The Handlers were up bright and early this morning, picking up a walking breakfast from the local boulangerie, and heading out to their first site of the day; the Musee de Cluny.
Handler 2 was very unhappy to find out that it was not, actually, a museum in celebration of Clooney, his favorite actor (and man crush). Unfortunately the Cluny (whose other name is the Musee du Moyen Age) contains artwork from the middle ages. It's claim to fame is the beautiful "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestry series (which is in a dark room and does not translate well to photography).
This museum is housed partly in a 15th century abbey, and partly in Gallo-Roman baths. Unfortunately, the baths area was closed. But here's a part of the former abbey below.
There were some really detailed and amazing examples of stained glass as well.
For all our fencing peeps, a medival instruction booklet.
After the Cluny, it was time for a little religion. We were heading for the famous Notre Dame cathedral. On the way, Handler 2 spotted this cool fountain!
Arriving at Notre Dame, we decided to begin our tour with a trip up into the towers to see the giant bells. As this required us to stand in yet another seemingly endless queue, we decided to grab lunch. We had yet more ham and cheese sandwiches (with brownies) which were really quite good, and easy to eat while standing in line.
We finally made it to the front and entered the towers. Once again, there was no elevator option.
Taking a breather. Once up on the roof (some 400+ steps later), we were treated to another spectacular view, and a bunch of gargoyles.
No, I mean it, there were a LOT of gargoyles.
Back on the ground, and legs shaking, we decided to hurry through the rest of our tour of the cathedral, as there wasn't much time left in the day, and we still had much of Paris to explore.
It was now time to move inside. Notre Dame may not be as big as some other cathedrals (Canterbury, which both Handlers have been to before, comes to mind), but it does have it's charms.
Here's another spectacular shot of the interior. Cathedrals just seem to lend themselves to black and white photography. Handler 1 was very pleased and thinks she got a number of "wall hangers".
Having seen our fill of churches for one day, we decided to move on to more secular entertainments. We arrived at the Louvre museum and this skylight, which is also a chalice...or a metaphorical representation of woman....or the focus of a sloppily written Dan Brown novel. Or, you know, it could just be a skylight.
Unfortunately, we only had few hours to give to the massive, unending, cournacopia of art that is the Louvre, but we did manage to hit the "Louvre Trifecta".
First up, the Venus de Milo.
Next, Nike. Winged Victory for those of you familiar with Greek. A sports shoe for those of you more familiar with fashion.
And....the main attraction....the lady with the enigmatic smile who needs no introduction...
There were a couple other things to see there, too. Like this really bored classical sculpture.
Meh.Handler 2, who is a classics freak, wanted to spend more time at the Louvre string at status of naked women. He claims it's from a love of scholarship....whatever. He will have to be content with what little time we were able to spend.
Tomorrow we close out Paris and the next day, move on to less urban (if not necessarily greener) pastues.
Interesting Fact of the Day: Quote of the day was unfortunately forgotten.
There is a roulette channel in France....where you can bet by phone...on CGI roulette....that is all.
We were wondering when Notre Dame and the Louvre would come along. ;)
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