Now I Know What Sumptuous Means

I thought that Sainte-Chapelle looked promising in the guidebook but I wasn't really prepared for what was awaiting me. From our hotel in Les Halles we walked over to the Isle de la Cite, and when we spotted the long line for admission Tenzig tried to back out. I think I may have threatened him at that point, so we ended up joining the line somewhat sulkily (on both our parts). In line it really doesn't look like you are headed anywhere special, from the street you are herded into the courtyard of an old but nondescript building, the line then snakes around to the front of a small church-like building with a dingy facade, then you fork over some Euros (ouch!) and you are in. You enter through the lower chapel, a room with low vaulted ceilings, decorated in gold, red and blue. A few small stained glass windows, sprinkled among the niches formed by the ribs of the vaults, allow a little light to seep into the room. It's actually a very pretty room but it basically gets wiped from your mind once you ascend the spiral stair and see...


I suppose we were very lucky because we had a nice sunny day, but I think Saint-Chapelle would be fabulous even on the rainiest day. The light streaming through the colored glass was sparkling and glorious. The walls of glass are held up by the thinnest threads of columns, each one painted with the most delicate detail. The scenes depicted in the glass are biblical ones, but I felt awash in visual information and all I saw were jewels of light falling down on me. All of a sudden you really start feeling for the peasants stuck down in the lower chapel. Then, just as quickly, you look at the candy colored panes and forget them.


The breath-taking sights don't stop with the glass and the columns. When you are in the Upper Chapel, you are completely wrapped in luxurious details, even every inch of the floor beneath your feet is covered with tracery and design.


I think that I rate Saint-Chapel up there with the Sistine Chapel, as a sight that you just can't get enough of. By the time you leave your neck is sore from looking up and your eyes can't drink in anymore, but you don't want to stop. I wish that I could have lain down on the floor in a pool of light, with no one else around. As more people arrived, and people like me put-off leaving, the room began to get crowded. Tenzig pulled me away and we went back down the spiral staircase. Once outside, I looked more carefully at the outside of the building. I saw the flying buttresses that were holding up the curtains of glass. And even farther up I saw this guy, telling me not to go...