GZ- Here's the Church, here's the steeple!

The idea in coming to Paris was to show the girls some culture and history beyond their familiar US experience. But today I got a glimpse of perspective when Fedora (who identifies herself, as does Pleasant, as Jewish) entered a cathedral with me and looked up. Waaaaayyy up. She has not visited many churches, let alone a 17th century early Renaissance style church, one of the 'most beautiful' in Paris, St-Eustace in the Les Halles area. The organist was playing the massive pipe organ and hearing the music we both looked at each other and smiled and found a seat. It turned out to be the requiem for a funeral taking place in one of the side chapels. After a bit she got up and explored the place and when I found her I pointed out some of the things I knew about that kind of architecture. The sun was pouring thru the stained glass rose windows, casting vibrant rainbows on the worn stone floor. Moliere was buried here and Louis XV's famous mistress Marquise de Pompadour was baptized here. Afterwards Fedora said that was the first Catholic church she had been in, (way to start at the top!) and we sat in the park and looked at it and remarked on all the symbolism integrated into its details. 'What do the flying buttresses DO?' she asked. 'They hold up the walls' I answered. 'Probably a good thing then' she quipped.

I spent most of my youthful trips to Europe as a 'History Major' visiting, studying and sitting in ancient churches throughout France and Italy and it was actually the 2nd cathedral for me today, having stepped into St-Paul-St-Louis this morning while I waited for the girls to go back to the flat to fetch something. St-Paul/Louis is at the end of our street, literally, and was built by the then powerful Jesuits beginning in 1627 when Louis the XIII laid the first stone. The remaining jewel was Delacroix's painting, Christ in the Garden of Olives, which dark and dust laden, still had "It". I put my 2 euros in the box and lit a votive under one of the statues of Mary and asked her to put in a good word for me, because I am an equal opportunity spiritualist.

We had walked around the outside of Notre-Dame yesterday (Sunday) knowing we would come back on a less crowded day to go thru it and were probably not going to brave the 422 steps up the tower, even if those awesome gargoyles were waiting up there for us. Pleasant will join us for that one but today she was wondering Les Halles, shopping, because everyone has their own place of worship in Paris.