We ended up going back one afternoon
so I could get better photos of the facade,
especially the carvings and the gargoyles.
So there WILL be another set of photos
from Notre Dame, brighter and better
looking.
The famed, and controversial,
doors of Notre Dame.
No lines in the early morning.
The rebuilt interior looks
stunningly clean after
centuries of smoke and
soot dirtied the walls.
Fire can cleanse.
One of the two spectacular
side Rose windows.
"Ehh, we all like to sit on
the same side of the table."
Part of the carved north side
of the choir screen.
A close-up carved scene from
the Massacre of the Innocents.
The choir screen has carvings
of scenes from the life of Jesus.
Close-up of stained glass Rose window.
One of the Rose windows.
This plaque marks the special
mass of August 26, 1944, at
which Charles DeGaulle and
Parisians celebrated the
Liberation of the city.
On the flight over, Carol and I
each watched "DeGaulle," a
French movie from 2020 about
the Battle of France and
DeGaulle's founding of the
Free French movement in 1940.
If you are fine with reading
the closed captioning, it's
definitely a movie worth
watching.
Since we did not visit Jim
Morrison's grave in Paris,
we had to check out these
Doors instead.
Some random guy photobombed
my cool pic of the sun
peaking through the two towers.
This won't be the last time you see the
Bored Gargoyle in this blog. And,
yes, it's now my favorite gargoyle.
Saint Denis has lost his head
and has gained me a new
vocabulary word:
Cephalophore.
A Christian martyr in Paris, he
was killed by decapitation.
Beheaded on Montmartre
("The Martyrs Mountain"),
legend has it that he picked
up his head and walked several
miles with it, washed it off
in a fountain, picked a place
to die, and did.
A cephalophore is a saint who is
generally depicted carrying
their severed head (because
they were beheaded).
Little known music trivia. This frieze
served as the inspiration for the Charlie
Daniels Band's "Devil went down to
Georgia" song. Have you heard it?
(Editor's Note: I shudder to think
someone will take this literally,
and not know it is a joke.
Writer: My readers are smart!)
Okay, it actually the Archangel
Michael and Satan weighing souls
during the Last Judgment.
Carved animals (cow and donkey in
this case) always need to be included
in the blog.
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