Today was such a cold day! But we battled the harsh weather to go see Saint Chapelle and Notre Dame. Saint Chapelle was a beautiful little church that was originally just for the rich back in the olden days. It has stained glass windows on every side with a rose window in the back. It was absolutely gorgeous with a different Bible story in every stained glass pane. All of the stained glass was amazing, but if you turn around, you will find the Rose window. This is a circular window also with stained glass all around it. It's so intricate with the story of Jesus incorporated in it. This was my third favorite church (after St.Paul's and Westminster Abbey) The detailing and architecture are beautifully made considering how long ago it was crafted.
After we were done with St. Chapelle, we were off to Notre Dame Cathedral. This cathedral is very well known in the Disney movie 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame.' This too, is also a beautifully crafted cathedral with so much stained glass and two rose windows on either side of the alter. We didn't get to go the the top which is unfortunate because i'm sure it would have been a very nice view.
After Notre Dame, Lisa, Danielle and I went out to lunch at a cafe nearby the cathedral. I had a french classic- Croque Monsieur. It was basically a piece of wheat bread with ham on top and lots of cheese melted on top of that. It was pretty good but I feel you need to acquire the French cheese taste. Its quite different from American kinds of cheese. After we warmed up with lunch, we went out shopping at the souvenir shops around that area. We found a crepe stand and tried another French classic- The Crepe. We all had ours with Nutella. (which is VERY popular in France) It was the first time I have had a crepe and the first time for Nutella as well. Both were very good- something I would definitely order again. But after we looked around for a little while, we came back to our hotel and got ready for the circus we went to! It was called, Cirque Phenix, Festival Mondial Du Cirque de Demain. We got awesome seats very close to the stage for only 17 euros! (we got a student discount- half off regular priced tickets!) It was definitely worth going! We saw these crazy people that were able to balance another human being on their head, or hold them up with one arm. One guy even held a girl up with his teeth!!! They were on ropes in the air and the guy held this rope type thing in his mouth and the girl swinging underneath him was holding on to it! It was crazy to think of how much trust you have to put in your partner to hold you in the air and not drop you to the ground that is 6-9 feet beneath you. Besides the acrobats there were also jugglers and tightrope walkers. The video below is of a juggler from or around Rochester NY. (I think I heard the French announcer say that)
After the show, it was a long walk back to our hotel because the metros stopped at 12:30 and we got out at 12:50 ish. We walked about 3 miles I'd say back to our hotel- only getting lost a couple times. But we found the way and now we are safe back at our hotel. Today was a fun day but tomorrow is our last class day here then its our free day and then home!! I'm very excited! But until tomorrow, I'm outta here!
Question of the Day: Choose one of the churches or cathedrals that we have seen and discuss your feelings about it.
Saint Chapelle was an absolutely beautiful chapel. The stained glass was so detailed about books from the Bible, it had so many colors and I bet when the sun shined in it, the colors would shine so much brighter than they did today! I was first not at all excited to go to Saint Chapelle. I figured it would just be another church but when we got there, even on the outside, I knew it was going to be good. I walked in and I was right. There was something different about this church than the others we have been to. I think it has to do with the size. Notre Dame and St.Paul's for instance, were huge! I liked the difference though. It was a good change.
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