On our first evening in Paris,
we took a cruise along the Seine.
Nothing can prepare you for the magnificence
of it all .. going under
the many bridges and passing the historical sites. The most
impressive bridge was the Pont Alexandre III, which has a single
metal span of 350' long by 130' wide joining the Esplanade des
Invalides to the Champs-Elysees.
We left the boat and went
on to see Paris' most famous symbol.
Gustave Eiffel was the engineer
who designed the Eiffel Tower for
the 1889 World's Fair. It's 1050 feet high with 15,000 pieces
of
metal welded together and weighs 7000 tons. We took an elevator
ride to the second floor (Pat screamed, all of the 377' up) and
had an
unbelievable panoramic view of the Seine and brilliantly lit city.
On
each of the three floors, there were bars and restaurants where
you
could pause and really enjoy the unique view. We then took a
coach and drove along the boulevards with it's many lit up cafes,
monuments and squares. Paris is truly a City of Lights!! What
a
glorious first evening we had and it just got better and better
each
day we were there. On a down note, I left all 3 rolls of film
I took
that night on a table in the coach!!!
The foundation stone of Notre-Dame
was laid down by Pope
Alexander III in 1163 and the high altar was consecrated in 1189.
With damages caused by men and war, the churches original
appearance changed over the centuries.
The facade of Notre-Dame is
divided vertically into three parts and
also divided horizontally by galleries into three sections. The
lower
portion has three deep portals with the Gallery of Kings above
it.
The center section has two mullion windows on each side of
the rose window which is nearly 33 feet in diameter. The center
section is adorned by statues of the Madonna and Child, angels
and Adam and Eve. Above this is intertwined arch motifs, linking
the two towers at the sides. Here Viollet-le-Duc created an unreal
world of demons who look down on the distant city.
The interior is 427 by 157
feet and the roof is 115 feet high, with the
towers reaching 223 feet. It can accommodate 9000 people. Chapels
rich with art works from the 17th and 18th centuries line the
aisles. The
three great rose windows alone retain their 13th century glass.
This masterpiece of Gothic
architecture is the Sainte Chapelle. It was
built for Louis IX to contain, what he believed was the relic
of the
Crown of Thorns, which the king bought in Venice in 1239. This
relic had
been brought to Venice from Constantinople. Also housed here is
a relic
of the true Cross and the Sacred Nail.
The Upper Church has 15 stain
glass windows containing 1134 scenes
and covers an area of 6650 square feet.
Here in the St. Germain quarters,
the colorful streets interweave and cross
with each other to form picturesque corners.
The oldest church in Paris
is found here .. the St-Germain-des-Ores, built
between the 11th and 12th centuries. The most interesting part
of the building is the choir, where the original architecture
is still partly preserved.