- Climbed about 400 steps to the top of the south tower at Notre Dame
- Saw some incredible stained glass at Sainte Chapelle
- Went for a nice walk in the Latin Quarter and had a nice but cheap meal for lunch
- Saw many paintings by Van Gogh at the Musee D'Orsay that had been painted in Arles
First, I'd like to sadly report that Paris is pretty polluted these days (just this month there was a ban on half the city's cars to try to control the smog levels that are over twice what's considered "safe"). There's a very obvious haze over the city at all times and the air is fairly irritating, especially during rush hour. Early in the morning it's still quite pleasant to walk around but at the end of the day I feel especially stinky and dirty. Here's this morning's view outside our window. It's not mist...
OK, now to the pictures of our adventure!
Place de Vosages, a posh square built by Henry IV in 1605.
In the left photo, the corner house on the right is where Victor Hugo lived when he wrote Les Miserables
City Hall for Paris (each district in the city has it's own city hall too)
A little teaser of Notre Dame
Views from the Chimera Gallery (46 meters above ground), where many famous gargoyles can be viewed
Back down on the ground, you can see where we were 69 meters up!
The interior was a little tricky to photograph
Jesus' crown of thorns (?) on the left
Exterior view of the south tower
On the right, pictures of Sainte Chapelle's lower chapel
Main chapel with exquisite stained glass and extensive renovation happening.
Each window was being carefully removed and re-soldered since the lead has been
badly damaged by time and mostly pollution
We were only able to take a couple of interior shots of the Musee D'Orsay (which is inside an old rail station) because otherwise no photos were allowed. We mostly went to the impressionism exhibits. There was a special Van Gogh exhibit entitled The Man Suicided by Society, which explored an essay by poet and playwright Antonin Artaud (1896-1948). There were many works based off of what Maury and I saw in Arles, so it was kind of profound to stand and look through the squiggly brush strokes and imagine the same scenes that we'd stood in front of. There were many works done while Van Gogh was at a hospital in St. Remy de Provence, which we drove by on our way to Les Baux.
We also discovered the odd, satirical, morbid, and beautiful works of Gustave Dore, who was probably the most talented and versatile artist of his day (1832-1883). I've decided I don't like Renoir. Blasphemy!
*cough, cough*
-Dani
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