European Travelog D2E1 - a garden and a cathedral
We woke up to a cloudy and rainy day in Paris. It was drizzling on and off and we decided to step out with our raincoats, shortly after breakfast.
Our first halt is the Tuileries Gardens. As we walk towards these gardens, the only other people we see on the streets at this early hour on a Saturday morning are other tourists like us wanting to make the most of their visit to Paris.
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It's a bit like the Lal Bagh of Paris, however with the difference that it has seen a fair share of battles from the French Revolution to World War II.
We walk by some of the sculptures in the garden - among historical characters there's Augustus Caesar, still looking like he was an emperor and there's Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who inflicted a great deal of pain on the Romans.
The other sculptures include depictions of the seasons - Spring, Autumn and Winter as well as Ceres, the Roman goddess of of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships.
There are also some non-classical sculptures, like this well-endowed lady, who serves as target practice for the many plump pigeons that are all around the gardens.
We can see the western end of the Louvre from the gardens as we exit.
As we approach, we see details of the three figures placed near the end of the gardens.
The lettering below - Le Fils De Cain - the Sons of Cain. This bronze group, by the sculptor Paul Landowski, represents Jabel, the shepherd, Jubal, the poet and Tubalcain, the blacksmith. While this is not a very famous piece, Landowski created many more monuments around the world and is more well know for work on Mount Corcovado in Rio De Janeiro - Christ the Redeemer.
We have a 11 AM slot for entry to Musée d'Orsay and have some more time before that - so we decide to walk towards the Notre Dame Cathedral. It's a nice walk along the banks of the River Seine.
There have been news reports that for the upcoming July 2024 Olympics in Paris, the triathlon swimmers will be swimming on a portion of the Seine and there is a massive clean-up operation in progress to reduce pollution and make it suitable for swimming. However, the waters of the Seine still look dark and muddy and it's not something that you might want to take a dip in.
We cross the Seine over Pont Royal, the Royal Bridge. A plaque on the bridge informs us that it was constructed between 1685 and 1689 with funding from the Sun King, Louis XIV.
On this weekend morning there are as many joggers and cyclists as cars on the road.
A building across the street catches our eye. It's a typical Parisian building with a restaurant and shops in the ground floor, but a plaque on the upper floor identifies it as the building where the French writer Volatire passed away on 30 May 1778, a decade before the French revolution.
Voltaire, who propounded the radical ideas of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state, died in this house which belonged to his friend. It's a measure of our progress, or lack of it, that these ideas which he championed are still unacceptable in many parts of the world and in some cases we are regressing from a society where these are the norms to large ghettos where even talking about such ideas are taboo.
A few buildings away from where Voltaire died, there's another building where Palestine supporters have put up a banner calling out support for their cause.
An adjacent building has a banner with a Palestine flag which claims "No one's free until everyone is free". It's interesting what Voltaire might have to say regarding freedom in this context. While Voltaire's views on freedom were well know, what's not as well known is how Voltaire and his mathematician friend made a fortune by rigging the lottery.
Our meandering walk along the Seine finally takes us to the cathedral of Notre Dame, on the Île de la Cité, an island in the Seine River. This Gothic cathedral, now close to a millennium old, is closed to visitors after the massive fire which broke out in April 2019. A notice board outside informs us that the plan is to open the premises to visitors in December 2024 and it's now in the midst of a massive renovation effort after raising almost a billion Euros.
The turn of the first millennium was the time for massive construction projects around the world. In South India, in the small village a Thanjavur, one of the greatest temples of India, the Brihadisvara Temple was being built by the Chola empire.
According to Wikipedia, the construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral, in a small island at the center of what would become Paris, began in 1163 and was largely completed by 1260, though it was modified in succeeding centuries. As with many other religious structures, the site where the cathedral now stands was the site of a temple to Jupiter, the Roman king of gods. The cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, now holds what is believed to be the Crown of Thorns, a nail from the Cross, and a sliver of the Cross.
There was a brief period when the cathedral owed allegiance to others. After the French Revolution in 1789, Notre-Dame and the rest of the church's property in France was seized and made public property. The cathedral was rededicated in 1793 to the Cult of Reason, and then to the Cult of the Supreme Being in 1794. After Napoleon came to power, both cults were banned in 1802.
The Louvre has an imposing painting - 33 feet by 20 feet - of the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor in the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Only the front and a portion of the side of the cathedral is visible in the midst of all the renovation work going on. We take a closer look at the large rosette window, which would look magnificent from inside with the sunlight streaming in.
I'm sure each of the figures under the rosette has an intriguing backstory of how they ended up in one of the most magnificent cathedrals in France.
On the right side is a massive statue of Charlemagne.
It's almost time for us to head to the Musée d'Orsay for our 11 AM ticket and we turn back from the 12th century cathedral and retrace our steps along the Seine.
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Comments
Do talk about the food a little bit !