was extended to defend the city on the far west of the Right Bank.

Our ship was docked by the Eiffel Tower, so we were piled onto a motorcoach and driven to the Louvre, from where we would begin our tour. On the way to the Louvre, we could see the Musee d’Orsay on the other side of the Seine.

Remnants of the original medieval building of the Louvre can still be seen in the crypt of the current building. We would not be going inside though. It can take an entire day just to explore the Louvre. My mom and I had done so on a couple of previous trips.

In the 14^th century, the Louvre was converted from a fortress to a royal residence and began to be rebuilt in the 16^th century in the French Renaissance style. But in the 17^th century, the court was moved to Versailles and building at the Louvre was stopped.

The Louvre had started to house works of art during the 16^th and 17^th centuries. By the middle of the 18^th century, a public gallery began to be planned. By 1776, the Grande Galerie of the Louvre was being converted, but remained incomplete until the French Revolution.

We entered the Cour Carree through the portion of the Louvre known as the Sully Wing. This is the oldest part of the building. When I had been in the museum in 2000, there was a wonderful Rembrandt exhibit up on the 1^st floor. The Venus de Milo usually hangs out on the ground floor.

We then passed through the Pavillon de l’Horloge into the Cour Napoleon where we could see the glass Pyramid that was used as the main entrance. In the Cour Napoleon (named after Napoleon III who greatly enlarged the museum), we not only checked out the Pei Pyramid, but also the Carrousel de Louvre and an equestrienne statue of Louis XIV.

The Carrousel was a much smaller version of the Arc de Triomphe and once had the horses from Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice at the top. Napoleon Bonaparte stole them from there. But they had been stolen from the Hippodrome in Istanbul (then Constantinople) many centuries earlier.

In addition to the Sully Wing, the other two main wings are the Denon Wing (home of both the Winged Victory and the Mona Lisa) and the Richellieu Wing (chock full of loads of cool stuff, including the rooms used by Napoleon III).

When leaving out through the Cour Carree again, we encountered a heavily-scaffolded Church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois. It also had the sun behind it. So a decent photo wasn’t possible. It had been originally built in the 5th century to commemorate a meeting of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois with Saint Genevieve (the future patron saint of Paris) on the spot where it is said the meeting took place. Over the centuries it has been enlarged and rebuilt several times. Since the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, it temporarily held the services that had been conducted at Notre Dame.

We headed over to the Île de la Cité where we would have visited the Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral. But there was a very big trial going on which meant that both of those buildings and much of the island were off limits. The trial of 20 men accused in the coordinated attacks on Paris (on a stadium, bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall) in 2015 was underway. The lone surviving actual attacker from that night, Salah Abdeslam, was the key defendant. He was also the only one charged with murder.

The Palais de Justice de Paris includes both the Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle in addition to the Prefecture de Police. A special courtroom had been constructed somewhere within the vast expanse of court buildings covering the west end of the island. What was needed was very high security (bomb-proof and bullet-proof) as well as an attempt to create a calming atmosphere.

Normally we would have been able to cross over the Pont Neuf to reach the Île de la Cité, but we weren’t allowed to cross there. We went down some stairs to the Quai de la Megisserie, which didn’t allow any motorized vehicles so we could walk along in relative peace and quiet while looking across the river at the island. Normally there would have been sightseeing boats along the river, but we didn’t see any other than those docked by the Pont Neuf.

In the included photo of the Île de la Cité with the Pont Neuf, can be seen an equestrian statue of Henry IV. He was the king who inaugurated the Pont Neuf in 1607.

At the Pont au Change, we went back up some stairs to see if we could cross there. We couldn’t, so we just stayed up on the street level until we got to the Pont Notre-Dame. I was so glad that it wasn’t my first (or only) time in Paris. The Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle are both very much worth a visit. I had been looking forward to spending some time in both.

The Conciergerie was originally part of the former royal palace. During the French Revolution, 2,780 prisoners, including Marie Antoinette, were imprisoned, tried and sentenced there. Most were executed elsewhere by use of the guillotines which were set up all across Paris. But there were still hundreds who died in what is known as the Women’s Courtyard when they were simply shot to death there.

Parts of the 10^th century building constructed under Hugh Capet still survive. The cell where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned can be visited, as well as a later chapel built in her honor. Many other historic areas of the very large building were also normally open to the public.

The original version of Sainte-Chapelle was built in 800. In 1238, Louis IX had it redesigned and enlarged. The two levels of the new chapel, equal in size, had entirely different purposes. The upper level, where the sacred relics were kept was reserved exclusively for the royal family and their guests. The lower level was used by the courtiers, servants, and soldiers of the palace.

Sainte-Chapelle is breathtaking. It appears to be all stain-glassed windows with no real structure other than the windows. It glitters and shines like thousands of jewels.

Everywhere on the Île de la Cité we could see barricades and lots and lots of police. They were watching everyone. Not wanting to attract any attention, we kept quiet and kept moving across the island towards Notre Dame. I did manage to take a quick photo of the spire of Sainte-Chapelle as we passed from a couple of blocks away.

After a fairly long time sitting in front of Notre Dame while listening to our local guide talk about its history, we crossed the Petit-Pont and had some free time on the Left Bank. I took tons of photos of Notre Dame, then a short break at the café on the corner of the road there. After that, I explored the Square Rene Viviani and the adjacent Church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, which was built at the same time as Notre Dame.

When we regathered by the entrance of the square to continue our tour, we heard a lot of sirens heading our way. It turned out to be the main terrorist going right by us on his way to his trial.

Moving further into the Latin Quarter, we could see the remains of a Roman bath house upon which was built part of the Musee de Cluny (aka Musee National du Moyen Age Paris). This museum is loaded with tapestries statues and other artifacts from the Middle Ages in Paris. They also have quite a few pieces of Roman antiquity in addition to the bath house.

Once we hopped back onto the coach to head back to the ship, we drove by the Sorbonne, Pantheon, the Luxembourg Gardens, a cute little church called Notre Dame des Champs, the Hotel des Invalides (containing Napoleon’s tomb) and the Eiffel Tower again.

Next time – Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral (with loads of photos of the building in scaffolding)

February 27, 2022

Grand France River Cruise – Traveling from Dijon to Paris

In Dijon, we were taken straight to the train station. That was a shame. Dijon had been the main home of the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11^th to the late 15^th centuries although not much from the earlier dukes remained. The oldest parts of the ducal palace were from the 14^th & 15^th centuries and the main portions from the 17^th& 18^th centuries, but it still would have been nice to have had some of that pointed out as we zipped on by.

A lot of the non-ducal architecture in the town, from the 12^th to 15^th centuries, remained and was undamaged by wars. The crypt of Dijon Cathedral was over 1,000 years old. Its roof was decorated much as the hospital in Beaune with tiles glazed in terracotta, green, yellow and black and arranged in geometric patterns.

The original home of Dijon mustard, Dijon has several sister cities in other countries. I was especially intrigued by Dallas, Texas as that was the city in which I grew up. Prague in the Czech Republic and York in England were two others that caught my attention as they are a couple of my favorite cities.

Dijon is an important railway junction for many cities and towns in France, Switzerland, and Italy, with its high speed TGV train. From Dijon to Paris-Gare de Lyon, the journey takes just one hour and 40 minutes to cover 190 miles (300 km).

When we arrived at the train station, we needed to wait a bit for the gate to be announced for our departing train and for our intrepid cruise director, Jean Loup, to get our tickets. We all met downstairs near the gate. We weren’t allowed onto the platform without our tickets, so we just hung out leaning against the walls and waving others, who thought we were in line, past us.

Once on the platform, it wasn’t long before the train arrived. Our seats were upstairs. So we climbed up the steps, found our seats and settled in for the ride. Nobody was in the seat next to me so I was able to pop my camera bag in the window seat and get comfortable.

Everybody pulled out the food they had purchased in Beaune and had lunch about a half hour into the ride. I had a filled pastry and a small orange. Knowing that we would be having a large dinner that evening, I had gone for a light lunch.

The journey through the French country-side was a pleasant one and we soon entered the Paris city limits, heading for the Gare de Lyon. Upon arrival, the five of us going to the Tapestry II were loaded onto one coach and the other six, plus Jean Loup, onto another coach. Then our journey through central Paris began.

The amount of lanes for motorized vehicles had been reduced by the current mayor, so moving through Paris took much longer than usual. The mayor felt that it would be better to have parts of every street made into lanes for bicycling and walking. She also wanted more people to use public transportation. So motorized vehicles had half as many lanes for their use as before.

To get from the Gare de Lyon to where our ship was docked near the Eiffel Tower took over an hour. Along the way, we passed by Notre Dame. It was the first time I had seen it in person since the fire (I had seen it on previous trips and had always visited). I took some photos as we drove past the cathedral. I also managed to take some of the Louvre, the Place de la Concorde, and the Grand Palais.

When we arrived at the ship, we were met by our new cruise director, Gayle. I had something for her from Jean Loup that I passed on before heading to my cabin. Our cabin numbers were the same on the new ship as they had been on the Poetry II. That helped. The colors on the ship were different, although the layout was exactly the same.

My cases were waiting for me in my cabin. I just needed to unpack enough to dress up a little for dinner.

This time we had 37 people on the trip. Two were Canadian and the rest Americans. There were several more women traveling on their own. I spent some time with a few of them while on excursions or having lunch or breakfast.

We had escargot again at dinner. This time I managed to free all of mine from their shells (although it did mean that I had to totally crush one of the shells).

Dinner was served a little earlier than usual, so there was plenty of time for me to fully unpack and settle in after dinner.

We discovered that trials were beginning the following day in Paris at the Palais de Justice on the Ile de Cite for some of the men who were accused of involvement in the terrorist attacks all over Paris on the 13^th of November in 2015. Most of the men directly involved had been killed as they were mainly suicide bombers. The attacks took place at such venues as a concert hall and a soccer stadium, as well as at several cafes, leaving 130 people dead and 460 injured.

Once everyone was on the ship, we had turned around and headed down the Seine in the direction of the Normandy coast shortly after everyone was on board. We would spend several days in Normandy before returning to Paris at the end of the cruise.

Next time – Vernon & Bizy Castle

July 25, 2021

Merveilleux, Beau Paris!

We spent the last couple days of our whirlwind 1984 European tour in Paris. I had never been there before. Fortunately it would not be my last time in that wonderful, beautiful city. Paris became my second favorite city, behind London, at that point.

Our hotel was in Montmartre. It was a block away from the Moulin Rouge and a short walk to Sacre-Coeur. It also overlooked a cemetery with all of its graves above ground,

Officially named Cimetiere du Nord (and originally named Cimetiere des Grandes Carrieres) Cemetery Montmartre was created in 1825 in an abandoned gypsum quarry that had been used as a mass grave during the French Revolution. Artist Edgar Degas is buried in this cemetery in a mausoleum marked Famille de Gas. Emile Zola was originally buried here as well until he was moved to the Pantheon. We thought that having our room overlook a cemetery was a bit creepy, although fascinating. We were not that high up in the building (about one level up), so we looked straight out at it.

Once we received our cases, we set out to visit Sacre-Coeur, which is the gorgeous white travertine church high up at the top of Montmartre. Montmartre was the site of the first Commune insurrection in 1870, which took place forty years after the events depicted in the book and musical play “Les Miserables” (1830). The basilica was begun in 1884 and finally completed in 1914.

We made our way up the very steep hill through the winding, narrow streets of the artist’s quarter. It was a less steep walk than taking the main road to the base of Montmartre and climbing the stairs to the top. Photos weren’t allowed inside. After our visit, we went down the stairs to the main road, which took us back to the hotel past Moulin Rouge.

After having dinner at a little cafeteria near the hotel, we joined the rest of our tour group for a night tour of Paris, which included the Eiffel Tower, the Opera, Hotel de Ville, and so many other places that I couldn’t remember them all.

The next morning, we took a city tour, returning to the same places we had seen the previous night, but stopping at some of them for a visit. I would love to be able to say that my first visit to Notre Dame had been memorable. But the reality was that I was completely overwhelmed by it and needed to return a couple more times before I could say that I felt like I knew the place. It was mainly a blur at that visit.

Another of our “big visits” was to the Eiffel Tower. We took the elevator up in one of the legs to a viewing platform. I have included here a photo I took from the Eiffel Tower of the city. After our stop there, we continued our tour with Rodin’s House, the Arc de Triomphe, and Napoleon’s tomb. Then we had lunch at the Moulin Rouge before taking a boat ride on the Seine.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Louvre. This was prior to the building of Pei’s pyramid, which is now the main entrance to the museum. The photo I have included here of the courtyard of the Louvre when we were there in 1984, shows that it was being used as a parking lot and had a statue of Lafayette in it.

The Louvre itself was originally built in the late 12th and early 13th century as a palace for King Philip II. It was enlarged and remodeled several times until King Louis XIV moved to Versailles in 1682, leaving the Louvre as mainly a place to house his enormous collection of art. It was during the French Revolution that the building was turned into a public museum.

Once again, I was overwhelmed. But I did manage to see and photograph the “Winged Victory” and “Venus de Milo”. Although we did see the “Mona Lisa”, it was impossible to photograph her with the crowd of people and the reflection from the glass protecting it (I did manage to get a photo of her on a later visit). As part of a tour, we were herded through. On the later visit when I managed to get a photo of Mona, Mom and I visited on our own for a full day (after I studied and carried with me a floor plan of the entire museum, and created our plan of attack).

After we returned to the hotel, we decided that my high school and college freshman French could be relied upon well enough to visit a restaurant for dinner instead of a cafeteria. After a delicious dinner, we took a walk in the cemetery next to the hotel. It was full of cats. I am highly allergic to the little fluff-balls and Mom had always been afraid of them, so our adventure was a trifle shorter in duration than we had planned.

The next day, we drove to Brussels for lunch and Leiderdorp for an overnight stay before flying out of Amsterdam the following day for home. There was a windmill right outside of the hotel room window in Leiderdorp. It had been raining shortly before we arrived, so there were also several enormous slugs out and about.