Notre-Dame de Paris
This is my first view of Notre-Dame de Paris. My first thought was "What happened to the towers? they are flat! There is no pointy spire! I knew that cathedrals took a long time to finish, but really!!!"
My tour guide, Guillaume, assured me that indeed the cathedral was finished. So there.
(Actually, there are a lot of flat roofs in Paris. Almost the only pointy thing is the Eiffel tower.)
Here are some spires, on the side, are you happy now?
I guess so. Not very many, are there? If you want spires, you have to go to Cologne. That is where baby spires are grown, and then shipped (when they are old enough) to all the other cathedrals.
Now I am happy. I have seen my first gargoyle. The etymology of the word includes the French for throat, the Latin for swallow and Greek for gargle. Also French for gargle. (Just so you know that English isn't the only language where words are stolen and changed. But we are the best at it.) They are useful for diverting rainwater away from the walls, and apparently make a gargling sound when that happens.
But the wait to go in was too long, so we walked on to the Louvre, the Tuilleries (which I never did pronounce right), across several bridges, the Champs de Mars, and finally the Eiffel tower. More on that later.
Three days later I went back to Notre-Dame, and this time I went in. (Wednesdays, no waiting!)
I am in love with this cathedral.
I went around it twice.
I finally figured out why I love it. It is simple. (Well, for a cathedral, simple). It defines the word majesty. I have since figured out that part of that is there is no gold in it (something about the French revolution, which was as much against the church as Louis XVI. (Cue Alan Sherman)). It is not overly ornate. It is not gaudy. It is simply majestic.
I felt I could worship in this cathedral.
(This is the only inside picture that turned out. (I work on the theory that if you take enough pictures, eventually something will work.))
After walking around for another few hours, it got dark and was getting cold, so I decided to go back and see if I could go inside and get warm before meeting friends. I was greeted with a moon, just four days from full:
I went inside to find the vespers service in progress.
Now I am really really happy -- I have heard an organ inside a cathedral.
I AM going back. To look for gold. To hear the organ again.
I also have to hear the gargoyles gargle.
posted by Marion @ 8:26 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home