Paris: Day 3 (I ran out of creative titles)
“In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”~Mark Twain (But you can always count on Twain for an awesome quote)
Day three brings me back to Notre Dame cathedral. The line to the bell towers is much shorter now and since it is Monday the streets are mostly emptied of tourists and Parisians visiting the sites. The view from the bell towers was awe-inspiring. I especially enjoyed the gargoyles at this cathedral. There was a plethora of flying monkeys (Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my!), storks, vultures, and other goat-like monsters.
This isn’t the first cathedral tower I have had to climb, but I am really getting sick of walking up all those stairs. I don’t usually like the way technology seems to creep its way into every aspect of our lives, but I would definitely support an elevator in most of these cathedrals. They usually leave my legs quivering, thighs twitching, and a squeaky wheezing after each breath. In the pictures below you will see the steeple to Saint-Chapelle, a view of Sacré Coeur off to the distant right, and the Eiffel tower off in the distance.
Flying Monkeys and Saint-Chapelle
Sacre Coeur is off in the distance
Yes, Notre Dame was principally made famous by Victor Hugo’s novel about a hunchback who was the bell ringer for the cathedral. From my understanding, there actually used to be a hunchbacked bell ringer for the cathedral and he never missed his cue. We visited the bells and surprisingly, Quasimodo made a guest appearance. He was rather shy and didn’t stay long, but I was able to snap a picture before he disappeared back into his haven.
Quasimodo came out to say hello
The next stop was the Pantheon which used to be a place of worship briefly before the French government secularized it (another example of the French at their best). Here you can find the graves of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a social theorist who contributed to the ideologies fought for in the French Revolution, Voltaire, an Enlightenment philosopher whose views are, in my opinion, worse than useless. You will also find the graves of Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas. In the center of the Pantheon is Foucault’s pendulum which is a proof that the earth spins and revolves around the sun (I personally still hold to the Ptolemaic theory of the universe, so I wasn’t too impressed).
After the Pantheon, I visited the Jardin de Luxembourg which was a decently impressive garden a few blocks away from the Pantheon. Beautiful weather, which we experienced all week, allowed for relaxation in reclining chairs while I ate baguettes and cheese and sipped on a bottle of wine.
After several hours of sun (and wine), I was ready to get back to the hostel and get some sleep. Although not as busy as Day 2, Day 3 allowed me to take it easy and experience a little French culture.
Day three brings me back to Notre Dame cathedral. The line to the bell towers is much shorter now and since it is Monday the streets are mostly emptied of tourists and Parisians visiting the sites. The view from the bell towers was awe-inspiring. I especially enjoyed the gargoyles at this cathedral. There was a plethora of flying monkeys (Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my!), storks, vultures, and other goat-like monsters.
This isn’t the first cathedral tower I have had to climb, but I am really getting sick of walking up all those stairs. I don’t usually like the way technology seems to creep its way into every aspect of our lives, but I would definitely support an elevator in most of these cathedrals. They usually leave my legs quivering, thighs twitching, and a squeaky wheezing after each breath. In the pictures below you will see the steeple to Saint-Chapelle, a view of Sacré Coeur off to the distant right, and the Eiffel tower off in the distance.
Flying Monkeys and Saint-Chapelle
Sacre Coeur is off in the distance
Yes, Notre Dame was principally made famous by Victor Hugo’s novel about a hunchback who was the bell ringer for the cathedral. From my understanding, there actually used to be a hunchbacked bell ringer for the cathedral and he never missed his cue. We visited the bells and surprisingly, Quasimodo made a guest appearance. He was rather shy and didn’t stay long, but I was able to snap a picture before he disappeared back into his haven.
Quasimodo came out to say hello
The next stop was the Pantheon which used to be a place of worship briefly before the French government secularized it (another example of the French at their best). Here you can find the graves of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a social theorist who contributed to the ideologies fought for in the French Revolution, Voltaire, an Enlightenment philosopher whose views are, in my opinion, worse than useless. You will also find the graves of Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas. In the center of the Pantheon is Foucault’s pendulum which is a proof that the earth spins and revolves around the sun (I personally still hold to the Ptolemaic theory of the universe, so I wasn’t too impressed).
After the Pantheon, I visited the Jardin de Luxembourg which was a decently impressive garden a few blocks away from the Pantheon. Beautiful weather, which we experienced all week, allowed for relaxation in reclining chairs while I ate baguettes and cheese and sipped on a bottle of wine.
After several hours of sun (and wine), I was ready to get back to the hostel and get some sleep. Although not as busy as Day 2, Day 3 allowed me to take it easy and experience a little French culture.
1 Comments:
It's too bad you couldn't get Quasi's autograph! Those gargoyles are cool and that's a great picture of you at the fountain! Thanks!
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