Saturday we decided to climb the tower at Notre Dame. We got there too early – the tower does not open at 9 as I remembered, or 9:30 as Rick’s book said, but rather at 10 like Kathy remembered. We walked through Notre Dame again, then went to Saint Chappelle, which did open at 9:30.
Sainte Chapelle
Sainte Chapelle
Saint Chappelle was being restored, but it seemed to be severely overrated unless you absolutely love stained glass. By the time we got back to Notre Dame it was after 10 and of course there was a reasonably long line to go up to the tower. I held our place in line while Kathy and the kids checked out the souvenir shops. After around 45 minutes we were finally allowed to climb the stairs… to the gift shop, where they park each group of 20 or so for 5-10 minutes before allowing them up to the top. Dusty led the way up the stairs, and was awestruck by the view and the gargoyles. Unfortunately there was an ugly cage all around the entire walkway, apparently to prevent suicides. But the gargoyles were a photographer’s dream come true. This was one time where the overcast skies helped, preventing harse shadows on the gargoyles.
Notre Dame gargoyle - this is one of my favorite pictures from Paris
The Ketchums with gargoyles (and an ugly steel cage) on Notre Dame
CJ with gargoyles and the Eiffel Tower
Monkey and Eagle Gargoyle
Laughing Serpant Gargoyle
Yet Another Gargoyle
Duckbill, Pelican, and Elephant Gargoyles, and friends.
Notre Dame Steeple
I especially enjoyed the third copper figure from the top - the surfer.
The Ketchums at the top of the belltower on Notre Dame
The massive wooden belltower was almost as impressive. I never knew belltowers were made of wood so the vibrations from the bell tolling didn't destroy the stone structure below. The view from the very top of the tower was nice, but lacked gargoyles. We then headed back to the same place we’d gone Wednesday for lunch – More McDonald’s for Robby, CJ tried a sugar crepe but didn’t really like it, Kathy for a cheese and ham crepe that she did like (though she admitted it had too much cheese for even her tastes), and Dusty got an excellent sushi box. We then braved the RER train over to the Orsay museum. Here the Paris Museum passes were a lifesaver – the lines for both security and tickets were quite long for those without passes – we zipped through the security lines with no delays. The Orsay was not terribly crowded. They allowed pictures without flash, so CJ and Dusty took plenty and several in that order. Dusty had spent a a while reading up on the Impressionists this spring, so he had already decided his favorites of that era were Van Gogh, Renior, and Monet, generally in that order, realizing that Van Gogh is not necessarily considered an impressionist and if I recall correctly Monet derided the term. There were rooms full of Monets, Degals, about a dozen Reniors, and a room of Van Goghs. The artwork below is in the order we saw it
CJ's picture of the Orsay
Manet's Olympia
Manet's Luncheon on the Grass
Monet's Bridge at Argenteuil
This was one of the few paintings I picked out during my studies and decided I absolutely had to see the original. I unfortunately wasn't terribly impressed when I saw it, but I really do like it.
The model for Rodin's Gates of Hell
Monet's Water Lily Pond, Pink Harmony
Renoir's Path Leading Through Tall Grass
Renoir's Study, Torso in the Sun
Renoir's Dance at the Moulin del la Galette
This is a nice large painting, quite impressive in person (not that the others aren't)
Van Gogh's Midday
Van Gogh's Church at Auvers sur Roise
Van Gogh's Self Portrait
(There are several surviving self portriaits)
We all split up and took in art at our own paces. I decided that we’d started the day with something Robby wanted to do – see gargoyles – then done something CJ and Dusty appreciated more – art – so perhaps it was time to try something for Robby again. More selfishly, the clouds were still around but had lifted significantly, providing decent light for a change. We headed over to the Eiffel Tower again and got in line. After a little while we were approached and asked ‘pardon me, but do you speak English?’ Up until now only beggers had used that line, so I was a little leary. He was a tour guide with a group of 15, but you needed 20 to qualify as a group at the Eiffel Tower and use the faster group line. I asked his group ‘how long have you been with him’ and the answer was ‘4 days’, which I took to be a good sign, significantly reducing the odds of this being a scam. A single man from India also joined us to make 20 – he was working at Daimler (used to also be Chrylser) in Stuttgart Germany for a month and had bussed in for the day (Saturday) to see the Louvre and Eiffel Tower. He took pictures and video of us. The tour group was from Croatia – one of the men taught table tennis, another was the coach, and the children were the winners of the tournament. One of the women, the coach's wife and who taught in Germany, spoke excellent ‘American English’, as she put it, as she hilariously imitated and derided a typically English accent. She learned most of her English watching our TV shows. We probably saved at least half an hour in line and met some folks we would never have met otherwise – our neighbors in the ‘individuals’ line were all Americans – we kept up with them as the lines merged, but they then went into a Disney style back and forth track while were went straight in. We all enjoyed the Tower, even those of us who don’t like heights. We skipped the 1st level, then paused briefly on the 2nd level before heading up to the top – you need to change elevators on the 2nd level. After we came back down to the 2nd level Dusty took plenty of pictures. Everyone was asking others to take their pictures, and we did the same. After the Tower we were pretty beat. We came back to the hotel, brought back dinner, and crashed early.
The Ketchums on the Eiffel Tower, second level
Sacré-Cœur is left of Dusty's shoulder
The Louvre is to the right of Kathy's shoulder
Click here for a panoramic picture from the middle of the Eiffel Tower.
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