Pompidou Papa!

After leaving the library I decided to head over to the Pompidou Centre via Rue Rivoli. Yikes! I think every person between the ages of 16 and 25 that live in Paris was on the street that day. It was CROWDED! Rue Rivoli is very trendy and is lined with stores like Roots, Gap, McDonalds, La Senza, Starbucks and so forth. Not my cup of tea. I elbowed my way through and as I turned the corner to the Centre, I heard a little girl shrieking with joy as she spotted the unmistakable building: "Pompidou, Papa, Pompidou!!" It's loud and colourful, and filled with buskers and street entertainers, puppet-shows and magicians, rappers, dancers, mimes and jugglers. It was quite an interesting place, filled with energy. The building itself is the most successful cultural centre in the world. It has dance and theatre venues, a very posh restaurant and an outstanding collection of modern art. I have posted one picture of one of the galleries...very modern and it made me somewhat nauseous just to look inside...again, not my cup of tea. The building itself is also very modern, it was built with many of the stairs, ducts, pipes etc on the outside, so as to utilize all the inside space. It's one of those things that the Parisians love to hate.

After that I walked over to Sainte-Chappelle, a church that I have heard a lot about, but didn't really know anything about. It's actually inside the walls of the Palais de Justice (the law courts) The Palais is still the centre of the French judicial system, so it's quite a big deal, security-wise, to go inside. There are more than one metal detectors, guards with wands, searches of all your bags, X-rays and so on. Once inside, you have to hunt a little for the church entrance and when you go in, and round the corner...your breath will leave you for a moment. If there is a place that describes the word "breathtaking", this is it. I was totally stunned into silence by the sheer beauty of this place. The walls are all stained glass, from floor to ceiling and absolutely magnificent, especially in the afternoon with the sun shining through. You are surrounded on three sides by 15 massive windows that comprise over 1,000 scenes of the Christian story, from the Garden of Eden to the Apocalypse (built in 1248) I have never been in church where you are supposed to be quiet (think Notre Dame and the Sistine Chapel) where people actually WERE quiet. There are benches along the walls and everyone just sat, silent. My photos do not do it justice at all,