Notre Dame & the Archeological Crypts

Day number two - After sleeping 16 hours. No, I am not kidding. I slept 16 hours. Matthew said he woke up a couple times and knew it was that late but obviously I needed the sleep so he just went back to bed. I slept 16 hours! All of that catch up on sleep went right out the window this week though since I had to single-mom it for four days until Matthew came home. I just couldn't seem to get back on schedule. Jet-lag much? Thank you to 44 oz Diet Mt. Dew. We are tight yo.

Previous Paris posts, post #1, post #2, post #3.

We set off on foot to Notre Dame which is a little bit of a walk, not too bad though. It was on this adventure that we took so many pictures of the Seine River that I posted the other day. We walked along it quite a bit since Notre Dame sits on an island in the middle of it. We could see the building from quite far away, it's pretty tall.

It was another, just amazing building! They are celebrating their 850 year anniversary so there was a platform set up in front of it and much ado. Apparently there was a concert that night. We went in and back out again because we were going to go up the towers first. We climbed the spiral staircase up and up and up. It was tight, and the stone was worn down into slight bowls on the stairs which I though was very cool. So many feet have stepped on those stairs! To wear it down like that? Wow.

The gargoyles were cool and the view of foggy/rainy Paris was beautiful. I kind of like that kind of weather, though I would prefer it warmer. We marveled at the cool gargoyles. walked across the bridge in between the towers and came down the other tower.

From there we went back inside and started walking toward the front but heard over the intercom that there would be an English tour in 15 minutes, meet at the back of the chapel. YES! The tour was awesome! There was all kinds of information about the building, it's construction, the materials, the reasoning behind the stained glass and not so stained glass. (Natural lighting!)

Very first we went out in the rain to talk about the front of the building. It tells a story that neither Matthew nor I even noticed the first two times by it! Back in history people visiting the building were often poor and couldn't read so the front facade told bible stories.

In this picture from the nets there was Jesus in the center. He is resurrected and holding his palms out to show the nail marks. Under his right foot people going to heaven and under the left (left is apparently bad!) people being lead by the devil with a chain. Though, it was a loose chain, indicating that it was not against their will but a choice. On the left arch from the top to the bottom people are being pulled to demons, on the right people going to angels.

On the bottoms and sides, all the apostles are presented in statues as well as saints and many other people from the bible. Nothing was here without a purpose and meaning to the story. Fascinating.

There are a few, uhmm... tokens? Religeous... what's the word? I can't recall! One is the crown of thorns. They don't know if it's the actual crown of thorns and don't stand by that but it was brought to the church in the 1300s. The thorns are missing though, because the King at the time broke them off and passed them to important people and princes. Wow, cool story no?

There is a wall around the front of the chapel with carving panels from Jesus' life and aside from them all needing a feather duster (When I made that observation, Matthew said all of Paris needs a feather duster) the detail was incredible. The guide went through a lot of them.

Someone else's picture again

We went forward and were allowed up front by the statue in the front of the chapel. It's an emotion provoking image. You were not allowed to take pictures up there in that gated area, and there are only a couple that can be found on Google, interesting. So only a few on Google and the one the lady who got in trouble took. Here is the one I found. We were right up in front of it. (This is the statue in the painting in my last post!) It's beautiful.

We finished the tour through the other side more wooden panels.

After that tour we went down into the Archeological Crypts showing ancient Lutetia which was on the island pre-ND. We did the audio tour here too. It was interesting showing the actual floor plans, cellars and former bathhouses back in ancient times. even a doorway arch or two. More information on their page here. It went on the the building of the Notre Dame which took 150 years. (!!!) Can you imagine seeing a building start and it not be finished until not only after your lifetime but likely your children's? Crazy! The stones were lifted with a crane wheel contraption that worked by having a man get in it like a giant mouse wheel!

Random observations I forgot to mention. Those french people like their spiral staircases! They are everywhere. Very cool.

Me and Paris. I was apparently not all into this pictures taking idea.

And now... inside. There were no flashes allowed, but doesn't this make for INCREDIBLE pictures? You would think I knew what I was doing or something...

The tour guide gave us a lot of information about the stained glass windows and how they used to make them. Very interesting! I can't even imagine how long the windows took to create.