Thursday, May 31, 2018

Notre-Dame de Paris and the Panthéon


Notre-Dame de Paris, "Our Lady of Paris" is a cathedral constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries AD. 

It took nearly 200 years to complete.

Known primarily for its French Gothic architecture, it was also made famous by Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" story in the 1830's.


Notre-Dame, from across the Seine River.

The details are hard to capture, but you could spend days finding new individual details on all the artwork that makes up the facade.


Wedding photographs were being taken as we entered. 

We didn't climb the steps, so maybe Quasimodo was up there somewhere and we just didn't see him.

Plenty of details inside as well.



Grayson takes a video around the cathedral.



I don't think the pigeon nesting on her head was planned.


I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne....

..."Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky."

Not too far away from Notre-Dame is the Panthéon. Originally built as a church, it now serves as a secular mausoleum commemorating great intellectuals, French National events, and as a crypt for Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and others. 



Looking up the spiral staircase.

Voltaire's resting place.

Looking down into the crypt of the Panthéon.

View from the front of the Panthéon, with a view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.



Other buildings we pass as we walk around Paris. I'm sure they all have great stories and histories. but you're surrounded by so much history that many buildings go un-researched.

Even the metro provides some unique photograph opportunities.

Hopefully Landon will be well enough tomorrow to join us for our last full day in Paris before driving to Normandy to visit the D-Day beaches.



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