Day 2 - Notre Dame

Let me start by explaining that I love carthedral architceture. My favorite book is Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I could spend hours admiring the construction, sculptures, decoration, stained glass and mosaics. My favorite is the glass. It killed me to leave Sacre Coeur so quickly yesterday.

Today I took my time at Notre Dame. It was beautiful. Uts such a classic example if gothic style. The carvings at the door so precise and delucate. One of the notable architectural details about Notre Dame is it was one of the first to use flying buttresses which were a new invention at the tine, they absolutely revolutionized architecture by allowing in more light. Stained glass suddenly became a more prominent feature in the church. To learn more just google 'flying buttress'. Below is a small model of the church that shows the buttresses.

The nave (below) was so tall, it went on forever. But even though it's made of heavy, solid stone it felt to light and airy, like the walls might easily be plucked away. It was mind blowing, as always, to think about the men who built it back in the 1200s (it took 200 years to complete) with the use of machines or modern technology. Once you climbed to the top and realized your chisel was at the bottom there was no 'pust to talk', no cell phones. Chris's Dad told us to notice how straight all the lines are but there was no laser to cut for them. It's just breathtaking.

Being so revolutionary in architecture we expected the stain glass to be basic and rudamentary, using color and basic square geomoetric shapes. We were surprised to find intricate, fluid designs on many, including ivy and flowers. It seemed to gave glass from many differentbperiods though because some of the windows were more like we expected. They were all phenominal. The pics on the camera will show it better.

Above is a pic of the front if the cathedral. You can pay to climb up but we're all still sore from yesterdays crazy walk and my bum knee is especially bummy so no climb for us. Off to the right we found some gardens in full bloom with cherry blossoms, tulips, daffodils and more. The bots rested while I took a million photos of the flora and church. I warned you that I live cathedrals :)

Now, we are back at the hotel. I finally joined the WiFi and I'm rattling on to you while they all nap.

We still haven't gone to the Eiffel Tower. Tonight we're dressing up a bit and going out on the town for finber and to experience Pari's nightlife and see the city lights. I doubt we'll get a good night shot with the iPhone but I'll try.

Sara
7:30pm - Paris