The scene above the main door. It's the Last Judgement. (Or Le dernier Jugement)
The back. It was really pretty.


Pictures from almost a week ago.

It's the cathedral at Vezelay. It was really pretty and fun. We had to walk up this huge hill, a really narrow, windy street that was lined with cute restaurants and wine stores. This last picture is close to the first view of it, when the streets kind of opened up to a little square in front of it.

I have pictures of Notre Dame that I'll be posting once I get them onto my computer. I've just been fairly overwhelmed by the whole idea of really old churches. I mean, there are huge amounts of history in most of the churches in Paris, and many of them are still active churches. They are an active, ever changing historical monument. I'm not sure that I would be able to worship in a place like Notre Dame or the cathedral at Vezelay or St. Germain des Pres (which has a really fascinating little history. You all should look it up.). I don't know if I would be able to focus on the idea of a deity, rather than the little stories of all of the people that worshipped there before me. I mean, did people get married there? Did they hold funerals? What important events in their lives happened there? And what role in their lives did the Church really play? Was it actually a religious belief, and a worship of an omnipotent deity, or was it more that the political power of the Church as an institution demanded attention?

And then, in France, as well as in the rest of Europe, there were some pretty violent religious quarrels. I want to know what the people that went to those churches actually thought about it. Where was the line drawn between the people who were actually fanatic, and the people who were just sticking with the church that was in power? And when people defaced the churches, what were their reasons for it, rather than the obvious. That's where the word "defacement" comes from. Protestants would go around and hack at the stone carvings of saints and the apostles in order to send a message to the Church. What made them do what they did?

So, that's the end of the ramblings for the night. I'm super tired, and I'm goin to a flea market tomorrow morning. Also, the stupid internet connection is coming in and out. And it's really frustrating.