Cathedral Light (& thoughts on religion)

I’ve had the chance to visit lots of Gothic cathedrals in Europe while I lived in France, and one thing that always fascinated me was the light inside of them. It’s elusive and fleeting, but always beautiful because of its rarity, so I thought it was time I dedicate an entire blog post to it.

But before we get into that, I thought this would be a somewhat appropriate time to talk about my views on religion. I haven’t publicly spoken about it before – as far as I can remember – and I don’t often discuss it in-person. But today, I’m putting it all out there! If religious discussion doesn’t interest you, however, just start reading at the line break further down.

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Cathedral Light

Since I simply can’t keep my blog posts caught up with my crazy schedule, I’ve decided to organize my posts by place or theme!

Today I want to share with you the beauty of light in Gothic cathedrals. The majority of these pictures are from Sainte Chapelle, but a few are from Notre Dame. If you happen to visit a Gothic cathedral at the correct time of day, when the sun is low enough in the sky to create golden light with long shadows, you’re in for a treat. I tried my best to capture the glow of it, but nothing substitutes actually being there.

The past two weeks I was lucky enough to have two visitors: My mom and my grandma! I showed them around the city, and pretty much checked everything off their Paris To-See lists. I felt like a pretty adept mock-tour-guide!

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Inside Notre Dame

Daniela and I finally had a free day this Saturday, so one of the things we decided to do was explore the two islands of the Seine. We started by seeing the interior of Notre Dame.

I love seeing inside Gothic Cathedrals – they’re so full of mystery and beautiful light. I love the pointed shapes and heavy stone. Being inside a place like this makes me feel safe and calm. Although, it’s really hard to keep hoards of tourists silent inside such a large space that is prone to extreme echoing. The church has a track they play every hour or so that says “sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh – silence please.”

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