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jeudi 13 mars 2003 |
postcard of the stained glass inside sainte-chapelle, whose windows audaciously claim the french royal family as direct descendents of the house of david in the old testament.
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after watching kids at point zero i checked on margueritte's progress in the line for the notre dame tower viewing platform. it was still cold in the shade of the cathedral, and the line had not moved. i walked around square jean xxiii and came back to report that there was a small underground museum at the other end called the "crypt at notre dame." margueritte gave up on the line for the tower and we went to the crypt.
it was an archealogical museum showing foundation features dating back one and two thousand years. these items were discovered while excavating for an underground parking garage beneath the square. it was nice to be out of the brisk breeze, and the 3rd century gallo-roman ramparts and stone houses were interesting.
after the crypt we walked along the quai du marche neuf and entered the palais de justice complex (france's supreme court) to visit the sainte-chapelle. this small place of worship predates the huge cathedral notre dame by a few hundred years. the sainte-chapelle was built to house the holy relics (including a piece of the cross of jesus) brought back in the 1200s from crusades in the middle east by the devout rulers of france, who considered themselves not only appointed by god to rule the kingdom, but also asserted that they were direct descendents of the people who produced the bible they worshipped, a very convenient claim.
outside the sainte-chappelle we paused at a poster announcing the schedule of performances of music by mozart most evenings at la sainte-chappelle. we talked about fitting one of the shows into our schedule. it was still too early to go back to the apartment so we decided to go back to the louvre, which was only a few blocks away on the right bank.
we crossed the seine on pont neuf. we detoured into a large, expensive department store. the quality of the clothes and furnishings was high, but not high enough to justify the astronomical prices. scarves in the men's department were priced at hundreds of euros each. nothing to buy, but it was fun to walk through the store, built in an ancient building with large open iron staircases in an atrium style center.