So I realize this is a long time in coming. like a VERY long time in coming.  It’s just been so hectic with vacation, getting caught up in school, grace visiting last minute, and the weekend again. That, plus the newly-looming feeling that my time here is almost done. I mean, I’ve reached the one month-until-I-go-home point.  But I (as most of you can see) did manage to get up my Portugal photos and finally the rest of them. And so to continue getting vacation thoughts and memories in order, I’m going to start the first post, chronicling Paris and other places, as seen through cathedrals.

On Cathedrales:

Until this vacation, I hadn’t really seen churches not in Italy or France. I have seen MANY cathedrales and churches in styles ranging from romanesque to italian baroque, byzantine, and gothic, to high french gothic.  And I’ve felt that all are so impressive. Each new church takes my breath away in how beautiful and intricate they are.  In fact I started to feel like all cathedrals must be as amazing. Then I went to Spain and Portugal.  Although I loved those countries, I must say, their churches sometimes left me with just a so-so impression. I mean I love la sagrada familia in Barcelona and what I saw of the churches of Madrid (the outside), but the insides of some of the smaller ones are so baroque with all the plaster and clashing colors and dolls and flashy gold gives you the idea that the creators slapped as much together as possible in one church simply because they thought the more the better without any regard to aesthetics.  Like the more cluttered with gold and filigree and colors and stuff, the more impressive it is.  Of course, this being said, not all churches are like this in spain, of course! And from what I’ve seen in pictures and heard from friends, it’s really not all that bad compared to some german churches!

My favorite cathedrale in all of Paris is the St. Chapelle (ah, a return to the clean and awe-inspiring gothic design). It’s as if you’re walking into an expansive chamber of light. All those story-high stainglass windows circling you completely make you wonder how the delicate columns manage to hold everything up.

And speaking of churches that surprise you, I visited Chartres for the first time during those two weeks (I had heard about it since my 1st year of french, freshman year of high school). I went for the stained glass windows since they are famous for their abundance, intricacy, and colors (Chartres Blue, anyone?), and I expected them to be the most impressive part. However, no one had ever mentioned that the chancel was white!  Apparently it’s undergoing a cleaning, and eventually the original colors (hidden under years of paint and dirt) of the whole chancel will be revealed, with white stone on the top and yellowish/creamy stone on the bottom.  The effect is truly amazing. The stained glass windows are that much more impressive, and Chartres seems to literally glow.  I promised myself I’d come back after 2015, when the whole cathedrale has been cleaned.

Now, in this same vein, for those who have been to the above-mentioned St. Chapelle, you might remember that the floor of that gorgeous stainedglass chamber is a motif of red, green, and cream stone meant to mimic the recurring motifs. I learned on this trip, however, that these floors are not original. In fact, 150 years ago they were created during the restoration of the cathedral based on what the architects thought it might have looked like.  However, really recently more documents have been uncovered which reveal the true design. The floor, instead of being intricately designed, was pure, polished, white marble.  Imagine. This means that all that colored light from the stained glass would reflect from the ground, bathing all the royalty in prisms of light! What a sight that must have been…

The last musing on cathedrales came when I had the opportunity to go to Easter Service in the Notre Dame in Paris and then visited the Sacre Coeur later that same weekend. I’ve visited them both before, but this time it was different. What had been missing before was the music.  I had always found both churches impressive, but when I sat in the interior with the organ and choir, I finally understood why cathedrales have such an effect on people.  The musique filled up every space in the massive chamber, rising to the very top of the dome. It was a funny feeling, actually, as if I was finally seeing the cathedral as a person was supposed to. If you ever get the chance to see a cathedrale at mass, with musique, do it. They’re meant to go together.