Rhone Day 2: Sainte-Chapell

Sainte-Chapell is in the same 13th-c complex as the Consiergerie and modern courts. It was built on the orders of the 13th-c King Louis IX (Saint Louis) to house the relics of "the crown of thorns" and piece of "the true cross" which he brought back with him from the Crusades. It is currently undergoing renovations as you can see by the screened portion to the right and at the base.

Even with our reservation we had nearly a half-hour wait.

The undercroft was once the chapel for palace staff. Now it's a gift shop where I found some great Christmas presents. (Sorry, everyone. You'll have to wait.)

The soaring High Gothic chapel above has walls that are almost entirely of stained glass.

The refurbishing work area is covered, not with tarps and scaffolding, but mirrors, reflecting the beauty of the chapel, but doubling images and throwing off the symmetry. (You can see that most clearly in the ceiling--painted as it would have been in the 13th century.)

From the balcony at the west end you can look back into the chapel.

Bible stories like this Noah's ark are carved into the door frame,

King Louis had his own seating alcove.

Another opposite was for the queen and the queen mother.

Blue is my favorite color, and I could not get enough of this place. We listened to the audio tour describing every window.

When we arrived, I saw a sign with no words, only symbols. I thought it meant no pictures, but everyone was taking pictures, so I figured I must have misunderstood and the sign referred to flash pictures. I found out later it really did mean no pictures, but I had already taken these. I have no idea why pictures were not allowed or why the rule was not enforced. (Picture is the west end where restoration is complete. No mirrors.)

We hadn't really stopped to eat properly today. Too much to see and do. We got back to our hotel exhausted but with time for a short rest before meeting Jack and Erica for dinner at a wonderful hole-in-the-wall wine bar that Erica "the travel agent" had found. We shared several tapas and a bottle of red chosen specifically by the waiter to go with what we were eating. I felt like part of the family as we heard all about Normandy. I was Erika's Pioneer Girls leader many years ago when we lived in Indy. She and her sister helped serve at my 50th birthday dinner, prepared by my daughter who was in culinary school at the time. It was so much fun to spend time with Erica now as an adult.

I was early to bed since I was jet-lagged and we had to catch the bus to Lyon with our tour group at 7:30 the next morning to meet our ship. Ingrid and Jack took the metro to Sacre Coeur on Montmartre, climbed nearly 200 steps and arrived in time to hear the sisters sing compline. Erica? She took off for a Liverpool soccer match. She's a big fan.