Week two of the walking tour was at the Louvre, the second most important location of medieval history in Paris. It was started as a fortress in about the 12th century and only later did it become a glorious castle, and when they built the castle, they covered up a lot of the original fortress work.
Orielle led us up to the top floor in the Louvre with the relics of the roman empire. The level of craftmanship in the carvings were amazing, mostly it was in ivory and some metals and there are a few of the original windows from Notre Dame, St. Chapelle and other famous cathedrals and churches. There were also many pieces from the 13th century and later, that were commissioned by kings and queens and were given to churches as offerings.
I met Lisa, a great gal from Brooklyn, who is staying in Paris until November. She lost her mom to MS last year, and decided to sell her house and travel for 6 months.
Lisa and I made plans to get together and go to see a medieval kitchen and tower that she heard about on another walking tour, called Le Tour de Jean sans Peur. Now the irony of this is that John the fearless, must have been a little afraid because he built this huge fortress, on the outskirts of Paris, where he then surrounded himself and his family with more armed guards than anyone imagined possible. Lisa and I loved it. There are lots of little engravings from the stone masons who built the tower, and the restoration work (done since 1998) is really well done. There is an amazing depiction of a huge tree that is sculpted in stone into the ceiling. The trunk is very real looking and there are hops vines encircling the branches. It is well worth visiting.
