Kelly and I arrived in Paris just over a week ago and Kate and Luna came on Sunday. It is so good to be back in Paris, even if it is rainy.
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| Kelly and Kate walking to the bus |
Today we went to the Musée
Cluny-the museum of the Middle Ages. It is in an old Benedictine Abbey built on top of the Roman baths, which were constructed in 215 AD. The museum closed in February 2018 for extensive renovations and this was the first time we had been back since it reopened.
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| Fridgidarium Roman Baths |
The Frigidarium contained statues and fragments of statues from Notre Dame. I admired the 13th century statue of Adam, which had been removed from Notre Dame at the time of the French Revolution and kept in the Basilique Saint Denis. By the time it was moved to the Musée Cluny almost a century later, it was in pieces and had to be put back together. Unfotunately, the Eve statue no longer remains.
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| Adam from Notre Dame Façade |
I loved these capitals carved with Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, and the angel preventing Abraham from sacrificing Isaac.
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| Adam and Eve and the Serpent |
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| Noah's Ark |
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Abraham and Isaac
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We were happy to see the Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries again. There are six of them, representing the senses. The last is titled "A mon seul désir," which could repesent the sixth sense, or understanding and intuition. We don't really know for sure. Unicorns were popular in the Middle Ages and represented holiness and chastity. The tapestries are covered in millfleurs and are so beautiful. They were woven around 1500.
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| A mon seul désir |
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Touch
Woman Caressing the Unicorn |
We loved the architecture in the Abbey, including the beautiful wooden doors and the ribbed ceiling of the small chapel.
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| Staircase Door |
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| Chapel Ceiling |
Many of my favorites were still there in the museum, including the reliquary containing the foot of Saint Adalhard, a cousin of Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, they believed that saints’ bodies did not decay.
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| St. Adalhard's Foot Reliquary |
We finished up at the museum with two statues of John the Baptist. John is always depicted with a coat of camel's hair. It was interesting to compare the John the Baptist carved in stone with the one carved in wood. I loved both.
These are just a few of the treasures at the Cluny. When we finished, we were close to Odéon so of course we had to walk over and get a cheese crêpe and a Nutella banana crêpe to share. We love how the cheese comes out the top and is a little crispy from the griddle.
We noticed our favorite guy was there making the crêpes. Kelly chatted him up and asked him how long he had worked there. He told Kelly that he had been there 11 years and that he recognized us! This little green stand by the Odéon métro stop has been our favorite crêpe spot since we lived on Boulevard Saint Germain in 2018. We recommend it to all who visit Paris.
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Watching our crêpes being
made up fresh |
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Kate with a ham and
cheese crêpe earlier
this week |
