But first, odds and ends.
We met our families and moved in on Thursday. The family includes the parents Patrick and Veronique, and two teenage kids, a 15 year old girl Ludwin, and an older boy who's name I haven't figured out yet! We live in a fabulous old house in a nice suburb of Paris, called Choissy, house is over 150 years old and is in a beautiful neighborhood.
My bedroom is in the basement and I have a shower off of it. In France the bathrooms are typically split up with the shower and sink in one room, and the toilet in another; the shower we use is off of my room and our toilet is actually under the stairs.
Said bathroom off the room. Notice the closet doors on the left. They are very old and beautifully carved.
Under the stairs!
So here we go:
*******Walk #1-Paris in Layers*****
This walk is intended to introduce us to the city, to give someone a flavor of the richness of the history and culture. It is contained largely on the Ile de la Cité, or the Island of the City. This is where Paris began centuries ago when the Goths settled here, choosing this spot because an island was easier to defend.
Notre Dame, what else do you say! Maybe something like "stunning."
This is the French Supreme Court, along with my tour junkies. The guy on the far left is Aaron McMurry, his brother Peter served with, and is a friend of Mark's from his mission in Slovenia-it's a small world!
Just your run of the mill government building in Paris!
More Notre Dame
Avery beautiful and sobering Memorial to French Holocaust Victim's
Notre Dame Rose window. (Sorry I can't yet figure out how to move pictures in order-will do that by tomorrow!)
Saint Chapalle. I made this picture big on purpose, you just have understand that this, or any other picture could not do justice to this small, but exquisite Chapel that is in the heart of Paris. This is the apse of the church, but all the walls are filled with this stained glass. There are over 1,100 frames, all depicting a story from the bible. I could do 10 blogs on this alone, but I won't make you wade through all that.
We're back to the Supreme Court: The Grand Hall
Under the grounds of Notre Dame is a small museum that surrounds the excavations that have been done on the Ile de la Cité. Because this is where Paris all began there are layers of early civilization that have just been covered up over time. Even with this kind of evidence, it's hard to get my brain around how old this all is. This is where being an American just doesn't prepare you for the rest of the world, since nothing around us is more then 250 years old, except for our Indian Ruins, but even those can't often be found on such a grand scale. Again-Aaron McMurry
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What I loved about this walk was the shear breathtakingness of it. Look at the pictures of Notre Dame and remember that this enormous and grand structure, built over several centuries, was built by poor, barely civilized people who's belief in God was motivating enough for them to build something so much bigger then themselves. They committed every resource, often their own lives to raising the magnificent cathedral. It reminds me of the picture of the Manti Temple in my dining room, with the temple in the back ground, and a log cabin in the foreground; except Notre Dame is bigger and older.
I just finished reading Pillars of the Earth about building cathedrals. It really is amazing that such amazing structures were built so long ago. It doesn't seem like we manage to build structures that are that elaborate and spectacular any more. What a beautiful place!
ReplyDeleteJenni