Paris and Three Cities in The Netherlands

Paris and Three Cities of the Netherlands

Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie and more of the Louvre

From the hotel we walked to Sainte-Chapelle, a Gothic church built between 1242 and 1248 for King Louis IX, the only French king who is now a saint. It has 15 separate panels of stained glass, 6500 square feet, 2/3 of it a 13th century original. The glass panels tell the story of the Bible from Genesis to the life of Christ. Seven panels are now being redone, so not all were able to be seen today, but we had seen them a number of times before. There is more stained glass from here to be seen at the Cluny Musuem tomorrow. To get an idea of the overall views, there is also an interesting virtual tour at http://www.fromparis.com/panoramas_quicktime_vr/sainte_chapelle_01/

After more than an hour of admiring this stained glass, we went to the nearby Conciergerie, a former prison of the time of the French Revolution. Over 2,700 French citizens were tried in this building and condemned to death by the guillotine. There were some interesting cells of different levels for the condemned, straw on the floor for the poor and slightly better facilities for the higher class. They had even reconstructed the cell of Marie Antoinette, with a crucifix and a Bible on her table. An interesting historical video was also shown to tell of the history of the time.

From there we went back to the Louvre to see a couple of rooms we wanted to see again, especially the 19th century French artists like Corot. We also wanted to see the Dutch section, which had been closed on Wednesday. In that area we saw two Vermeers and a number of Rembrandt works as well as works of many Dutch artists.

After leaving there we walked back to the hotel, stopping only for a beer at a nearby cafe. After some rest we walked to a restaurant which specialized in moules (mussels,) So we each had a large pot of moules, with all the french fries and bread we wanted, and also a good local beer. We were so full we couldn't eat any dessert, so no gelato this evening. One more day left on the Museum pass, so we will have a busy day tomorrow.

Tomorrow we see the Cluny Museum and the Rodin Museum.