Paris 2002 Page 5

Yet more Paris pics!

This is a painting in Sainte Chapelle.  It's much more impressive when you're actually there, but it shows how elaborately and beautifully it's decorated, with gold paint and shiny mosaics so it sparkles like a jewel inside.

This is from the lower (and less impressive) level of Sainte Chapelle.  Sainte Chapelle is a chapel built in what was then the king's Paris residence to house the relic of the crown of thorns (supposedly, anyway.)  I'm not sure why this one came out blurry, if the camera didn't focus or I moved.  We'll say it was the camera. ;)

A close-up of one of the windows in Sainte Chapelle.  This one shows St. Helena discovering the cross.  Since Helena is my Confirmation name I wanted to take a picture of it.

Ok now this is why Sainte Chapelle is such an amazing place!  All 4 walls of the upper level are almost entirely made up of beautiful stained glass windows.  The chapel isn't very big but between the shiny painted walls and multicolored light coming in from the incredible windows, I imagine it is hard to beat Sainte Chapelle for sheer jaw-dropping wonderfulness!

A shot of the windows in the apse, which shows the variety of designs and colors and the incredible detail as well as some of the Gothic vaulting in the ceiling.

This is the rose window in Sainte-Chapelle.  Besides the window it shows the pretty gold stars painted on the ceiling.

When we got to the Louvre we discovered it was closed all day for no apparent reason.  With our original plan thwarted, we wandered through the Jardins des Tuileries next to the Louvre and then headed along the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe.  In this picture Dave (in Napoleon post again) in front of another arch (not the big arch) in the Tuileries.  Through the archway you can see the gold-capped obelisk at the Place de Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe further along.  Baron Haussman, the architect who designed the modern layout of Paris in the mid-19th century, was fond of long vistas and wide streets as you can see.

After Sainte-Chapelle we walked along the Seine towards the Louvre.  This is some sort of column we passed along the way.  Given the winged victory at the top and the sphinxes at the base I would guess it is one of Napoleon's monuments.