September 6 -- walking away from Île de la Cité

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The island on which Notre Dame and la Sainte Chapelle are found is called Île de la Cité.

Walking away from Île de la Cité, we crossed this bridge. Can you see that there is ... stuff ... on the bridge's railings?

I had read (on someone's blog), before I left the USA for France, that this is a new way to celebrate commitment. People buy a padlock, lock it to a bridge, and throw away the key........ Her blog had a pic of a bridge railing just solid with locks. This one hasn't gotten there yet, but it looks like it's on the way. I shouldn't be surprised that some fashion-forward entrepreneur has supplied the need for locks made just for this purpose........

"You are my life!  I love you."

A really good look at the flying buttresses.

And, because I can, the poster-edged version.  I really like what posteredging does for intricate stonework.........

Notre Dame, flying buttresses, Île de la Cité, vines, river.

Closeup of cross on the end of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame and the Archbishop's bridge.

Despite the apparent likelihood of rain, we saw several people sketching.

Love that poster edging.........

These apartments were to the right of the above.  I wonder what you'd pay for a penthouse over the Seine, in sight of Notre Dame.

Surely you can afford a gardener to take care of your plants, if you can afford these apartments.....

It did, in fact, rain.  Can you see Notre Dame, on the camera's screen?

Now we are on Île Saint-Louis, which is right next to Île de la Cité.

I like the clock's see-through steeple........

In a shop window -- I don't want to wear my rock collection, but ... isn't this a nice rock collection?

We can still see the see-through steeple from here.

The end of Île Saint-Louis.

Just across the river from the above.  You can drive along parts of the Seine.....

Goodness.  What a lot of decoration!

This says École Massillon. We saw so many high school kids in the immediate vicinity that we concluded it is a high school.

I don't suppose it's a random occurrence that this was in a near-by shop window.....

It says:

TO SCHOOL STUDENTS

IT IS FORBIDDEN

to spit on the ground
to moisten your finger with saliva to turn pages
to put your pen-holder or your pencil in your ear
to clean a slate by spitting on it
to put pen-holders or pencils in your mouth

I love maps.........



Another shop window.  An uncomfortable-looking bright-red square chair, and an ottoman(?  beanbag chair?) covered in what looks like slices of flip-flop soles.

I don't know the name of this church, but hasn't it got a wonderful clock?

See my daughter's take on this excellent day here.



In order to facilitate chronological traverse of these posts, here is a link to the post that comes after this one.

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