Fabulous churches, our Paris apartment, and an anniversary celebration

Day 20 France 2012

Leon and I decided to go visit some churches on our list while Mark and Vicki went to museums.  The first church we visited was Saint Etienne du Mont.  Dave had brought us an article that he had found in the Wall Street Journal about this church .  The tomb of Saint Genevieve is in this church.  She is the patron saint of Paris and lived in the fifth century.  Her claim to fame is that she saved Paris from Attila the Hun by getting the citizens of Paris to pray. 

 Louis XV decided that there needed to be a better memorial for her bones, so he commissioned a new church to be built to house them, but in 1791 the Revolution broke out before the new church could be dedicated, and the Revolutionaries renamed the church the Pantheon and determined that it would be the burial place for distinguished Frenchmen.   

Saint Genevieve’s remains were moved across the street to the church of Saint Etienne du Mont.

One of the most distinguishing features of this church is the jubé, an architectural feature that spans the middle of the church.  This is the sole survivor in all of Paris and one of the few in the world.  St. Etienne’s was built across the wide central nave in the 1530s.  Prayers were read from this walkway built of intricately carved stone. 

One little bit of info that might interest you is that in the movie, Midnight in Paris,  Gil is picked up for his midnight adventures from the steps of St. Etienne du Mond.

As we walked down the street, we came across one of the free public toilets on the sidewalk.  There is a button that you push that opens the door, then once inside, the door closes.  There is a toilet and wash basin inside that are meticulously clean because once you exit, the door closes and the whole place has an automatic wash cycle that cleans everything before it will open again.  

We walked on to St. Severin, one of the oldest churches on the Left Bank, begun in the 11^th century on the place where an even more ancient church had been destroyed by the Vikings.  It has the oldest bell in any church in Paris (cast in 1412).  Inside is an interesting column that looks like a palm tree (look at the far back center between the stained glass windows), and there are some fabulous contemporary stained glass windows that represent the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church.  I think that I liked the gargoyles best of all.

Since we were in the Latin Quarter, we walked around the crowded pedestrian streets. 

 We found a crepe shop…one of my favorite things about Paris is a Nutella banana crepe, and I had not had one yet, so we stopped by and bought one.  It was as delicious as I had remembered!

The art nouveau Metro stops are always fun to spot around town.

We crossed over the Seine River and had another great view of Notre Dame Cathedral. 

 We walked by the long lines of people (this is about 1/3 of the line) waiting to get into Saint Chapelle and were glad that we had already seen it twice.

  We crossed the Seine again (we had been on the island in the middle of the Seine) with this view.

 Leon was warning me that the skies were going to open up and pour down rain (see photo above for dark clouds), but I insisted that we see one more church so I just plowed on.  Of course, he was right, and it started raining as we were searching for St. Eustache.  We saw the church towers and headed for the church only to realize that there was construction in front of the church that necessitated a several block detour in order to get to it.  By the time we got there, we were soaked even though we had raincoats and umbrellas…that is starting to sound like an every-day occurrence for us!

St. Eustache was begun in 1532 on the site of a church established in 1223.  In fact, there is a plaque on the inside that lists all of the curates of the church since 1223.   

 It is located right across the street from Les Halles which used to be the market for fresh produce and now houses a huge underground mall and train and Metro stations. 

Inside the church is the tomb of Jean Baptiste Colbert, a finance minister for King Louis XIV in the seventeenth century.  

 It has the largest pipe organ in all of France (8000 pipes) and also has some great stained glass windows. 

 Because of the rain and the construction, I did not get any photos of the outside, but stole this photo from Wikipedia.

We came back to our apartment at 24 Rue de Monttessuy, which Mark thinks is great for Arkansas folks since he pronounces it as Mon-tay-sooey.

 It is really a nice place with a newly remodeled kitchen and bathroom, spacious bedrooms and a large living/dining room.  The manager and his staff have been so helpful.  We are happy to be here.

 

The shower is behind that smoked glass door.  There are double sinks, great lighting, a towel warmer, and a new washer and dryer.

 The kitchen even has an espresso machine which Leon and Mark have been enjoying.

The living room is spacious and has a nice dining area.  Leon and I loved the black leather/wooden chair and ottoman.

A sofa and loveseat and plenty of lights and table space for four adults with four computers.  The wireless was fast and wonderful.

Mark and Vicki had to make do with twin beds, but there was a lavatory with mirror and dressing table in their room.

Leon and I had a large room with an extremely comfortable queen-sized bed.

Since it was our mutual anniversaries, Mark and Vicki took us out to a nice restaurant to celebrate.  We went to Auberge Nicholas Flamel, located in the oldest house in Paris built by Flamel in 1407.  You might recognize the name Nicholas Flamel as the character in Harry Potter who discovers the Philosopher’s or Sorcerer’s Stone.

We had great food…I took the reliable foie gras while Leon chose the three fruits of the sea (or something like that.

I had duck while he had the cod for our main course.

For dessert, he had chocolate with gingerbread sorbet, and I had pistachio cake with citrus sorbet.

We all decided that it had been a wonderful anniversary celebration.