The other day, I shared this window with
side pocket, since his were all covered with plastic and offering a depressing lack of view. It reminded me that I still have un-diaried Paris photos hanging around, so I thought today I'd show a few more of this beautiful cathedral,
Notre-Dame de Paris. It's located on the
Île de la Cité, a natural island in the Seine in the middle of Paris.
Construction of the cathedral began in 1163, and took the better part of two centuries to complete. Over the years, the building and its art suffered severe vandalism several times, most notably during the French Revolution. A big 19th-century restoration program repaired a lot of damage. Amazingly, the rose windows, as shown above, have survived intact from their installation in 1250.
Join me below the orange croissant for some more not-very-good snapshots of this gorgeous building.
Here's an outside view of one of the fabulous rose windows. The scaffolding on the peak of the roof was part of a restoration that was going on at the time (2009).
Gargoyles and flying buttresses!
So, here's the inside story about why I even have these pictures. As I remarked the other day, this was at the very end of a two-week trip. We were supposed to have seen Versailles that day, but we were so tired we just couldn't handle it. There were any number of more local things we could have seen instead, and my travel companion couldn't figure out why I was insisting on Notre Dame, since there are few people less churchy than me.
My hidden agenda was, I have a cartoonist friend named Craig Swanson (I am sure I've mentioned him before -- he's responsible for this cartoon). He had a drawing (among many) that had made me laugh, and I was bent on making him laugh. I did, too.
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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