Life in the Latin Quarter

I am pleased that Ericka, Luke, and a few more students (?) are starting to chime in on the blog! (It is up to you, but Tudors... do consider offering a few photos...)

Events in Chilly Paris

Today we met Gabrielle Greenway, our French tour guide and a long-time resident of Paris. This is awesome for me, as I have been to Paris but really value having a local to offer insights.  Gabrielle took us to Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter today, and she will take us to the Louvre and the Cluny Museum of the Middle Ages tomorrow.

We visited not only Notre Dame cathedral, with its evocative gothic architecture, but also a newly opened museum known as 'the crypt', which does not contain sacred burials but a collection of artifacts related to the origins of the city.  While workers were digging out a parking garage recently, voila!, they discovered the ruins of ancient Roman settlements, as well as medieval foundations related to buildings on the Ile de la Cite, where Notre Dame is located. We were able to see how the city grew from its origins as a Roman outpost to a medieval city in the swamps, and (eventually) a modern city built well above the original water line.  This reminded me a bit of Seattle and its origins along the marshy Duwamish River.

The interior of Notre Dame is not as spectacular as Westminster Abbey in London. This is because the church was damaged in the Middle Ages, chipped away during iconoclastic riots in the early modern period, and (finally) purged of sacred graves and altars during the French Revolution.  There are now no major relics or burial shrines in this cathedral, as you might find in the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.  Instead, there are more modern altars, fabulous medieval glass windows, some fantastic stone carvings depicting the life of Jesus in the central choir, and a chance to see medieval architecture up close. (The bones of this structure withstood all torments and are amazing to study.)

Modern Parisians fell in love (again) with Notre Dame only after Victor Hugo's writings in the 1830s, and in the 19th century sought to preserve the church.  What is has, it has in spades, however--fabulous stain glass windows and a magnificent exterior.  I would say, in fact, that this is the most spectacular setting for a cathedral that I have ever seen in Europe, due to the amazing location of the church on Ile de la Cite.

Photos

Here are some pics from our visit to Notre Dame, and also our walking tour of the Latin Quarter, a narrow, medieval-feeling part of the city.  I must also admit to how extremely cold it was today-- our chilliest day yet.  The students never complained, but I saw several shivering now and then.  It snowed some, and a few Parisians told us it was the coldest day yet this winter. Of course, as a result there were few tourists around and we had the city to ourselves.

Here is our entire PLU J-term class near the eastern end of Notre Dame in Paris. (Photo by Gabrielle)

A memorial to Joan of Arc on the south wall of Notre Dame. A folk hero in France today, Joan fought for the French during the 100 Years War, but was captured and executed by English sympathizers in 1431. She was later proclaimed a martyr.

This is Gabrielle, our tour guide, discussing the evolution of gothic architecture in France.

 Here is the north rose window in Notre Dame, one of the famous stained glass windows in the church. Over 80% of this glass was placed here in the 1300s.  For me, seeing the window is one of the real treats of visiting Europe. Of course, if you turn 180 degrees, you can look at the south rose window, with its reddish hues, you'll fall in love with that one, too--

Victor Hugo wrote Notre Dame de Paris in 1831, better known in English as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This book revived interest in Notre Dame and enticed people from miles around to catch a glimpse of the mythical hunchback lurking high in the ramparts.  Shy and illusive at first, we had the fortune to receive a visit from Quasimodo, who a quick photographer captured on film before he fled to the bell tower with Thomas and Alex...

 Fresh fish for sale at the local market we visited for lunch...

 Many types of shellfish were also available...

 

 Here Parisians carefully pick ingredients for the evening meal. Students were encouraged to shop in the market for lunch and try out their French vocabularies.  It was fun to be looking for food in an area where locals also shop and insist on the freshest ingredients.

 But it was cold. Much colder than the photos above have shown.  Here Amber and Claire give Randall hugs in a self-less attempt to stay warm.

Our walking tour took us by several colleges in the University of Paris, including the Sorbonne, Europe's second oldest university.  The Sorbonne was known in the medieval and early modern periods for its highly orthodox Roman Catholic theology, and many of Europe's most distinguished theologians came through here. They also worked to root out heretical thought, and were heavy weights during the Protestant Reformation, especially in France. (For example, John Calvin fled Paris in 1533 with a circle of reformers who feared the censorship of the Sorbonne and accusations in nearby College Royal.)

Tomorrow: painting in the Louvre and traces of Anne Boleyn in Paris--

Mike H.