After Notre Dame we walked a couple of blocks over to the Sainte Chapelle. I'm embarrassed to admit I had not heard of this chapel before going to Paris. But once in Paris everyone said it was a must see. And man oh man were they right.
The Sainte Chapelle was built in the 1200's as the personal chapel for the king. Although it is significantly smaller than Notre Dame, in someways it is even more beautiful. The main chapel features beautiful stain glass windows on every side. 360 degrees of luminescent majesty.
Absolutely a must see in Paris. One of the most amazing structures I've ever seen.
An old story goes that the Cathedral of Notre Dame was wired with dynamite by the Nazis near the end of World War II. A low ranking soldier was commanded by his superior to trigger the detonator and blow up the Cathedral as the Nazis withdrew from Paris. As the Nazis evacuated Paris that low-ranking private just kept looking at Notre Dame in all its beauty. He looked at this building that had taken two centuries to build. And he couldn't bring himself to trigger the explosives. He couldn't bring himself to blow up Notre Dame. He couldn't bring himself to blow up something of such great beauty and grandeur. He unplugged the detonator, packed up his stuff and evacuated with the rest of his unit.
Notre Dame is truly that beautiful. At all times of day. At sunset it glows pink with the reflection of the sun.
It is free to enter the church. But we wanted the full experience and purchased timed tickets to climb the bell tower. Another day, another climb of very old stairs. 387 steps! Over a hundred more than the Arc de Triomphe. Paris was getting us in shape.
Since our tickets were timed we didn't have to wait in line. We sat and enjoyed a tea and coffee at a cafe directly across from the north bell tower until it was our turn to go up. Notre Dame uses an app to notify you when its time for you to get in line. Very convenient.
We climbed up the winding staircase and exited into the first bell tower. Huge bells. Old and ancient and impressive. Then we walked along the terrace between the two famous bell towers. This provided great views of the city and of the roof of the chapel. Then the bells began to ring and they were awesome. It was awesome to be standing there by the bell towers as the old bells rang.
But we weren't done. We climbed even more stairs up the south bell tower. We went all the way to the top of the tower which provided even more spectacular views.
We eventually made it down and exited the tower section. We then got in the line, which moves pretty fast, to enter the actual cathedral. Just massive. Gothic cathedrals were specifically designed to make you look up. These massive buildings were designed to make you feel small, to know your place in the universe. To know your relationship with God.
I've been in a lot of Gothic cathedrals but this one was special. It's the oldest one I've seen. It's also the biggest I've seen. The ethereal light of the rose windows was...well, I really don't have the words.
We bought our son a copy of Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris, more commonly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He likes reading and we thought he'd enjoy a copy of Hugo's work actually purchased in the bell tower of Notre Dame.
Once again, another monument in Paris did not disappoint. The Arc de Triomphe is more impressive in person than the hundreds of photos I've seen. The traffic circle surrounding the arch is so busy you have to descend some stairs subway style to get to it. Being underneath it, you do indeed feel pretty small, which is the point right? This thing was built to satisfy Napoleon's ego. I did enjoy the beauty and scale, but I could not get it out of my mind that the arc is and was a monument to extreme braggadocio. Reminds me of someone who currently resides in the Oval Office.
But the Arc has evolved into a monument of pride for the French people. That I can appreciate. Just a few months earlier thousands gathered at the arch to celebrate winning the World Cup. It's become a symbol of victory and resilience. Hitler's troops marched through it to humiliate the French and then had to march back through in disgrace as they were forced out of France.
We had ordered advance tickets online which allowed us to bypass the long ticket line. The nice thing about these tickets was that there was no set date or time to use them. After you printed them off they were good for a year. You don't have to have tickets to stand beneath the arch...but we wanted to get to the top.
We walked up the 284 steps to the roof of the arch. Tight spiral staircases that seemed to go on forever. There was a museum and bathrooms at the top floor before you exited to the roof. There's a model of the arc and a screen on the floor attached to a camera that looks straight down below you in the center of the arch. They should have also had water available to purchase up there. Walking up those stairs is not easy.
The views from the top are of course amazing. Several tree lined avenues branch off from the Arc de Triomphe according to the great urban planner Haussman's street design of the 19th century. Wonderful views of downtown and the great square shaped defense building. Great views of the Eiffel and Invalides on one side. Views of Notre Dame and the Pantheon on the other. Spectacular views all around. Definitely worth the price of the ticket and the walk up the endless stairs. BTW, the elevator was out of order while we were there. But walking up the stairs made it feel like you had accomplished something.
So yeah. The Eiffel Tower is pretty cool. Our apartment was about a ten minute walk away. We had a nice view from our kitchen window. It was nice to watch it sparkle on the hour in the evenings from the comfort of our lodgings.
The tower is beautiful. The park in front of it...eh, not so much. Like most "gardens" in Paris, the walkways are not paved. They are sandy walkways that dust up your shoes. Plus, tons of vendors will walk up to you trying to pitch "Champagne and Beer?" over and over again. Lots of guys selling illicit souvenirs. While we were in Paris last week the police busted a ring that was selling 2 tons of miniature Eiffel Towers as souvenirs. Maybe I was naive, seen too many movies and seen too many photos...but it was pretty tourist trappy around the Eiffel.
But the tower itself...amazing. Get on the actual grounds and leave that stuff behind. We had a timed entry ticket ordered stateside for the morning. We breezed through security. Took the elevator all the way to the top. The views are staggering. I'm not usually afraid of heights but I was feeling a bit nervy as we made our ascent. But man, what a view.
Climbing stairs to other levels of the Eiffel was also fun. You were literally in the middle of things. Total immersion in the monument.
As with everything, getting there early and prepared makes for a much better experience. Already having our tickets and having them for a timed arrival in the morning made all the difference. There were still a lot of people but we beat a lot of the crowds. Made the whole thing much more enjoyable.
We had planned to go to Paris for years. Then we arranged a trip for June for our 20th anniversary. Didn't work out due to important issues that arose. So we moved it back to July. Then we had to postpone it again due to even more important family issues. We almost canceled the whole thing but we would have been out thousands of dollars. But we finally went last week. And I'm glad we finally went. Had to take a week off from school and arrange for our kids to be watched. But the trip was fantastic. Paris is amazing. I'm sure the next several posts will be Francophilic. Paris is an amazing city and our trip went smoother than we could have ever hoped.
This whole song is great. But starting at 3:37 to the end...wow. Subtle yet powerful. Captures my feelings of sadness of when my Dad passed away (three years ago this week). The improvisation...wow. Everything.
Tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman teaming up with the trio, The Bad Plus.
The Bad Plus Joshua Redman is the name of the album.
