Churches & The Left Bank

Day 19 … Churches & the Left Bank

We're getting pretty good at figuring out which train to catch to get from our lovely flat up near Sacre Coeur to other parts of Paris.  Today we started with a train to Saint Michel and then the stunningly beautiful Sainte Chapelle.  Begun around 1240 it was built by Louis IX to house his collection of Passion relics including Christ’s Crown of Thorns (which I think is now in Notre Dame) Only tiny in size but oh boy, the stained glass windows are magnificent. 

Just down the street is the magnificent Notre Dame.  What can I say – amazing!  We arrived just before the mid-day Mass so we were a bit limited in what we could access and photograph.  This didn’t really impact much at all, the windows are stunning, particularly the circular North and South Rose windows.  I couldn’t get a picture of the famous Western Façade Rose window or the organ from the inside due to the centre being closed to all but the mass congregation..

The Nativity

Chrit's Crown of Thorns is now housed in Nortre Dame's

Treasurery and is displayed on special occasions

WW1 Memorial

After this we stopped for a cuppa then made a quick visit to the tiny but really beautiful Notre Dame Christmas Market.  It comes close to the Rudesheim markets as my vote for the prettiest markets we’ve visited.  Oh and I got another Christmas decoration to add to the collection.

Then a whistle stop visit to the extraordinarily jam-packed Shakespeare & Company book shop.  No Inside pics but imagine  floor to ceiling books covering every available wall space of 6 or 7 rooms in a small rabbit-warren like house and you’ll get the idea.

A quick stop for lunch and a coffee at a super busy boulangerie and a look around the area, marvelling at the architecture, which is quite different to the part of town where we are staying.

then off to the Musee de Cluny and their wonderful ‘Museum of the Middle Ages’. Built originally as a townhouse for the Abbots of Cluny in the mid 1300’s, it was remodelled in the late 1400’s and in 1515 Mary Tudor (sister of King Henry VIII lived there for a bit after the death of her husband Louis XII.  It passed through various hands till it finally became a museum in the 1843. 

It contains a whole swag of medieval art including a marble statue of Adam (1260)  the 21 monumental heads from the gallery of the Kings of Juda on Notre Dame (1220) which were decapitated and buried during the French Revolution and discovered by chance in 1977, stained glass from the 12^th century, some amazing examples of medieval goldsmithing and ivory work, and examples of objects from daily life in the middle ages, but the highlight is the magnificent Lady and the Unicorn tapestries which are just stunning.

Unfortunately the Museum is undergoing some renovations and we were unable to see the remains of the Roman Baths.

Last stop on todays sightseeing tour was the Great Mosque of Paris.  Lovely but paling in comparison to the exquisite mosques we visited in Turkey two years ago.

A fantastic dinner with our friends Leonard and Amie at L’Atlantide (Moroccan) rounded of another great day. (Thanks Leonard for this photo)

Tomorrow it’s THAT tower.