Paris Day 4

Today was another late start. I think that is going to be our MO here in Paris this trip. Sleep late, wander and do things for hours, come home. It is rather nice. Like a real vacation. No alarms, no gotta get up and to this, gotta run here.

Our first stop was the department store BVH for some ear muffs for my beloved. If you have never been in this amazing store, you need to make it a must the next time you are in Paris. Their housewares displays are works of art.

It is weird, just when you think you have been inside every church in Paris, you run into one you did not know existed. Today we went into two new churches. The first was Saint Gervais, over near the Hotel de Ville. It is a large church and very well kept up, well for a building that is really old, there was a little weirdness inside the church, there were loaves of bread left around the church. Not sure who the offering might be for, but it was something I had never seen before.

The second church is St. Merri. It has the oldest bell in Paris (1331) and has a connection to my favorite warriors for God, the Knights Templar. It seems the portal (which is covered by netting to stop pieces of it from falling on people passing by) has a devil carved into the very tip of it, it is supposed to be Baphomet, whom those that wanted to get rid of the Templars said they worshipped. This church also has a chapel dedicated to the patron saint of prostitutes, Mary the Egyptian. Yes, even prostitutes go to church.

A little further and we come to the Tour St. Jacques. A tall tower that is all that remains of another church. The famous Nicolas Flamel (yes, he really did exist) was buried here, but according to a ghost tour I took once, when his grave was opened there was no corpse. That old sorcerers stone at work perhaps? Good to know that this is also a starting point for the St. Jacques de Compostella, because that is on my to do list.

Then across the river, where again I was amazed at how full it is to perhaps the most beautiful church, St. Chappel. This is the one where the beautiful stained glass windows tell the story of the bible in picture form. My first thought when I was first here was what a nice king (Louis IX) to build a church so his subjects that could not read could still enjoy this story. Then when I realized the common person never saw the inside of this church I thought off with his head. Oh, wait that came later.

The line was far too long and we will be returning earlier in the day to visit this marvel.

We also saw how the French are becoming more green. Special parking spaces for electric cars. They have a serpent like electrical cord painted on the space.

We also walked thru the garden next to Notre Dame where there is a sign that says don't feed the birds. Judging from the photo of the largest pigeon I have ever seen not very many people pay attention to that sign.

And crossing yet another bridge filled with lovers locks we looked for the one my nephew attached for his beloved a couple of years ago. We were not successful, but found that even the Buddha has found a place in Paris.

Oh and one last thing. Our first day I mentioned how high the water was and posted a picture of the street light that was now in the water at the end of our block. Well, I have been wondering if that light was still working at night, as you can see from the picture below it certainly is.

Beautiful.