Paris - l'Orangerie - Sainte-Chapelle - Mon. - Oct.4

Paris awakens on Monday morning.  The streets are buzzing with cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians.  Brisk fall weather is in the air.  Sunny skies beckon us eager tourists as we hike across the Seine.  

The Musee de l'Orangerie has a special exhibition :

This is very avant-garde .. a distinctive form of expressionism straddling figurative and abstract art.  Also in the collection are some pieces by Cezanne and Renoir and Utrillo and Monet.

On the main floor, in two separate very large oval rooms with natural skylight domes were very LARGE Monet water lily paintings.   I'm sure the partial glimpses I give you below will not do them justice :

to give you a scale :

Let me make it up to you by presenting my own canvas of specially selected pics from our walk along the Seine to Ile-de-la-Cite' and Sainte-Chapelle :

leaving Musee de 'Orangerie-

Looking down at part of The Tuileries Garden space which was made public in 1667.  It's a wonderful, very long space where Parisians celebrate, meet, stroll, and relax.

Then we walked over to the Louvre entrance.   What a fantastic-looking surrounding area!

and then the iconic Louvre's entrance :

Onward we hiked along the Seine :

And then .. Sainte-Chapelle appeared :

What a magnificent structure. Built between 1242-1248.   A gem of 'high gothic' architecture.  The king wanted it built to house the relics of the Passion of Christ.   The most famous of these relics was the Crown of Thorns, acquired in 1239 for a sum that greatly exceeded the cost of building the Chapel itself.

This sight was surrounded and protected by many many police. Security was very evident.  Several checkpoints.

There were two sanctuaries, one on top of the other.

Here's some pics from the top one :

We felt claustrophobic going up then coming down the very narrow staircases :

Down to the lower sanctuary :

What a lovely and spectacular cathedral!

Across the street we went to get lunch.  While sitting and enjoying the world go by, an image of a man carrying a hockey stick and his gear bag reminded me that I have some hockey-watching to get back to!

Now we need to convince our feet that we need to hike back to the hotel.   It turns out that today's trip and thousands of steps totaled .. 7-miles !!!!  Yikes!

Enjoy some pics from the OTHER side of the Seine :

Oh yeah, I forgot, we hiked down to gander at the repair construction progress at Notre Dame.

They anticipate it will be ready for visitors by .. 2030.

keep walking Joe .. Jan is waiting for you !!

This is the back of the Nationale Assemblee, remember from yesterday, on the way to the Orsay?

and finally a view from the Invalides with the Eiffel T :

What a glorious sunny day!   So many beautiful sights!  This place is old!   Makes you appreciate what has gone on before you!   How did they construct so many magnificent structures?

My feet are numb.   Rest up, one more full day of adventures and sights.   Versailles awaits!

'We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.'      :)