Messe à Notre Dame-Mass at Notre Dame

June 8, 2008

Today was a new adventure for us all. We drove into Paris and attended Mass (messe) à Notre Dame Cathedral. There was a choir and they sang many different songs. The priest gave several sermons, he even gave a short one in English.

After it was over we discussed the differences between Mass and our meetings. I was very impressed by this things they observed, they even noticed things I didn't. We had a great religious discussion with lots and lots of questions, we were all grateful for the experience.

After church at Notre Dame we walked over to see the magnificence of Saint Chappelle and all of the stained glass.

We learned that the windows were spared during the Revolution because the church had been used as an office and it had enormous filing cabinets up against the windows.

Looking up at the gargoyles on Saint Chappelle-Dallas noticed this great shot.

We were all thinking of Grandma T as we stood on this road-this is the street that

The Last Time I Saw Paris was filmed on. Rue de la Huchette- It was hopping with tourist and Parisians.

The food in all the Greeks shops looked so delicious we agreed we would have to come back for lunch another day.

The Road of the Cat Who Fishes

It is said to be the shortest, narrowest street in the world.

We filled our day visiting many different churches in the St. Michel area. We went inside St Severin-a Gothic church built in 1210, then St-Julien-le-Pauvre-the oldest church in Paris. The present church goes back to the Lonpont monks, who began work on it in 1170.

The Rodin Museum

This museum and the Rodin in Meudon together hold the largest collection of the master sculptures work.

The Thinker, or known in earlier days as the Poet.

In our reading of Rodin and his work we learned that he encouraged reproduction of his art and so you can see many of his sculptures in several museums across the world.
The Thinker is probably his most recognized piece and the kids favorite.

Rodin is buried in his hometown of Meudon with a Thinker just like this one as his tombstone.

Erin this is for you. I know that you wanted Travis to get a picture of this while he was here, but we never made it to the Rodin at the time. I really liked this museum because there is a great collection inside the museum as well as the gardens outside.

Inside the metro stop for the Museum they have large plastic statues the kids could touch them all they wanted and know they weren't going to damage anything.
It was a full, busy day and only took about 35 seconds until they were out.