Monuments in Paris: Château de Vincennes (Part 1 of 3)

Recently, we visited the Château de Vincennes on the outskirts of Paris.  The château was the royal residence of French King Charles V in the mid-1300's.  The complex, surrounded by a deep, wide moat, has many large buildings, including a beautiful chapel and an imposing castle.   

The outer moat of the château

The Sainte-Chapelle at Vincennes is a gothic architectural gem, as you can see for yourself.  

Jean-Claude at Sainte-Chapelle

The interior of the chapel is equally beautiful.  Many tall, wide windows allow the sun to brightly light the interior.  

The nave and altar of Sainte-Chapelle

The stained-glass windows tell the story of the apocalypse.

The main door, loft and rose window of the Sainte-Chapelle.

A close-up of the rose window.

Our visit to the Sainte-Chapelle was a tranquil trip back in time.

Next Up:  Storming the castle.

2019 Tour de France

On Sunday, we watched the finish of the 106th Tour de France.  

The 2,000+ mile race traditionally finishes in Paris on the last Sunday of July.  

Fortunately, our apartment is well located for watching the finish. 

We enjoyed watching the caravan, which arrived 2 hours before the riders.  Below are some photos of the caravan.  We like the irony of seeing modern advertising against the background of the stately Louvre. 

Generation Peche promotes recreational fishing in France.  Apparently, Tour de France fans also enjoy leisure fishing.  Who knew? 

Who doesn't love a bicycling chicken?

 
The cyclists, once they reach the center of Paris, complete eight 4-mile circuits of the Champs Elysees and the Rue de Rivoli.  Part of the circuit is paved with cobblestones.  So, the high-speed ride must be bone-rattling and a bit dangerous.   

Our apartment looks over the Rue de Rivoli where the riders enter the circuit and then pass 8 more times.

The location of our apartment is marked with a yellow arrow.

  

The location on the Rue de Rivoli next to the Louvre where the riders enter the 8km circuit 

We watched the riders from street level and from our apartment window. 

A group of riders, including the overall leader in the Yellow Jersey, the Maillot Jaune

The Maillot Jaune races by again.

 In the center of Paris, the race is a high-speed sprint.  At times, the riders' speed exceeds 32 MPH.   So, when the pack raced by, it was almost a blur.  

The overall winner of the race was 22-year old Egan Bernal of the INEOS team.  He won the Yellow Jersey (Maillot Jaune) and also won the White Jersey for the best young rider.  

Thanks for watching the Tour de France with us.

Patisseries in Paris

Today, we welcomed friends visiting from the U.S.  One of the friends is a lover of fine foods, including pastries.  So, visiting Paris required finding a good patisserie.  Fortunately, that is an easy task in Paris.  

Susan remembered a recommendation from a guide from one of our many walking tours.  He praised the taste and comparatively low cost of macarons at the Patisserie Stohrer in the 2nd arrondissement.  

  

This morning, we visited the neighborhood of Les Halles and found Stohrer.  

It turns out that Stoher is reputed to be the oldest patisserie in Paris.  It was founded nearly 300 hundred years ago in 1730 by a French pastry chef, Nicholas Stohrer.  Stohrer had the talent and good fortune to be the pastry chef for a Polish princess, Marie Leszczyńska.  When Marie moved to Versailles in 1725 to become the wife of French King Louis XV, Stohrer tagged along.  The rest is history and his memory and some of his recipes are alive today at the historic shop still bearing his name.

We look forward to a return visit.  You are welcome to join us. 

By the way, Susan Marie-Chantal recommends the macarons at Stohrer.  

P.S.  Check out the almond paste fruits pictured below.  They look so real.  

    

Traveling in France #5: Amiens (Part 2 of 2)

[Today is a milestone--the halfway point of our year in Paris.  We arrived 6 months ago on January 28.  We are greatly enjoying Year 4.  Perhaps that is why time is flying by.  Thanks for sharing the adventure with us.]    

Our amble in Amiens continues.

We overnighted in Amiens for two reasons.  Sleeping in an air-conditioned hotel room during the heatwave in France made sense to us.  More importantly, we wanted to the see the nightly light show projected on the cathedral's facade.  The light show uses "projection mapping" to display colorful, moving images on the facade  The light show was beautiful.    

Below are some photos with a couple of videos to give you a sense of what the show is like.

Here is the cathedral in daylight.

 Here is the cathedral at night.

The image above depicts the interior of the cathedral.

Click on the videos below to see the light show in action.

After the light show ended, the facade was illuminated to appear as it might have appeared centuries ago.  During our travels, we have learned that sculptures and church facades were often painted.  The cathedral in Amiens, like cathedrals in Paris and elsewhere in Europe, was colorfully painted centuries ago but the paint has long since weathered, faded and disappeared.  Fortunately, the light show depicts how the cathedral might have looked.  Check it out.  

Seeing the colorful cathedral was amazing.  

Thanks for visiting Amiens with us.  

P.S.  In case you want to see more of the light show on YouTube, you can click here and here.   A similar light show was created for Notre-Dame-de-Paris (click here).  

Traveling in France #5: Amiens (Part 1 of 2)

Earlier this week, to escape the Paris heat, we ventured an hour north to the town of Amiens.  

Amiens is ancient.  It was a Gallo-Roman town two millennia ago.  Today, Amiens is a thriving town with many wonderful sights.

One of those sights is the Jules Verne house in Amiens.  Jules Verne lived there during the latter part of his life.  The house is large with four floors plus a tower.  The house features a fascinating collection of artifacts from Verne's life as an author, public servant, circus promoter and world explorer.  

Marie-Chantal in the courtyard of the Jules Verne house

The winter garden of the Jules Verne house with bust of Jules Verne and a poster featuring his books 

On the top floor of the Jules Verne house, a replica of ship's wheelhouse

An exhibit in the Jules Verne house

Another reason to visit Amiens is the food.  We enjoyed a regional food specialty, a ficelle picarde, a sort of crepe with ham, cheese and cream.  It was delicious.  

While strolling, we spotted the beautiful clock pictured below, the Horloge Dewailly.  

Horloge Dewailly and Marie-sans-Chemise by Emile Ricquier and Albert Roze (1898) 

From the plaza where the clock is located, we had a view of the principal sight in Amiens, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens.

The cathedral is both lovely and very large.  In fact, the cathedral is the largest in France, as measured by surface area (7,700 sq. meters; 83,000 sq. feet).  

To give you an idea how large the cathedral is, below is a photo of Marie-Chantal on the steps of the cathedral.  She is so petite.  Isn't she?

Construction of the cathedral started in 1220.  It will celebrate its 800th anniversary next year.  The cathedral has survived fires, as well as the shelling of Amiens during WWI and the bombing of Amiens in WWII.  

The interior of the cathedral is amazing, with your gaze being drawn upward.

The rose window of the south transept

The altar

The cathedral's organ and rose window over the front door

The cathedral has added many chapels over the centuries, including the two pictured below.

We spotted other artistic creations.  Here are a few. 

The pulpit in the nave

An ornate, colorful tomb

 

The "Weeping Angel"

The cathedral is a pilgrimage site on one of the paths leading to Santiago de Campostela in Spain.

While visiting Amiens, pilgrims would pray while navigating a labyrinth in the center of the cathedral.  When we visited, a priest led a group through a series of prayers while walking along the labyrinth.

A view of the labyrinth from floor level

A view of the labyrinth from above

Another thing for pilgrims to visit is a reliquary holding the head of John the Baptist, acquired in 1206 following the Fourth Crusade.

It was the donation of the relic that sparked the building of the cathedral, an important place befitting an important relic.

Next Up:  The cathedral at night.