Cathédrale
Notre Dame de Paris & the Latin Quarter
May 1, 2010
Touring the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris and
having wine & cheese on the bank of the Seine River.
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Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris
Saturday - day 8 (continued)
Our time in Paris was winding down, but we still had time
to visit one more area. We returned to the Metro, took the subway to the
Île de la Cité and walked a couple of blocks to Notre Dame.
There was a long line waiting to enter the church, but it moved fairly
quickly.
Notre Dame does permit photos and I enjoyed revisiting
the lovely old cathedral.
The stained glass window at the center of the west façade is
a 31' large rose which was created around 1225 - the statues of the
Virgin with Child
between two angels were rebuilt by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century
On the right and the left there are statues of Adam and Eve to remind
us of original sin
Beneath them is the gallery of kings, a row of twenty-eight statues
representing twenty eight generations of kings of Judah
Gargoyle water spouts on the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris
Cathédrale Notre Dame sanctuary
The South Rose Window was built in 1260 and is dedicated to the New
Testament
One of the altars near the rear of Notre Dame
From Notre Dame, we crossed over the bridge to the Latin
Quarter and followed just a little of the Left Bank before spotting Shakespeare
and Company. Aimee fell in love with the English language bookstore that
is named for the store which was once frequented by American & British
expatriate writers such as Ernest Hemingway. I am sure she will return
to Shakespeare and Co. another day to spend more time browsing.
We went on into the Latin Quarter until we found a bakery
where we purchased fresh bread. Returning to the bank of the Seine River,
we split the bread along with the wine and cheese which Aimee had brought
with her from the Franche-Comté region. It began lightly raining,
but it couldn't dampen our spirits and I found myself raising the bottle
in a toast to a passing boat.
I particularly liked the smooth, organic cheese - Juraflore
by Fort des Rousses.
Shakespeare and Co. may be the best known independent bookstore in
Paris
Batobus passing us on the Seine
Linda and Aimee enjoying Côtes du Jura wine by Caveau des Jacobins
and Juraflore cheese by Fort des Rousses.
Time was running out and we hated to say goodbye, but
we walked back to the Metro station where we exchanged quick hugs and hurried
back to the Hotel Brighton to pick up our luggage.
We were now running a little bit late and and it seemed
like everything was going slow. With my hands full of luggage, I had a
hard time going through the turnstile at the Metro Station. By the time
we boarded the subway car I was feeling harried and a little out of control.
A woman riding next to me warned me when a pickpocket
(whom I never saw) unzipped one of the pockets on my backpack. I was lucky,
he had unzipped the one with large long objects that couldn't easily be
removed. If it had been the next pocket down, I would have lost my camera.
I moved the pack around in front of me and we made it
the rest of the way to Gare du Nord on time and with no more adventures.
With it being Saturday night of a holiday weekend, the
train back to London was barely occupied and we almost had a car to ourselves.
We bought some food on the Eurostar, but the options were very limited
- snacks and a few sandwiches. My low carb option was yet another cheese
plate.
Getting back to London and being greeted in English felt
like coming home.
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