I finished Tulipomania : The Story of the World’s Most Coveted Flower & the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused this morning – it was a fun read, especially the parts about the history of the tulip and the anecdotes surounding the start of the tulip craze in the United Provinces. I think I’ll work on South: The Endurance Expedition (Penguin Classics) by Ernest Shackleton next (I’ve already read to where they are stuck on the ice).

We went to Notre Dame cathederal Рit is quite simply awesome! We had lunch across the seine at Cafe Panis Рa sandwich and salad today. Then, refreshed, we headed to the Mus̩e National du Moyen Age, better known as the Cluny museum, the national museum of the middle ages.

Musee National Du Moyen Age Ticket

The building itself is very interesting – there is a celestial device on one wall (perhaps a sundial?) and a neat well.

The celestial wall

The well, with Aviva standing by

They have the tapestries of the lady and the unicorn, which are in good shape and quite famous, along with some very cool paintings and wood crafts. We took a bunch of photos inside – hopefully they will come out and I can post them here. The bookstore had some very cool items, especially pillow covers in the form of the famous tapestries they have.

This is a wooden head we saw in the museum - there are lots of wierd, cool things to see in here!

The following is quoted from their english pamphlet:

“The antique city of Lutéce (Lutetia is the Roman name of Paris) developped from the 1st century onwards along the left bank of the Seine. The Gallo-Roman baths consisted, according to tradition, of large rooms for hot steam baths Caldarium, for tepid baths tepidatium, and the frigidarium for cold-water baths, with additional common and service rooms, and underground passages for the heating system by hypocaust and the sewers. The major part of these vestiges, especially the vaulted cold room fifteen metres high, still remain.”

“Jacques d’Amboise, abbot of Cluny (1485-1510) in Burgundy, decided to reconstruct the Parisian residence of the abbots of Cluny, which has been established on this site since the 13th century. The U-shaped building enclosing an inner courtyard was surrounded by a stone wall and overlooked a garden on the north side. The inner layout of the hotel, remarkably well preserved on the whole, has been maintained. The chapel has a vaulted ceiling in the Flamboyant Gothic style.” (quoted from their pamphlet)

We went into St. Severin, where the organist was practicing and improvising. Our last stop of the day was the church of St. Julien le Pauvre, which has been converted to a Greek Orthodox church.

Tonight we celebrated our anniversary with dinner at Paolo Petrini near the Arc de Triumph – the food was fabulous, very Italian and very good (but it wasn’t cheap).

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