The Louvre, Art History and Musings on Christianity (NSFW?)

I am not a Christian. I was not raised in the Christian faith. However, I live in a world deeply influenced by Christianity. I’ve seen fit to do the reading, and I was trained as an anthropologist where topics of ritual and worship are big parts of the curriculum. 

I’ve observed that museums and churches are absolutely packed of items supposedly touched by Jesus Christ. There are pieces of the true cross, the crown of thorns, and of course there’s the shroud. The full crown of thorns was just ceremonially returned to Notre Dame, following its reopening.

But it feels like there is a missing piece to all this. Namely: his foreskin. Jesus, being raised a Jew, had a bris eight days after his birth. The Feast of the Circumcision is celebrated on January 1, what the rest of us call New Year’s Day. So, theoretically, there is still an actual piece – not something touched by, not something transubstantiated into – but an actual piece of Jesus out there somewhere. DNA and all! 

My burning question is: why isn’t anybody out there hunting for it? The quest for the Holy Grail, merely a cup from which Jesus drank, is part of great literature (and cinema. It’s the best of the Indiana Jones movies). Why is there no Dan Brown book about this? Or Mark Twain? Why hasn’t that ridiculous artifact-stealing and terrorist-supporting Museum of the Bible spent their untaxed dollars on searching it out?

I know my head is a weird place. Welcome in! I blame the Louvre:

 

Hanging in the Louvre, Raising the Questions

~Lucy

Holidays, Such as They Are

I haven't put up a christmas tree in....I can't think how long. 2008? 2009? But I still have a penchant for ornaments. I try to not acquire too many, since they just end up in a box in storage. But when I saw this lil lady in the Philadelphia City Hall gift shop, she had to come home with me. Maybe she'll get an outing next year. 

~Lucy

Eiffel Tower

We visited the Eiffel Tower in January during our friend Rachel’s visit, and learned that the top portion is closed every January for maintenance. Since Brian had never been to the top, I figured we would pop up for a return visit. Of course, being winter in Paris, it was gray and cloudy. The wind kicked up significantly, which buffeted the tower and elevator as we reached the pinnacle. But it was still fascinating to see the views, and marvel at the engineering of the structure.

We took the elevator back down to the second level, but we were feeling energetic so we opted for the stairs the rest of the way down. We hadn’t had much of a sunset, but the dark was offset by the atmospheric tower lighting. I hadn’t visited the first level before and the holiday lights were lovely, and Pere Noel had a real beard and very fashionable suit. Tres chic! There is even an event space which I am sure has been used for weddings (very chapel-like) but that evening was set up for a candlelight concert. Who knew?

 

~Lucy

 

The sun briefly appeared and shone on Invalides

Lucy close to the edge

Eiffel's "apartment" I spared you the wax versions of Edison and Eiffel

The christmas globe on the 1st floor

The elevator has a mock driver showing how they used to be operated 

View from below

Light show in the garden

Wide angle lenses are fun

What it looks and sounds like on the hour at night, it was a bit windy out.

Notre Dame de Paris

One reason returning to Paris was so attractive this winter was to see the things we missed last year. There were so many construction closures of venues being prepped for the Olympics, there were places we weren't able to see. And of course, there is Notre Dame. Brian, having first visited Paris in the autumn of 2019, had never been inside it. My last visit to Notre Dame was in December 2012, when I entered in the dark of night and sat my atheist self through half a mass.

 

But the post-fire reconstruction is (mostly) complete and the church has been reconsecrated and reopened to the public, as of December 7^th 2024. I was eager to get inside and see it, so I hit refresh each morning on the website for visiting. There is a free ticketed entry, tho of course with an optional donation, but it is only available for a limited number of people and only two calendar days out. I found three spots available on Tuesday, but very early in the morning. Due to our late train back from Strasbourg, that was not attractive. One spot opened Wednesday, but 30 minutes out. We couldn’t get there in that time frame. Finally, on Thursday a 2pm spot opened. Then it was taken before I managed to fill in our contact information. One more refresh and a 2:30pm spot showed up. I managed to snag it.

 

On the way there we were hit by rain, then hail, then high winds, and finally gorgeous blue skies. Winter in France. But that was lucky, because the stained-glass windows showed their full beauty with the sun (brief as it was). The rest of the church was honestly unsettling.

 

All the news outlets have published photos of the interior and its white stone walls and vaulted ceilings. As I said before, I was last there at night. But previous daytime visits were still in darkness, thanks to the aging and staining of the stone. The whiteness is visually jarring. But the other senses are equally jangled. Old (Catholic) churches have a certain scent: a bit of lingering incense, damp wool, stone dust, wood polish. Notre Dame has none of these (yet) and smells like nothing. The reconstruction upgraded the HVAC system, so there is also the faint hissing of the airflow adding to the auditory experience. 

 

All in all, the beauty of the structure is offset with a feeling of alienness. But I expect it will be broken in again soon. The pipe organ will be played, the censer swung, the tourist bodies will crowd in, and the new car smell will dissipate.

 ~Lucy

One of the many chapels

One of the famous rose windows

The reflection on the wall opposite

An overwhelmed couple

So many people trying to take photos

So bright

Not a great photo of the memorial to the firefighters, donors and builders

Lots of people, still really bright

Lucy said, "what's that up there?"

We both said, "WTF?"

And there you go

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is advertised as having the best Christmas Markets in France, possibly in Europe, so we hopped a train for a daytrip. We are hoping to do more visits outside Paris this trip. To that end B got a special train pass for discounted fares. 

My brother Patrick spent time in Strasbourg as a college student and has sung the praises of Alsatian cuisine ever since. Thus, we arrived and immediately had lunch. Patrick did not oversell the point.

 

While researching our journey we came across a font-based problem. B was trying to figure out the name of the river through the city. But zooming in on maps only showed what appear to be ferry crossings. It turns out the name of the river is Ill (ill). Which, in a sans serif font…. could be roman numerals, and can be mistaken for ferry crossings, and is absolutely hilarious.  

 

We wandered the Petite France district, then the old town and main plaza. The line for the cathedral bell tower visit was too long, but we did enter the main part of the cathedral and admire the red sandstone. Central Strasbourg is picturesque, and also a bit incongruous. Petite France used to be the industrial area with tanneries and warehouses (which meant back in the day it smelled awful). All of that has been tidied away and the canals and locks are now water features to the neighborhood. The Protestant Reformation was a huge impact on Strasbourg and its role in both France and Germany, and yet the central church is Catholic. I think spending more time in the town would peel back more layers, but we were only day tripping.

 

As for the Christmas markets, they were as advertised. There was an enormous tree in front of the Maire (City Hall), which was lit with musical accompaniment at 4pm. There were carousels and trees and all the stalls. The vin chaud blanc was particularly good, with lots of chopped up orange and honey added to the Alsatian wines. The locals go beyond just the markets and decorate the storefronts with elaborate displays.

 

However, I may be done with Christmas Markets. I’ve now visited them in Aachen, Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Madrid, Toledo, Granada, and Paris. They add color and light and scents to the dark winter days. But they have also become (in my definition of the word) pornographic. That is to say: they are meant to be titillating, but they are repetitive and ultimately numbing. There is stall after stall of the same wares: ornaments and creches (at least a nod to the holiday), sweets, nougat, honey, cheese, wine, scarves, jewelry, and all manner of knickknacks. We are not instinctive shoppers, so beyond a cup of wine and a “bretzel” (I have no idea why the spelling variant), we’re not participants in the markets. I sound terribly jaded. I hope I’m not. I think it’s a bit like our Alaskan midwinter carnival Fur Rendezvous. It’s a chance to get out and have a break from the gray and gloom, but after a while it’s a bit manufactured. Since we aren’t tied to work and school schedules, we are regularly finding the joy in everyday things. 

 

One more funny: it was warmer in Strasbourg than Paris, flirting with 50 degrees when out of the wind. B commented on the bugs. After a bit of cogitation, I hypothesized that they weren’t really local. The sheer volume of vin chaud on offer – steaming cauldrons every third stall – introduced…. fruit flies.

~Lucy 

Bad photo of a beautiful tree

So many people

Baccarat lights all along this street

Vin chaud to go, always

Lights are coming on

Pretty or creepy?

Cathedral at twilight

One of the many entrances to the old town

A street just for brewers

Naughty or Nice?

Not a photoshop, that was the night sky

Pretty canals in Petit France

More pretty

Festive or creepy?

Paris J'Adore

Here we are, back again. Ready for more adventures! 

Obviously, greetings from Paris! We arrived on Sunday. We took a direct flight from Seattle, where we had two layover nights. Seattle was lovely, if only for a brief time. I got to check in with a friend, and three cousins, and see a Second City comedy show – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Sweater. I would say the skits were decent, but the improv was terrible. About what I expected. Seattle gardens in “winter” are so lovely. I do miss that greenery in Alaska.

This was our first time flying Air France, and this way of coming over, breaking up our trip so as not to fly 2 or 3 flights in one day. All told, a very comfortable journey. We left midday in Seattle and arrived early morning here. Unfortunately, this does seem to have translated to severe jet lag. My body is very confused and my sleep cycle is a mess. But…it doesn’t really matter? We’re not on the clock to do anything in particular. We’re trying to get in to Notre Dame, which re-opened on the 7th. But they are only allowing ticketing two days ahead of time, and they don’t tell you when things are full until you’ve already been sitting in the virtual queue for about 30 minutes. We’ll get in there eventually…

 

It’s been cloudy and gray and damp every day since we arrived. That probably doesn’t help with the jet lag. Sunshine seems to be better for that. We have still managed some nice walks. We have visited the Galleries Lafayette to see the Christmas decorations, since they tend to go big. Last year they had an amazing 4-story tree, but with a really bizarre giant elf stuck to one side of it. This year the tree and décor are more pastel, and celebrating the 130^th anniversary of the store. The interior didn’t wow us (plus, the stench of perfume is overwhelming in there) but the outside window displays were wonderful. Then we spent over an hour browsing the Galleries Lafayette Maison – the home store. No stink, and lots of goodies and gadgets and gourmet food. The spice area and the wine cave were fun to walk through. And so much foie gras! Quite the emporium. We will not dream of sugarplums, but rather induction cooktops and fancy decanters. 

Creative windows at Galleries Lafayette.

Oddly, this character looks like my godson R!

Massive Pot

Our Holiday Decor

~Lucy