So, this is our last week before finals and it is a busy one.  Last weekend, I went to Montmartre because I wanted one of the artists to draw a picture of my daughter as a Christmas present for her.  Unfortunately, I chose the wrong artist because it was horrible!  It didn’t even look like her!  So, I will try again this weekend.  There was a really nice woman there whose drawings were fantastic and I showed her the picture I wanted drawn and she assured me it would be no problem, so wish me luck.  I just wish she had been there earlier, but oh well, lesson learned, right?

My friend, Melanie and I really wanted to visit Notre Dame again, so we squeezed it in right after class.  I absolutely love this church; the architecture, sculptures, history, symbolism, etc…  This guy is one of many chimera along the top levels of the church and he is probably one of the most famous due to his expression as he looks out over the city. 

Wait!  Who is that checking out the view from high atop Notre Dame?  It’s Steel Troll and Steel Ducky!  Yes, they wanted to make one more appearance before we departed this beautiful city.  The winds were kicking up quite a bit that day, so Steel Troll had a bit of trouble staying on his feet (either that or he had one too many at happy hour the evening before), but he managed it just long enough for this picture. 

Inside Notre Dame, there is a tresory, which holds many treasured items of the history of France.  There is a box said to hold the crown of thorns of Jesus, as well as a piece of the wooden cross from his crucifixion, however you really can’t see those items, just the boxes they are said to be in.  Below are some items donated by several Popes from their visits to Notre Dame. 

This is the awesome view from the top of the bell tower of Notre Dame.  All of the views are amazing and you want to spend all day up there.  Usually, the doors to the bell tower are open, but since the bells were ringing while we were up there, they were closed.  Bummer, because the main bell is huge!  It is actually housed inside a wooden support casing that is inside the tower itself, but the wooden support does not touch the tower.  That structure was conceived and built by Violet-le-Duc (just a little something I learned in my history class).

This is one of only three city gates still standing today.  In the 1700s, Nicolas Ledoux, an architect, was charged with building over a dozen city gates that everyone leaving and entering the city had to pass through.  These gates were put in place to collect taxes on everything from cheese and wine to cattle and any other goods to be sold.  Every gate had its own design, but when Baron de Haussmann restructured the city under the rule of Napoleon III, he demolished all but three.

Hope you all enjoyed my hodge podge of pics this week, I have been running all over Paris trying to fit in everything before I leave.  So far, so good. 

Mary

Location: Paris, France