We took it easy today and counted our blessings. We attempted to use the oven--it worked perfectly.
After catching up on some work and laundry, we packed a picnic dinner and trekked up to
Sacre'-Coeur Basilica. It means "Sacred-Heart" in English and is a reference to the heart of Jesus, which is the representation of his divine love for humanity. This first picture is not part of the church, it was just on our walk up there.
Here you can see the church in the middle of the photo at the end of the road.
The project to build the basilica was triggered by a group of influential people who had two good reasons to do so. Firstly, a National Vow was made to build a church if Paris escaped untouched from the war with the Prussians army in 1870-1871. Secondly, the defeat of the French army in 1871 was interpreted as a moral condemnation of the sins of Paris. Authorised by the National Assembly in 1873, the project was to build an imposing Christian church visible from all over Paris.
Just a car.
Loaded.
The largest bell of France is installed in the campanile. Cast by the Paccard bell-foundry in Annecy in 1895, it was given as a present by the four dioceses of Savoie. It is known as ‘La Savoyarde’ because of its origins, but its real name is “Françoise Marguerite”. The bell has a diameter of 3 metres and weighs 18,835 kg. It could be heard 10 km away.
It is as much fun to watch the pigeons as it is the people.
About the peculiar white stone: The whipped-cream look of the edifice is mainly due to its stone which came from the Château-Landon quarries. In wet weather, the calcite contained in the stone acts like a bleacher to give the church a definite chalky white appearance.
Not a good photo of us, but I was trying to take a selfie with my hands full.
Isaiah had strawberry and vanilla and I had chocolate and vanilla. YUM!
Dax's photos today are much better than mine, but here are some of my views.
You have to see his photos to be impressed!
As you can see, we had a blast!
And then, they wanted to charge to use a portable potty!
And to get to it, walk down all these steps?
No wonder people just relieved themselves at the top of the stairs.
More pigeons, big enough to eat!
Paris builds contraceptive communes for pigeons. Here are the details, straight from the web:
The pigeons like the giant communes, where they live comfortably in groups of up to 200. But it’s a trap. They’re designed so the pigeons don’t poop on buildings. And every week or so someone from a pest control company comes in and shakes their eggs so they won’t have baby pigeons.
They do allow some reproduction. A Bloomberg report seems to say they let one egg per nest hatch. Le Figaro seems to say that workers let the first brood of each pair (La première couvée de chaque couple) hatch, then shake all the rest. Either way, it amounts to a lot of pigeons not being born, but a good life for those who do hatch.
The League for the Protection of Birds [Oiseaux] (LPO) likes the plan. The Humane Society of the United States has been pushing contraceptive as the most sane, least cruel strategy for dealing with populations of animals that people find annoying.
The big catch? Those fancy houses cost a lot of money. Like 20,000 euros ($30,000) to build and another 5,000 euros ($7,500) to maintain. But just one experimental house up five years is supposed to have prevented the birth of 5,000 pigeons. Depending on how long the houses last, it amounts to something like 9 € ($13.50) per pigeon prevented.
They do allow some reproduction. A Bloomberg report seems to say they let one egg per nest hatch. Le Figaro seems to say that workers let the first brood of each pair (La première couvée de chaque couple) hatch, then shake all the rest. Either way, it amounts to a lot of pigeons not being born, but a good life for those who do hatch.
The League for the Protection of Birds [Oiseaux] (LPO) likes the plan. The Humane Society of the United States has been pushing contraceptive as the most sane, least cruel strategy for dealing with populations of animals that people find annoying.
The big catch? Those fancy houses cost a lot of money. Like 20,000 euros ($30,000) to build and another 5,000 euros ($7,500) to maintain. But just one experimental house up five years is supposed to have prevented the birth of 5,000 pigeons. Depending on how long the houses last, it amounts to something like 9 € ($13.50) per pigeon prevented.
Just how tall is the Scare'-Coeur Basilica?
The church was built atop the hill of Montmartre at an altitude of 130 metres above sea-level. The bell tower and the dome both reaches 83 m high, which makes it the second-highest point in Paris (213 m) after the Eiffel Tower (324 m) and just before the Montparnasse Tower (210 m).
More loaded. Walking around with NATO M4s.
Silly boys! Always.
Photos on the walk home.
More on the walk home.
Oh my goodness, acting so silly.
Love this photo--don't know them, but they were so happy.
Well, hello there buddy.
As you can see, the walk home is much easier.
Check out these two Jedi-like kids playing.
The baguette boy on our street. Normal stop before walking into our apartment. By the time we got home, we felt like we needed to eat again (even after our picnic dinner). So, we heated up our leftover chicken and potatoes from last night and had a baguette and chocolate croissant as sides. Perfect!
Note: Many of the comments here are taken from French Moments, Ltd--info on Sacre'-Coeur Basilica.
The steps up to the church are brutal! We did them in December in 1986! It was bitter cold, oh, but the view from the church at night was lovely!!
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