Paris: Musee de Cluny and Notre Dame

We went to the Musee de Cluny, or the National Museum of the Middle Ages, because I wanted to see the "lady with the unicorn" tapestries. I had seen them in 1997 and fell in love with them, but wondered if going back would be a good idea. They proved to be magnificent. In the fourteen years in between, I had seen quite a few of John Singer Sargeant's portraits, and one of my favorite aspects of his work is the way he is able to paint fabric. Here, in these tapestries, the brocades of the dresses worn by the lady are just as vivid as the silks and brocades in Singer Sargeant's paintings. The six tapestries are in a dark, dim room, and I tried to take a photo of each of them. Because of the dim light, only one turned out to be even passable, but you can see them all here.

The building that houses the Musee de Cluny is the only remaining example of medieval "domestic architecture,"according to the guidebook, but as Dave pointed out, not many people lived in buildings like that one. We took some photos of some of the details of the outside of the building and courtyard.

We walked over to Notre Dame and sat out in front of it for quite a while, Dave using his binoculars to look at the details on the building, and me watching a guy feed birds, both pigeons and sparrows, from his hand.