Different Views from Notre Dame

The Thinker gargoyle's view

  Climbing the steps to the bell tower

 Applying a little art to the gargoyles

--Gigi

Less Famous Gargoyles of Notre Dame

Continuing with mysterious views of Paris, here are some of the lesser known gargoyles of Notre Dame. (You can see some of the more famous carvings here and here.)

The gargoyles below can all be seen from the same bell tower level as the famous ones, nearly 400 steps up a worn stone spiral staircase.

--Gigi

Paris, City of Light

A year ago at this time, we were in Paris. It would be over a week before the Icelandic Ash Cloud would delay our journey home on a series of marathon plane flights, so we were still enjoying the city. I've already posted many of my photos of the gargoyles of Notre Dame Cathedral. I thought this month I'd post some of my other more mysterious photos from Paris (including some of Notre Dame's less famous gargoyles).

I'll start today with a literal interpretation of the City of Light: the gorgeous old lamp posts that line the city's streets.

--Gigi

Shipwreck Hike at Lands End

Last week, I got up well before sunrise to join a hike taking place at Lands End -- the rocky north-western edge of San Francisco. The early morning hour was due to an extremely low tide that would enable us to see the sunken ships that line the coast of San Francisco.

Since the Gold Rush of 1849, hundreds of ships have sunk along the coastline. Some were shipwrecks, and some were ships abandoned by crews in search of gold.

We set off at 6:30 AM to the sound of fog horns calling to each other in the early morning quiet, as the sun was beginning to rise. The hike was gorgeous, but with one problem -- it was too foggy to see the shipwrecks!

I suppose it should have occurred to us that there was a reason there have been so many shipwrecks along those rocks. Foggy photos are below.

--Gigi

Gargoyles on Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

Across the street from the gargoyles at Westminster Abbey in London, some gargoyles with a more whimsical feel line the Houses of Parliament.

I shot the photos below during a trip to the UK for my 30th birthday. I'd only recently switched to shooting with a digital camera. The color photos below are digital, and the two black & white photos at the end are scanned negatives.

  

--Gigi

The Gargoyles of Westminster Abbey

Some of my favorite gargoyles are the ones on Westminster Abbey in London.

These are true gargoyles -- the kind with water-spouts for mouths -- but that's not why I like them so much. I love that these gargoyles sit on the side of the Gothic building right underneath saintly statues.

Westminster Abbey is located next to Big Ben and Parliament, both of which boast their own gargoyles, as you can see in the photo below. The gargoyles on the Parliament building are much more whimsical than the frightening fellow directly above. I'll post some of the gargoyles of Parliament next week.

--Gigi

Gargoyle in the Garden

We spent the weekend building a new path in our garden. Our garden gargoyle watched over the process.

The garden photos below don't show the garden gargoyle, but I took these with my lens baby lens and liked how they came out -- they look more like a bouquet than salad.

--Gigi