We emerged from the métro to find a street market on the
sidewalks surrounding the museum. The
smells from the foods cooking were glorious.
I hurried Jane and Sherri along once I saw hoards of children headed for
the museum. Always better to get ahead
of the crowd if you can!
I was disappointed to see that the medieval garden area was
closed to visitors. Many of the flowers
and plants were cultivated after they were identified in the Lady and the
Unicorn tapestries.
The Cluny has a variety of subjects of interest from its
Roman baths to its headless statues from the façade of Notre Dame, with
detached heads nearby, to its original stained-glass windows from Ste Chapelle
to holy relics, tapestries, chain mail, swords, and shields.
I love to visit the Lady with the Unicorn tapestries. When I was in fifth grade, several of the
girls in my class and myself would often draw unicorns. Unicorns and girls seem to go together. Then there is the story that a unicorn can
only be tamed by a virgin. These
particular tapestries display scenes depicting the five senses, with one
additional tapestry that poses a mystery to many as to its possible meaning.
Sight
Smell
Taste
Hearing
Touch
The most enigmatic:
My Only Desire
No one knows who designed the scenes nor who or where the
tapestries were made, but they are simply exquisite. Tracy Chevalier’s book The Lady and the Unicorn offers a plausible story behind their
creation.
After the museum, we walk along the street fair tents
through the Latin Quarter to the park where the oldest tree in Paris lives.
West of the park is the internationally-known bookstore
Shakespeare & Company, and across the river is Notre Dame. One of my personal quests is to visit the
various Wallace Fountains in Paris. I
haven’t known much about them before this trip—I didn’t even know what they
were called. An Englishman named Richard
Wallace financed the installation of these drinking fountains—yes, you can
drink the water, and it is cool and refreshing!
The fountains were designed by Charles-Auguste Lebourg. The ones I seek to tag show four caryatids
who represent kindness, simplicity, charity, and sobriety. I have known about the fountain at
Shakespeare & Co. since my first visit to Paris in 2003. I am always surprised when I come upon ones I
haven’t seen before. I will document
these in a separate post.
After dallying in the bookstore, we headed for some shopping
and for some lunch at Aux Tours de Notre
Dame.
Sherri decided she would climb the church towers while Jane and I
went into the church to witness the Veneration
of the Crown of Thorns ceremony. Reportedly, King Louis IX obtained a remnant of the Crown of Thorns
(yes, the crown of thorns from Jesus’ cruxifiction), among his many other Holy
relics, and had Sainte Chapelle, his personal chapel, built in order to house
and display the relics. Through the
centuries, Louis’ relics made their way to the Treasury at Notre Dame de Paris. The
Crown is brought out once a month, the first Friday, for a ceremony. Interestingly, its authenticity has defied
scientific and historical study. My
interest is purely academic since I taught a Humanities course for a number of
years.
A few of Sherri’s views from the top:
We agreed to meet at the café when our separate adventures
came to a close. When Jane and I exited
the church, a woman was screaming and yelling at two of the guards. I have no idea what her problem was, but she
was very vitriolic. I took Jane to see
the center of the medieval world—the marker for Zero longitude that is in front
of Notre Dame. She decided to go sit in
the park behind the cathedral while I nursed a couple of kir royales.
We headed back to our neighborhood via the Cité Métro, which is one of the deepest
of the métro stations/lines. Jane and
Sherri picked up a rotisserie chicken and potatoes for dinner while I begin the
ascent. Our dinner was simple and
elegant—I say this last remembering how I pealed the meat from the bones with
my hands to save for a future meal!
Jour 7—Le lift ne
marche pas.
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