Canyon de Chelly: North Rim

Thanks again to Daylight Savings Time we got a late start – thanks to losing an hour we weren’t even on the road until 11 am today.  Last night we had thought of maybe reserving a jeep tour with a Navajo guide that would take us down in the canyon, but in the end we didn’t.  When we saw the weather today, we were actually glad we didn’t.  It was ridiculously windy (gusting to 50 mph) and dust was blowing everywhere.  Not the day to be in a jeep or open truck bed!

We still drove along the north rim of Canyon de Chelly, though, and we got some decent photos before the dust storm made us call it a day.  Here is one of Antelope Vista:

Many of the viewpoints have very sheer drop-offs.  At one viewpoint, photographer Kevin dared me to stand as close to the edge as I could without freaking out or falling off.  Just as he took this shot, the wind kicked up, blowing in the direction of the canyon.  Kevin was frantically gesturing for me to come back.  Disaster averted.

All the viewpoints along the North Rim contain Anasazi cliff dwelling ruins.  The ones at Mummy Cave were particularly well-preserved.  Two mummies were found here in the 1880’s, hence the name.

By a little after noon, we were getting pummeled by the wind and dust so we decided to call it a day and go back to the campground.  We definitely enjoyed coming up here to see the canyon, though.  Kevin said it reminded him of Yosemite valley, only in technicolor.  Here’s the “Where’s Waldo” shot of the day:

Canyon de Chelly, Arizona

First off, I want to thank everyone who has been visiting the blog and commenting on the posts.  It is very encouraging, and we hope you are enjoying our posts (almost as much as we are enjoying the trip itself).

Secondly, you can now stalk us in near real-time.  We have added a new feature: on the right-hand side there is now a map showing “Where We Are Now”.  We will update this daily with our current location (cell phone signal permitting).  We had a widget like this on the old Solstice blog, but keeping that up-to-date was a complicated process involving a sextant and a ham radio.  Cell phone apps make everything so easy.

We took the scenic route instead of the I-40 today (I was again driving) – up AZ Highway 77 to AZ 264, then north on AZ 191 to Chinle.  We had planned for an early arrival at Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  But but hadn’t planned for the time zone change (the Navajo reservation follows Daylight Savings Time, unlike the rest of Arizona).  So it wasn’t until afternoon that we started exploring the park.

Most of the canyon part of Canyon de Chelly is off-limits to anyone hiking without a guide.  But there are two roads that follow the rim of the canyon.  The park ranger told us that the South Rim was best seen in the afternoon, so that’s the one we chose.  There were pull-outs all along the road with overlooks down into the canyon.  I know I use this word a lot but it really was breathtaking.

There is one trail down into the canyon where you are permitted to hike without a guide – White House Trail.  It’s a 2-hour hike down into the canyon (550 ft elevation change) leading to some Anasazi ruins.  You can see the ruins from the overlook by the road, but we wanted to get down there and see them up close.  Here’s the view from up top.

Luckily for us, we are driving around in our house, so we were able to throw on some hiking clothes and fill up our water bottles and go!  We got a really good view of one of the Navajo farms as we passed it down in the valley.  When I saw an authentic hogan, I had to take a photo.  Dad, if you’re reading this, remember when you helped me build that Navajo hogan diorama for that fifth grade project?  (I say “helped” but really I mean “remember that time you spent two days sawing branches and stucco-ing them together with mud while I watched cartoons?”.  My contribution was making some tiny pots out of modeling clay.)  Anyway, here’s a real-life version:

We made it to the bottom easily (going back up is always the hard part!).  We were rewarded with a close-up view of the White House ruins.  The ruins aren’t Navajo in origin; they were built by Puebloans around 1,000 years ago.  The people who built them were long gone by the time the Navajo settled here.

We were pretty tired after the hike, but that didn’t stop us from continuing down the road to the Spider Rock viewpoint.  This is probably the most famous shot of Canyon de Chelly – it’s the one we see in all the guidebooks anyway.  Spider Rock is an 800 foot spire that rises up from the canyon floor.

We are now in the Cottonwood campground just outside the visitor’s center.  We plan to stay here another night so that we can explore the North Rim tomorrow morning.

2 hours in Tokyo

We had a great time in Thailand visiting with my brother and seeing the sights but now it is time to go home.  At the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand, Japan Airlines was celebrating its 55th year of service between Tokyo and Bangkok.  They were politely encouraging all passengers to take a photo with the flight attendants dressed in retro attire.

After a long flight with an interesting (?) Japanese breakfast, we arrived at Narita Airport in Japan and cleared through Customs and Immigration quickly.  We had an 8-hour layover, so we figured we had enough time to zip into the city of Tokyo and look around for a couple hours.  Tokyo is about an hour away by train from the airport.  We took the Narita Express to Tokyo station.

When we saw this building from the train window it hit us that we were really in Japan.

It was raining pretty hard when we walked out of Tokyo station -- we were glad that for once we checked the weather ahead of time and packed our umbrellas in the carryons.

 

The Tokyo Station is just across the street from the east gardens of the Imperial Palace, so we used what little time we had to walk around and take a few photos.  This is the Kikyomon Gate, which we discovered is not the visitor's entrance.

The East Gardens stand on the site of the former Edo Castle (built in 1457), but only a few structures -- a keep, a defense house, and two guardhouses -- remain standing.  Most of the other buildings were destroyed by fires in the 17th and 19th centuries. 

The visitor entrance is over by the Ohtemon Gate.  Swans wade in the moat next to the gate.

Here's Kevin at one of the massive wooden doors of the Ohtemon Gate.

This stylized dolphin sculpture was left over from the old Ohtemon gate which was damaged in April 1945 during WWII.  It is believed to date to the late 1600's. 

The Doshin-Bansho guardhouse is where the samurai guards used to be posted to keep watch over the palace grounds.

Here's a close up of the details on the guardhouse roof (and the rain!)

Through the mist in this photo, you can just make out the stone remains of the Tenshudai, which was the main tower or donjon.  It used to be five stories (165 feet) high, but it was destroyed by fire in 1657 and now the foundation is all that is left.

Unfortunately we didn't have much time for exploring, so we really only saw a fraction of the grounds.  I guess we'll just have to come back to Japan sometime in the future to complete the tour!

We made it back to the train station in plenty of time to grab a quick bite before boarding the train back to the airport.  We really enjoyed people watching in the station, and even got to see a girl dressed in Sailor Moon fashion.  Too bad I did not have my camera at the ready!  But she looked a little like this, only with the full pigtail/bun hairstyle as well.

Photo courtesy of e-Bay

Most everyone else we saw was dressed much more conservatively, since it was the middle of a workday.  Here's a typical scene near the ticket machines.

We boarded the train and made it back to the Narita airport, and cleared back through customs/immigration with time to spare.  Next stop, Phoenix!

Saint-Denis Basilica

Gothic architecture can trace its roots to the 12th century basilica of Saint Denis just outside Paris.  The church is located above a burial site thought to contain the remains of Saint Denis, a bishop of Paris who was martyred in the 3rd century.

There has been a church on the site since 750 AD, but the building was expanded and rebuilt in the 1130's at the direction of Abbot Suger, an influential religious and political figure.

tympanum and central doorway of the western facade

A hallmark of gothic architecture is the emphasis on vertical space; the building seems to soar heavenward.

There are gorgeous stained windows in the nave...

... and an impressive rose window on the north transept.

Sunlight streams through the windows and makes colored patterns on the stone.

In the crypt they have excavated the area where Saint Denis was believed to have been buried.  St. Denis was beheaded for his beliefs in 250 AD on the hill in Montmartre.  As the legend goes, he picked up his severed head and walked several kilometers to this site, preaching a sermon the whole way.

But the basilica is best known as the final resting place of kings.  The necropolis is the burial site of 42 of France's monarchs.  There are many ornate tombs in the crypt and transepts.  Most feature a likeness of the deceased.  François I (friend of Leonardo da Vinci) is buried in an elaborate tomb with his wife Claude and several of their children.

The tomb is one of several two-level "cadaver tombs".  On the upper level are effigies of the deceased as they were in life, but on the lower level they are depicted as they were at the time of their death, a nod to the fact that all men are judged the same in the afterlife.

It was common practice at the time to remove the entrails for separate burial.  This nearby urn was constructed to hold François' heart.

At one time the tombs were brightly painted; you can see traces of blue and gold paint on the tomb of Philippe de France (brother of Saint Louis).  His feet rest on a lion; this was a symbol of valor and nobility.

 Another monumental cadaver tomb shows Henri II and Catherine de' Medici.

Nearby are two more gisants (recumbent statues) of Henri II and Catherine de' Medici.  These effigies show the couple in coronation dress.

Not all of the tombs were decorated with white marble.  There was one effigy sculpted from Tournai limestone.  It is thought to be of Marie de Brienne, Empress of the Latin Empire of Constantinople (a crusader state).

There were also two (rare) metal tombs for two of Louis IX's children, who died in infancy.

Gilt tomb for Jean, son of Louis IX

And this stone mosaic tomb was created for Frédégonde, a ruthless queen who lived in the late 6th century.

The tombs in the transepts were all very ornate and pretty to look at.  Some of the tombs and sculptures in the crypt below were a little creepy.  Like the dessicated heart of Louis XVII (lower left) and the room of wooden coffins and reliquaries for various royal entrails (lower right).

I found it very interesting that most of the tombs are actually empty.  During the French Revolution in 1793, the anti-monarchy revolutionaries ordered the opening of all the royal tombs in Saint Denis and the remains were dumped into a pit and covered with quicklime.  Later (in the early 1800's), the pits were exhumed, but because it was impossible to tell who was who all the remains were placed instead in an ossuary in the crypt.  Only the royalty from the Bourbon restoration (in the 1800's) are actually in their tombs.

The Bourbons at rest

Notre Dame Treasury

Today we had a fabulous lunch at Le Relais de l'Isle on  Île Saint-Louis, and afterwards we walked across the bridge to Notre Dame to have one last look (only one week left!) and to view the relics on display in the Treasury.  Because we came from the other island, we made sure to walk through the garden behind the cathedral.

We've been having iffy weather lately, but today was an absolutely beautiful day.

Along with other relics and valuables, the Treasury purports to have pieces of the true cross and the actual crown of thorns worn by Jesus.  (Recall that St. Louis paid more for that one relic than he did to build the entire Sainte-Chapelle).  Admission to the cathedral is free, but to get into the Treasury it costs 4 Euros.  The first room contains relics of various saints and clergy of the faith.

Reliquary with bones of saints (I'm presuming...it was just labeled "Reliquaire")

Another coffer containing saintly relics:

This reliquary contains an artifact from Saint Louise de Marillac who lived in the 1600's and helped found the Daughters of Charity (with Saint Vincent de Paul).  According to Wikipedia she is, among other things, the patron saint of "disappointing children".  I found it interesting that there is such a thing, and that she is not the only patron (look it up: there are several!).

There were other treasures, such as these vestments donated by Napoleon III at his son's baptism.

Kevin almost never asks me to take his picture, so how could I say no? 

This is a copy of a monstrance (the eucharist would be placed in the empty central circle for veneration) from the time of Louis XVIII.

A view of one of the treasury rooms.

Cases of reliquaries.

A reliquary for the crown of thorns with a monstrance on either side.

Closer view of the Reliquaire de la Couronne d'Epines (Crown of Thorns Reliquary).  This reliquary was designed by Violet-Le-Duc and fabricated by goldsmith Placide Poussielgue-Rusand in 1862.  We could not tell if it actually contained the crown, since it was well above eye level.

I had thought (from looking online) that the crown of thorns reliquary would look something like this (see below), but we did not see anything resembling this anywhere in the Treasury.

Photo courtesy of Notre Dame website

Well this reliquary at least had something in it.  According to the label, this holds a piece of the cross of Saint Claude: "Reliquaire de la croix dite de Saint Claude".  Research on the internet did not turn up any Saint Claudes, Clauds, or Clouds that were martyred on a cross, so I can't figure out what this relic really is meant to be.  Maybe Saint Claude just owned a cross for general purposes, and this is a piece of it.

This is a tunic belonging to Saint Louis (King Louis IX).  It has held up pretty well, considering that he died about 740 years ago.

The painted ceiling of one of the Treasury's rooms.

By the way, if anyone is planning to be in Paris in 2013, the Cathedral of Notre Dame will be celebrating its 850th anniversary (groundbreaking was in 1163).  There are plans for a pilgrimage center and all kinds of other celebrations.  There was a bulletin board in the cathedral (that wasn't there a few weeks ago) that lists a website (www.notredamedeparis2013.com).  But that URL doesn't seem to lead anywhere...maybe the website is still under construction.