The Big Event: Day 2 - Mom in Paris

When Mom’s plane landed we took off wandering through Paris!  First stop was the famous Moulin Rouge.  Not much to see here.  Don’t get me wrong, the Moulin Rouge is a must see for anyone that has read the book or watched the movie, but it’s just a building.  To go inside would mean murder on the wallet.  A simple coffee will set you back about 20 euros! 

Then we made our way to Saint Chappelle.  At first we didn’t realize that this was what we were going towards but the long line spiked our interest so we jumped in.

 

This sign put Mom and me in stiches.  Items not to bring into the church: forks, scissors, tools, knives and box cutters.  Knives and box cutters are no brainers.  I understand tools because they don’t want their stuff stolen.  I guess scissors could be a weapon but what in the world is going on with the fork?  If there is a sign up then someone has had to have done something.  Still makes me giggle.







The outside of Saint Chappell was breath taking.  There were gargoyles everywhere!  Some of the stone features even reminded me of lace.

Getting closer to the door was this carved into the wall.

Then we got to the double doors.

 






Then finally in inside.  This is the bottom room.  It’s very bright and pretty but I was thinking “This is it?” 

 

Then we walked upstairs.  I lost the ability to speak.  

The set of fifteen 13th-century stained glass windows in the upper chapel is a masterpiece that gave Sainte Chapelle its popularity.  The restoration program (2008 to 2013) involves cleaning the glass, lead came, and metallic structures of seven of the windows.


The pattern is applied to the inner side of the stained glass using grisaille enamel.  Where this was applied after the firing of the glass it has started to crack and has been damaged due to condensation.  In addition to this, a varnish applied to the glass in the mid-twentieth century has blackened over time.  The master glass painters, using infrared light to see through the layer of dirt that has built up on the glass, will remove the varnish without altering the designs.  Holes in the original pattern will be filled in by a separate pane, that will contain the reconstruction, which will be placed over the original.

An experimental technique has already been used on two windows in the chevet to protect the stained glass from atmospheric damage and condensation.  This new technique, from the outside, creates the impression that you are looking at the original stained glass window. 


This is done by placing new, thermoformed glazing which looks like the original stained glass, onto the old metallic structures.  This way moister cannot come into direct contact with the original glass but will run off the overlay glazing.


The lead came holding the individual pieces of glass in position have been damaged by atmospheric pollution will be replaced by new ones.  The 13th-century saddle bars that hold the panels together have been reinforced.


Rose Window (Click to enlarge)

There was a little door off to one side that I snuck over to.  A rope was in place so I couldn’t go very far but on both sides sat these really pretty columns with Bibles scenes on them.

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Up above the Bible columns were the saints.

Even the floor had paintings! 

Then we tracked over to see the famous Church of Notre Dame and the really weird green statue that was in the Church’s plaza.

Then our legs gave out and we made our way to the train station to catch our train back to Pouters.  When we go to the train station we saw this mini flee market going on!  We were so excited we forgot about being tired for a moment and went to take a look.

I love French pastries!

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Big Event: Day 1 - Catacombs of Paris

I got into Paris on a Friday even though Mom’s plane wasn’t going to be there until Saturday morning.  TGV tickets are confusing.  For 11 euro I could come Friday or wait and pay the 50 some odd euros to come up early Saturday.  I would rather play in Paris for a day.  So I decided to go to the one place I know Mom would never go to; the Catacombs of Paris!

The first shocking scary thing was… the line.  It was backed down behind another building!  So, to pass time, I took pictures of ‘Simba’ from every direction.

Then I entered the building and was greeted by a sign that said:

Length of Visit: about 45 minutes
Warning: The ossuary tour could make a strong impression on children and people of a nervous disposition.

Sweet!  Then there was a rather long spiral staircase leading down, down, down.  Then some narrow, short people friendly corridors.  I think it might have been a test to see if you were claustrophobic because they also posted this sign: 

Because of extensive exploitation of Paris bedrock for building stones, several serious accidents occurred during the 18th century on the Left Bank.

To remedy this problem, an organization for inspecting the underground Parisian quarries was created on April 4, 1777 and placed under the direction of Charles-Axel Guillaumor, who was given the title, “General Controller and Inspector-in-Chief Responsible for Visits and Reapirs of Paris Quarries”.  We are indebted to the work of the Quarry Inspection Office for reinforcing the vast networks of galleries situated beneath the streets of Paris.

I saw a few markings on the sides of the wall.  Some looked like dates and other were the street names we were underneath.

 We were walking 20 meters below ground level, beneath the metro and the water and sewer systems.  The galleries follow the street patterns above ground, while the ossuary lies beneath the houses.

Then there was this really odd looking black mark on the ceiling.  I learned that the black mark was  old tool marks made by a kevel hammer.  These marks were made when the ossuary was opened to the public to help the visitors get their bearings while in the galleries. 

A little further down the walkways opened up.  There were carvings cut directly into the side of the wall.  These were called the Port-Mahon sculptures created in the late 1700’s. 

They represent the Port Mahon Palace in the main city of Minorca in the Balearic Islands and were sculpted, by memory, by Decure.  Decure was one of the first workers in the Quarry Inspections and was imprisoned in the fort opposite the palace for a long time.  He was killed in a cave in while trying to build an access stairway to this location.

There was also this waterway hole - like thing.  A shabby little sign explained that this natural spring is where most of the plaster was mixed.





Suddenly I found myself going up into this passage way. 

It opened to another long passageway.  From here on out all the walls where made with human bones! 
There were lots of explanations to why the Catacombs have become so massive. 

One sign stated:

At the end of the 18th century, rampant disease in the les Halles neighborhood caused by the adjacent Cemetery of the Innocents led to the mass grave being entirely exhumed.  In 1785, it was decided that the bones were to be moved to the building stone quarry under the Montsouris plain in the south of Paris.  On April 7, 1786, after being properly converted and readied, the quarries were consecrated and became the principal ossuary of Paris. 

Until 1788, cartloads covered with black clothes, escorted by priests chanting the office for the dead, crossed Paris by night to deposit their remains.











Another sign created Louis-Etienne Francois Hericart de Thury (1776-1854), the Engineer-in Chief of Mines with the decor.  He had the bones thrown in chaotically, arranged in a decorative way and made the Catacombs accessible to the public in 1810-1811.  It’s a bit morbid to me to use the dead body parts of other human begins as a decoration.  I guess Louis didn’t see it that way.

 

In these picture you can see the way the bones are arranged.  The bottom bones are mainly arm and leg bones stacked two high then two across.  Head were then placed with the back of the head facing out.  Some heads were placed facing the visitors, but not many.  Some other decorations include using two arm/leg bones to create a cross with a head facing forward like the symbol on a pirate ship.  All the other bones where just tossed behind the wall.  So many people, so many bones, so disturbing yet so flipping cool!

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