School For Us

We got caught in the rain on the day we decided to take a cruise down the Seine. In Paris, there are 37 bridges over the Seine. Each is unique and we enjoyed seeing a handful of them.



And this is Pont Alexandre. (Pont is French for 'bridge'.) It was built between 1896 and 1900 for a world's fair. It is named for Tsar Alexander III of Russia and his son, Nicholas II, laid the first stone. It features art nouveau lamps and Nymphs of the Neva with the arms of Imperial Russia (double- headed eagle). On the other side would be Nymphs of the Seine with the arms of France.


The golden winged horse is also part of Pont Alexandre. The building with the glass roof is known as the Grand Palais (which we did not visit). This was also built for the Universal Exposition, or world's fair, of 1900. Today, it often hosts art exhibitions.


This building was also finished in 1900. It was originally a terminis for the Paris-Orleans Railway. It now houses the Musee d'Orsay which we visited on a different day.


A couple on the bridge of "love locks" which we walked across on another day. I think this image looks so Parisian! Maybe they were putting on their own lock?


This is Pont Neuf, which means "new bridge". However, it is actually the oldest bridge crossing the Seine in Paris! King Henry III laid its first stone in 1578 and it was completed in 1607 under Henry IV! There are almost 400 of these faces on the bridge. Each of them unique! They are called "mascarons" which is Italian for "mask."







This bridge is the Pont de Bir - Hakeim which has two levels - a lower one for vehicles and pedestrians and an upper one for the Metro. I believe this statue is called "Labor" by Jules-Felix Coutan.



And, after we got off the boat, we came across this... the "Flamme de la Liberte"! It is an exact replica of the flame held by the Statue of Liberty which was, of course, a gift to the United States from France!

Jumping back to our Europe trip this summer.... here are photos of the Rouen Cathedral which was made famous by Monet. While I was there, I actually didn't realize we'd found Monet's cathedral! So, I don't even have a nice photo from the outside matching Monet's famous paintings! Oops!



Monet, 1893 - image from Wikipeda painting in Musee d'Orsay (which we saw on this trip!)

I showed photos of the inside of Notre Dame. Now for some outside photos!

One of the places Alex was most excited about visiting in Paris was the Notre Dame Cathedral. She ended up using my 'big' camera, and taking hundreds of photos. It was an amazing visit! We were just disappointed that, when we go into line to climb to the top of the towers, the line closed down for the night! Ugh! And, we had plans on going back later in the week, but we never made it.

It's amazing how Notre Dame towers over you. But, even more amazing, is the view from inside...


Wow! Pictures hardly do this justice. The ceilings are so incredibly tall! And, this was a Sunday morning and they were having a service. We were there over an hour and the service was still going on. The singing was absolutely gorgeous!!! I could have stayed for hours.

We found the Treasury very interesting. The treasury houses relics of various saints and holy people. Relics are items left behind by these people - it can be an actual part of the person (like a bone or some hair) or something used by the person (like a robe or Jesus' cross). The above reliquary has bone fragments from several saints. If I remember correctly, the center relic includes part of a jaw and a tooth of a saint. Notre Dame has 3 (unproven) relics from Jesus - the crown of thorns, a nail from the cross, and a piece of the cross.

There is artwork throughout the cathedral and I believe this painting was in the Treasury also. It's a detail showing Jesus washing the feet of a disciple.


This is a view from the back. There are several thousand people sitting listening to the service. And, there are hundreds of visitors walking around, in silence, observing this amazing cathedral and taking photos. Again, the music was incredible and I wish I would have recorded a little of it.