Royal Tombs in Saint Denis

The majority of the monuments and tombs in Saint Denis' necropolis look like the ones pictured to the left over there. The three kings resting in tourist-ridden peace are from left to right Philippe the Tall, some other guy, and the infamous Charles the Bald. I looked up a bit of info on these guys, and there's really not much to say beyond the fact that they were Kings and had funny names. By the way, they say that Charles was actually a really hairy fella with a beard and everything, they called him bald to be sarcastic. Medeival humour is awesome. In case you were curious, French kings tended to choose their own names at coronation, like the pope, or had their name given to them after death. Just because you have Philippe the Fifth, does not mean he is the son of Philippe the Fourth. Of course, that doesn't mean he's not, either. I guess if your dad was a big jerk, you don't want to be his junior. Anyhow, here lie Phil and Chuck. Also, I should mention that commonly the Kings are buried with their favorite dog, that's why each of these statues has his feet atop a sleeping dog. Interesting, eh? The Necropolis is filled with these tombs.

The Basilica of Saint Denis: Interior

Pictured to the right is the internet's version of the nave of Saint Denis' Basilica. Pictured down to the left is my depiction of the that scurvy nave. It is clear that my picture is more heartfelt and thought provoking because it features something that looks very much like a vase. I don't know what the deal is, but it is just impossible for me to take a good picture inside the dark recesses of cathedrals. This is the fourth huge church I've been through while out here in Paris, and this one certainly ranks number one in many categories. First of all, it is definitely the brightest. It was a beautiful sunny day outside, and it the stained glass was just glowing. This Basilica is the oldest I've seen. It is also the smallest. I'm not sure on this one, but I assume it has more dead people named Louis, Charles or Philippe buried in it than any other church in the world. I left my little pamphlet at home about all the useless information about the church, so I'll just have to paraphrase. All around the inside perimeter of the Basilica is what they call the necropolis, "city of the dead", which has the tombs of and monuments to around fifty or so of France's dead royalty, from Kings to Dukes. There is a little hole, which is hard to see over by Philippe the Tall's tomb which leads down into the depths of the crypt, where bathed in some of the spookiest darkness I've been in you can see the simple marble gravestones covering the burial sites of Louis XIV, XV, XVI and XVIII along with the wives of Louis XIV, XVI (Marie Antoinette) and Louis XVIII. Louis XVII didn't make the cut because he was only eleven when he died and not technically ever King because his mom and him spent most of his life in prison. It's a really sad story, but I'll get back to you on it later on. Anyhow, at risk of making this the longest post ever, you walk around the outside of the church, pay your five euros and spend about two hours walking among all the dead royal folks. In the upcoming blogs I'll be sure to include some of the best tombs, most of them being quite beautiful, some of them surprisingly simple, and one of them quite funny. But as for now, I need to go home and have some dinner. So until then au revoir. Oh yeah, check out the organ loft. Not so shabby. That clock didn't work, I was confused for a really long time. How long was I confused? I don't know, the clock was broken.

The Basilica of Saint Denis

So here's the Basilica of Saint Denis. The picture to the left up top here is from the front of the church, and the one down yonder is taken from inside the little tiny park to the North side. The South side has little walkways and the door to the necropolis and the crypt. I'll tell you more about those later. You'll notice the butresses there on the side, it makes sense that they have them on the building since there are such large windows and doors. Also note how the doorway there is very similar to the doorways on the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Since Saint Denis was begun in 1136 and Notre Dame in 1260, any similarities is because Notre Dame copied Saint Denis. As I mentioned before, this is the oldest known structure displaying gothic architecture. Pretty cool, huh? You should also notice that those same gargoyles on all of Paris's cathedrals are no strangers to this Basilica either. The site itself was the location of a monastery since 628, so it is certainly a historic place. The Basilica is comparable to London's Westminster Abbey since it is where most of France's royalty is buried. The only real difference is that Kings weren't crowned here (that was usually done in Notre Dame de Paris, or Notre Dame de Reims), and there's no where near as many tourists. There I was, along with only four other people, during the peak of the tourist season on a Sunday afternoon. It was nice. Now you get to hear about the inside, including all the famous royal dead dudes!

My Epic Crusade to Saint Denis

Unbeknownst to me, I went to two new cities this weekend. As I mentioned before, I got off at the wrong metro stop en route to the Cité de Musique and ended up in Pantin. On Sunday, I went out on my crusade to seek the Basilica of Saint Denis, my new favorite saint, and the patron saint of Paris. It wasn't until I came across the Hotel de Ville of Saint Denis (the building with the flag on it in the picture) that I realized that I had left the Paris city limits. Saint Denis isn't a nieghborhood to the North of Paris, its an official suburb. Pretty cool. It is sort of an interesting place. You get off the metro station to the complete chaos of the market place, akin to those of Latin America. You know, with garbage everywhere and chunks of meat in places they really shouldn't be. As most maps of Paris streets don't detail the roads out here, I was on my own to find the building. All the signs pointing to the Basilica seemed to point down dead end roads, but as I neared the alleged cul-de-sac, I found it to actually be an intersection. Finally I rounded the corner and thar she blew; allegedly the first building ever built in the Gothic style. Certainly the first building ever built over the top of a grave of a man who walked for miles minus one head. Please view the useful map that I made some additions to, to see the celebrated Martyre's March. As dictated by the true passers of legend, I have made a few changes to the story, especially the part where Saint Denis's route included his carefulness to not step on words in the map. Also, just because I was going crazy with the cyber paint brush, I underlined places of interest around Paris' suburbs in green, including Pantin. I do it because I love all of you. You'll certainly want to zoom in on this one in order to appreciate my research-inspired orienteering. Any GIS technician would be so proud. Don't worry, you'll be hearing A LOT more about the building, so take your time with the map. It's okay. Clearly I took a lot of time with it, so why shouldn't you?

The Attack of the Vicious Lizard

Clear back among my first blogs I took a picture of a canal between the Cité de Science and the Cité de Musique. Around this canal is a big ol' park and fair grounds, and somewhere around fifty thousand Parisians. The park is full of cool playgrounds and bridges and all sorts of kids and their dads playing soccer and having a great time. Its a neat part of town. All the while everyone is being watched over by the huge silver Geodome and this big scary lizard. It's just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. Despite its frightening teeth and spikes, its actually a very kind scary lizard; kind enough to allow thousands of children to climb through its brain and slide out its mouth. The slide goes down into a pit for a really long time, and all the kids fall out into a sand box at the end and lie there for five minutes, stunned, just like on The Christmas Story. After their legs finally heal from the burning metal they go directly back through the scary lizard's brain. Of course their parents warn them to stay away from that guy with the camera. When Sara comes out we'll definitely go to this park and take some more pictures. I got off at the wrong subway station and so I had been walking along the canal from the city of Pantin all the way here, so I just wanted to get out of the sun and into a Lennon exhibit before it closed in an hour.

John Lennon in Paris

Here's the view as you walk down the stairs to go through the Lennon exhibit. This was taken just before the big sign and the big guy that both say, "No cameras allowed". This means that above and to the right will be the reader's entire visual tour of the John Lennon exhibit. But they're good pictures anyhow, right? It sorta makes you wish you could see it. It was a really well done exhibit; as the name suggests, it was mostly the occasional snippet of John's final songs, both finished and unfinished, and some sort of an explanation of where he was, what he was doing and what he was likely thinking at the time he wrote them. It was neat to hear and read about him without all the bias of who broke who up, and which Beatle hated which when. Also, they had big timelines of his life, and some audio clips of the interviews he gave during the seventies. Yes, I know that John wasn't exactly the pinnacle of all things good in the world, but somewhere mixed up in all the strange and wonderful things he did, there really was a good message. War Is Over, If You Want It. Give Peace A Chance. All You Need Is Love. Beautiful, Beautiful Boy. Instant Karma. Imagine... It's good stuff. He had a lot of influence on the minds of the young and the old, and I give him a lot of credit for at least trying to use it for good. Not too many celebrities even trying any more. So why would someone shoot him in the back three times in front of his wife and son, the month after he finally started leaving the house again? I miss John, and we were never even in the same world at the same time.

Cité de la Musique

Hey there everyone. I did things this weekend that anyone with me would have only come along if there was some sort of reward for doing so. Sometimes I feel like what I would consider a blast, or at least interesting would come across as the most boring thing in the world to everyone else. Though I have been surprised by others' opinions in the past, so I'll give it a try. First things first, I finally made my pilgrimage to the John Lennon exhibit at the Cité de la Musique. You'll find somewhere among this text a picture of ol' John getting spit on by a lion. I woke up on Saturday to quite the stomach ache, but nothing of the sort was going to keep me away from going to this museum during the final week of the exhibition. The building itself is a pretty neat place, it is home to a huge auditorium where they tend to have the smaller traveling shows, and local things. I've discovered that any museum that has the word "Cité" in front of it tends to be a more interactive "push the button" sort of a place. The Cité de la Musique is just south of the Cité de Science which I visited accompanied by my work friends during my first weekend I was out here. Somehow I doubt that many tourists get all the way out to this side of town, seeing how it is very far from many monuments. Its certainly worth the trip, especially to see the big canal and the bigger park that have been built in the area. Anyhow, not to take any fanfare from the Fab Four, on with the show.

The monument to France's unsung heroes

One more post, and I believe I'll finally be caught up with my excursions from last weekend, and just in time to go on more this weekend. Unlike the happy little tale of Joan of Arc, this monument is dedicated to one of the saddest stories ever told. Each crystal in the wall represents a French person who was killed in the Nazi concentration camps. I'm crying now just thinking about it again. There are 200,000 of them. I've gotten to know these people here in the streets, they are happy dads holding hands with their sweet daughters, and old women who really like French bread and smile a lot. They are my neighbors and coworkers. Yet they were taken away from home, seperated from those they love and forced to live, and die, away from their families. I can't be away from my wife for longer than a day without being lost, imagine those camps. Just imagine it. 200,000. That's the number of minutes in 139 days. I'll be in Paris for 106 days, just over three quarters of that time. How can we forgive? If only we could forget. This monument was built to simulate the feeling of walking into nowhere and not knowing if you'll ever come back, and it certainly accomplishes that feeling. It is directly behind the Cathedral of Notre Dame, with no fanfare and no signs, only five people are allowed inside at a time, and the narrow stairway to get down into the pit is only 1.5 feet across. Though the monument is on the bank of the Seine you can only see the incredible view through a tiny window at the bottom of a wall, fenced off so you can't get close enough to see anything but green water. Total helplessness. The seagulls mock you as they fly up and out. The walls are covered in the names of the camps, and quotes of philosophers, etched sloppily as though by the prisoners leaving their final words. I just can't write about this anymore. I love my family so much. Thank you everyone for making me have a reason to live.

Saint Joan of Arc

This is the statue of Joan of Arc that I really wanted to see inside the Cathedral of Notre Dame. This woman's story is amazing, and I can't believe that it is all true. I could write about her for hours, but you'll just have to do with a bit of a summary. She lived from 1412 to 1431, and her dad's name was Jaques d'Arc (hence her weird name). This girl claimed she had heaven sent visions and used the information given her in the visions to lead the troops of Charles VII to retake the entirety of France from the English who had invaded during the Hundred Year War. Pretty cool, eh? This was before she turned 17. Yeah, 17. In the end she was convicted of heresy for having worn men's clothing while fighting, and was sentenced to death. There are pages written about all the illegal stuff that happened during her trial. She was burned, then her charred body was displayed so everyone knew she hadn't gotten away, and then they burned her again. And then they burned the ashes again for good measure, and chucked them into the Seine. She was 19. There's gratitude for you. 25 years later 115 witnesses came forth giving testimony of her innocense, and she was cleared of all charges. Just in time. Since then she has been canonized by the Catholics, patronized by theatre-goers and modernized by Hollywood. What use is a trip to France without learning a bit about her leading ladies. Also, here is a picture of the nave in Notre Dame that I ripped off the internet because my picture was craptacular. In all honesty, I like the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur's interior better. But don't tell anyone I said that.

Organ Auditions at the Cathedral of Notre Dame

There was a significant amount of people waiting to go into the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and I qued up figuring I had plenty of time to spare. Much to my surprise, the line moved very quickly and I hadn't even a moment to look at the building while waiting. Tourists are generally routed along the perimeters of the Cathedral and are generally oblivious to the sacred nature of the building, they're all talking loud and running around. It really irritates me. Yeah, you're a tourist, but those people over there are trying to worship! Peoples' general ignorance is attested by the fact that they pretty much jog through the place never even noticing all the amazing things to see. Don't you realize that painting is a Delacroix? Don't plug your ears, the organ is loud because it is telling you to have some respect! I spent nearly three hours sitting in the nave of the Cathedral, absolutely incapable of leaving and missing a single note of the organ audition going on between masses. That organ is amazing, and even better is the fact that this was an audition for one of the four titular organists at Notre Dame, the most prestigious position for any organist in all of Paris. How could you rush through the building with that going on? What makes the organ here amazing isn't the size or the façade or the number of pipes, rather the accoustics of the building. That thing got loud! At the end everyone applauded and turned around to see the organist, the size of a speck, stand up and bow in the organ loft. There was something really Vincent Price about the whole thing. Everyone needs to hear an organ in a European cathedral before they die. Oh, and here is some stained glass, too. I figured the organ deserved a bit of the publicity usually stolen away by the windows, no offense to the glass that is. Honestly, taking a picture of stained glass is pretty much a waste of time, you just gotta see it.

Charley and Denis

This is a statue of Charlemagne atop his horse hidden in the trees in the front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. He was the King of the Franks 768 to 814 and did a whole bunch of notable stuff like rape, pillage and plunder, and found the Holy Roman Empire. Certainly his most notable achievement is being the Grandfather of Charles the Bald. A name like that is nothing but demeaning. Surely ol' Chuck did something more noteworthy than being bald. I also thought I'd throw in a picture of my new favorite saint, Denis. I believe he is my favorite because he is always pictured holding his head. I often get depictions of him mixed up with Saint John the Baptist, but you can usually discern between the two because Denis spends a lot more time wearing clothes. If you don't recall my account of the story of his demise you'll have to go back and read it, I wrote that back on MontMartre. You'll certainly want to brush up on your Saint Denisology because this weekends locale of interest will be his Basilica and final resting place. Denis pictured here was found stading among all the saints around the three main doors of the Cathedral.

A Sunny Sunday

On Sunday I had full intention of staying at home after church and study the night away. That idea lasted about ten minutes when I decided the weather just couldn't hold me inside. It was gorgeous out there, and hasn't gotten nasty since. Could this be the end of crappy weather in Paris? One can only hope. I decided that I would go back to the Cathedral of Notre Dame and do a bit more exploring since I know a lot more about it and what's around it. No trip to the Cathedral is complete without seeing the Hotel de Ville again, seeing how it is en route from the metro station. It looks like a whole different building in the sunlight with the fountains running. The gate around the cathedral, and the cathedral itself was open, so I was able to get a bit closer. I'm sorry if this and the next few pictures aren't so great looking, I had set my camera on the wrong thing, and forgot to set it back. Fortunately I will be going back to all these places, so I don't have to get too stessed out about a poor picture. Jennifer, I looked for the gargoyle with the human head, but i just don't have superman vision. Could you give me a clue?