Day 6--Holy Wednesday

So today, I decided to make the rounds at a bunch of churches in the 5th and 6th arrondissements. I actually started with the biggest and best-known church of all, the Notre Dame on Ile-de-la-Cité (in the 1st). It really is magnificent and pictures can never capture it, but here are just a couple to show the amazing Gothic architecture.




Directly across the river are St. Julien-le-Pauvre, one of the oldest churches in Paris, and St. Séveren, another gothic showpiece.
You can see how simple St. Julien-le-Pauvre looks in comparison:

My favorite part of Séverin were actually the modern stained-glass windows.


Another extremely impressive sight is the Panthéon. It was ordered by Louis XV to be built as a church, but later on, it was converted into a tomb for important French people (Rousseau, Voltaire, etc.). Here are some inside shots:




Last of the churches were St. Sulpice (neo-Classical) and St. Germain-des-Prés (THE oldest church in France). There are seriously SO many churches to see around Paris, and it always reminds me what a historically rich city Paris is in general. The churches really define Paris as a city entirely different from any American city.