I love snow in all its aspects, yet browsing through past holiday pictures I realized that snow has thousands of faces and meanings. From the simple joy of snowflakes to the excitement and rush of making a snow angel or a snowman; from the wonder of an icicle to the art nature instills in a frozen fence; or, simply, the unspoiled wonder the morning after a snow storm holds.
Join me in finding the different meanings that snow holds.
The weather channel announced the blizzard, so everyone was expecting it: the snowfall. It came over a few days, quietly falling, day after day. The ground has to be frozen, you see, for the snow to settle and we were holding thumbs that first day: freeze, freeze. Checking the windows every half an hour: does the tar still shows? Has a dusty layer of snow settled yet? It takes a couple of day, you know. And it starts with a skift, a light snowfall.
Then, one morning, we woke up to this:
And to some footsteps left on our windowsill:
Need I say how fast we got dressed to go outside? As fast as our endless layers of clothing allowed us, anyway. And this is what we saw:
One of snow’s thousand faces certainly is wonder! Its meaning? Live in the moment.
Let it snow… or make it snow!
I think you have to be very patient if you are a coniferous tree. And have lots of practice sitting perfectly still.
Snow angels, through their serenity and peace, do confer winter a higher, spiritual meaning. But the joy that goes into making them certainly anchor the holiday season firmly into childhood. Maybe this symbol of winter is the fine, silver thread that connect so many hearts around the world, an universal language.
And snowmen! Yet you need a certain type of snow to built one, it has to warm up a little, so the snow will release some heat that, in turn, will bound the snowflakes together and help them hold their shape.
Then the onding, the heavy snow, returned. That’s a massive snowfall, but not big enough to be qualified as a blizzard. An onding is a regionalism used in Scotland and Northern England since the middle of the 18th century.
And a day later we walked to the shops…
The snow was THAT big:
Brave us, we traveled to Sighisoara by train, through snow. This will be a story on its own, but for now this is what we saw: grue, thin, floating ice:
Here is a first glimpse at Sighisoara, the amazing medieval city built along Târnava Mare River:
I have ambivalent feelings for the snow and ice clinging to a fence. It can be art, like this spiraled fence capped with snow:
Or this glowing, frozen chicken wire fence:
Yet this barbed wire frozen in winter makes me wince:
I leave you with this: as spiky as a barbed wire, as graceful as a ice-skater’s blades, the icicle is wonder and physics combined:
Taking a train journey through snow, between Bucharest and medieval Sighisoara, in Romania, was an exciting and magical experience. Fresh snow blanketed the fields and the hills, while the trees were frozen in winter as the train approached the Carpathian Mountains.
Snow is each new day’s promise for a new beginning. Everything is fresh, unspoiled, and the possibilities are endless. What shall it be today? Footprints? A snowball fight? A snowman? An icy fort?
I bet the coniferous trees wait patiently all year round, till it’s winter time again. Then only do they begin to loose their patience. ‘Is she here yet, the snow?’
The first promise of a colorful town awaiting at our destination:
It snowed some more by the time we took the train journey back.
Winter hangs in the air. Like an artist after laying the first layer of paint, then stepping back to take in his creation, winter took a breather before going back to work.
Sometimes, when you look in the distance snow seems to protect her own secrets…
…secrets she is ready to share with you. Dare you step off the train and listen to her?
Go ahead, go and listen. It’s not like you’re in Siberia. This isn’t Doctor Zhivago either, it’s just the Romanian plains where winter has only just began.
And pretty soon the sun smiles at us, on our train journey through snow and through Romania.
I was happy to count two trees atop this hill. I like to think they keep each other company. Do trees wish one another Merry Christmas? Perhaps they do.
An unusual, yet still typical sight for rural Romania, a cart pulled by a horse.
A beautiful sight for fans of all things train-related, an old steam engine, a narrow-railed one.
All train stations we’ve been through in Romania have this train map that shows you exactly where to wait on the platform, depending on your wagon number. Believe me, it is extremely useful if you board a train before dawn or if you travel with children.
A sight for the brave ones:
Until next time 🙂
Who knows, we might even travel to Sighisoara together…
It falls, slides with joy A dream? Longed for, urged, wished, hoped! Winter’s first present.
As Autumn fades into Winter, I find myself longing for roasted chestnuts. Prickly, like the history of their maroons shades, they are Autumn’s chocolates.
I trust my inspiration to the rich, maroon liquid I came to associate with writing and quiet introversion at home. Its many shade and richness, in the auburn Autumn, are luscious bits of legal bliss. Coffee.
Perhaps autumn found inspiration for its sepia, russet and chocolates between the patterns of birds’ eggs.
Did you know that before naming a color, maroon, already associated with chestnuts bursting in the fire, dubbed a firework’s explosion?
Marooned by Howard Pyle, Public Domain
I love how the word maroon escaped from a 17th century label for unruly people… to anyone marooned on an island in 18th century & beyond. It happened because authoritative would sent the wild specimens on an island they could not escape from, nor survive on!
Maroon has richness to it, depths, warmth. It is a promise never disappointing. Burgundy roses, chestnuts, chocolates paired with a glass of wine, coffee, tulips, an aubergines. Yet in art, maroon is perceived as a shade of red, a darker red – near burgundy, carmine, crimson, fire engine red, magenta, rust (like russet?) and scarlet, terra cotta, Venetian red, vermilion… A poem of colors.
One of my favorite spots of maroon in art is in The Wedding Feast at Cana by the Italian artist Paolo Veronese, a massive painting housed in the Salle des États of the Louvre Museum, facing The Mona Lisa. The Wedding Feast at Cana tells a beautiful biblical story of the Marriage at Cana, at which Jesus converts water to wine. And… there are dogs painted right in the center and one other dog with a gorgeous maroon head… on the left side:
I leave you now with a Maroon Haiku:
Of secret islands, It transcended centuries Boom! In my coffee.
Autumn is splashing out its colors, giving away her best dead leaves, feuilles mortes. If I would describe Fall to you as the season with brownish-orange dry leaves, would I get your attention?
Feuille-morte
Dead leaves, dry leaves, faded, brownish-yellow. Boring.
Feuille morte, sun’s promise captured in amber. The spicy scent of cinnamon steaming from childhood’s pumpkin pies. Crunching in my mouth to the cadence of feuille mortes underneath my feet. Autumn.
Feuilles-mortes, dead leaves, autumn colors
Nightingale in Autumn
Masked by a philamot leaf, Its faded hue a match for the grey plumage Of the Philomela perched behind, on a twig – Or was she hiding, aware of her tune, a heavenly image?
@PatFurstenberg
Philamot color, Philomela – Nightingale, in Autumn
Philamot, sometimes spelled philomot, is another word describing autumn’s yellow-brown foliage (feuille).
I hope you will return to my blog for more autumn colors and words.
Speaking of words and seasons, you might like to sneak a peek inside my Christmas Haiku book:
Over 12 millions tourists visit Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris every year. It may seem like a vast number, but compare it to the billions who haven’t even heard of this breathtaking, this époustouflante church nestled on a tiny island in the City of Lights and you can consider yourself lucky to be one of those few millions. We were. We are, went through my mind as we dumbfounded witnessed her (for the French consider their monuments of art to be of feminine genre) burn on in the evening of Monday 15 April 2019 during a LIVE TV broadcast . We’ve visited the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris in August 2018. I want to share with you a tiny fraction of the marvels we saw.
Getting there…
To visit “Our Lady of Paris” or The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris on Ile de la Cité (one of the two Parisian islands on Seine) you can take the Line 4 metro (M4 purple) or use one of the five bridges that connect the island to the rest of Paris. Do use the metro (Métropolitain, Métro de Paris) when in Paris, it is super fast, reliable, easy to use and super fun.
The Ile de la Cité metro station (stop for the Notre Dame Cathedral) was opened on 10 December 1910 .
Metropolitan – Ile de la Cite Metro station near Notre-Dame de Paris
Here is the first sight of the Paris Notre Dame Cathedral, the precious 300 foot (91.44 meters) spire lost in the fire that engulfed most of this magnificent church in April 2019.
The Notre Dame’s spire was a key component of the Paris skyline and it one of the first things you see as you search for this medieval cathedral. Perhaps not many know that this spire, first erected in 13th century, was damaged before, at the end of 18th century and replaced in 19th century using a design by architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc.
Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris and spire – as seen from Ile de la Cite Metro station, August 2018
From the metro station, as you hurried footsteps take you along Rue de Lutèce thenRue de la Cité and you round the corner towards left, you are suddenly rewarded, faced with a beautiful square bordered by shady trees and behind it, closer than it might appear and so modest in its centuries-old fame, awaits, always awaits, the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris.
Notre Dame Cathedral facade
Icon, Gothic bride,
Graced with long lines, rose windows.
Awaits your prayers.
(Notre Dame of Paris, a haiku by Patricia Furstenberg)
The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is a place of worship before being a historical landmark.
Front facade (west facade):
As in any Christian church, the altar faces east, away from us. The main entrance will therefore be through west. As you stand in front of the cathedral, left hand side is north, right hand side is south.
Notice the two 69-meter (228-feet) tall towers and the spire (at the back) raising between them. The famous bell sounded by Victor Hugo’s Quasimodo is the North Tower (left side and slightly bigger). The South Tower (right) houses the cathedral’s famous and oldest bell, “Emmanuel” (recast in 1631). This bell was the only one that was not melted down to become a cannon during the French Revolution.
Also worth noticing are: the “Galerie des Chimères” or Grand Gallery – it connects the two towers. Here is where the cathedral’s legendary gargoyles (chimères) are found and the King’s Gallery (a line of 28 statues of Kings of Judah and Israel – placed right above the three arches or portals).
Notre Dame Cathedral -West entrance and facade: North (left) and South (right) towers, the spire showing between them, the Grand Gallery and the King’s Gallery underneath.
Right in the middle of the west facade is the beautiful West Rose Window dating from about 1220. It is 9.6meters in diameter and its glass was recreated in the 19th century.
A rose window is any circular widow, especially used in Gothic style constructions and depicting a detailed design like a multi-petaled rose. Why a rose? Perhaps because the rose flower is a symbol of balance, of hope and new beginnings.
Notre Dame Cathedral – the West Rose window exterior also known as The Virgin’s Balcony
All along the front of the west rose window is the balcony of the Virgin with the statue of the Virgin with Child guarded by two angels Do you notice how the rose window forms a halo behind the statues of Mary and those of the angels?
On the main, west facade of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris one cannot miss the three (west) portals (not identical), magnificent examples of early Gothic art. They were sculpted in the 13th century with the purpose of teaching bible lessons to the peasants that could not read, but came all the way to this church to pray to God.
This is the largest of the three portals. The space between two portals is called a buttresses. Each buttress has a niche that houses a statue.
Notre Dame Cathedral – west entrance detail above central portal – the tympanum
The sculpture above depicts the Last Judgement. Above the sculpture thee are archivolts with lots pf saint sculptures.
The Right Portal – Portal of St. Anne (the Virgin Mary’s mother)
The Left Portal – Portal of the Virgin
Notice the three parts of the tympanum. On the top part there is a scene depicting the Coronation of the Virgin, with an angel crowning Mary.
Underneath, the top lintel depicts the Death of the Virgin – Mary lies on her death bed surrounded by Jesus and the 12 Apostles. Underneath is the bottom lintel with three Old Testament prophets (left) and three Old Testament kings (right) holding scrolls with Christ ‘s prophecies.
Notre Dame Cathedral – West entrance left portal, Virgin Mary’s
On the left side of Saint Mary’s portal there are the door-jamb statues: Emperor Constantine, an angel, Saint Denis holding his head, another angel.
Notre Dame Cathedral – Saint Denis holding his head and two angel – left side of Virgin Mary’s Portal
On the right side of Saint Mary’s portal there are more door-jamb statues: Saint John the Baptist, Saint Stephen, Saint Genevieve and Pope Saint Sylvester.
Notre Dame Cathedral – Statues of Saint John the Baptist, Saint Stephen, Saint Genevieve, Pope Saint Sylvester on right side of Portal de la Vierge
Between the two doors of Virgin Mary’s portal there is a statue of Mary and Child. When we visited Notre Dame of Paris there was a bird’s nest in Mary’s crown… Always hope.
Madonna with Child, Portal of the Virgin -Notre Dame Cathedral
At the very left of Virgin Mary’s portal (the left portal) is the Statue of Saint Stephen.
Saint Stephen -Notre Dame Cathedral
Here is a view at the King’s Gallery (a line of 28 statues of Kings of Judah and Israel) – above the three west portals. The original statues were placed there in the 13th century. Sadly, during the French Revolution they were mistaken for kinds, pulled down and decapitated. New statues were later sculpted by Geoffroi-Dechaume. In 1977, 143 remains of the decapitated statues were discovered and can now be seen at the Middle-Ages Museum (Hôtel de Cluny).
Inside the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris before the April 2019 fire
A view along the enormously tall and long nave (130 meters long, with double isles left and right), towards the altar, while standing in the (west) entrance. The nave can accommodate 6500 worshipers.
All the columns that support the vault are identical, although they reach different parts of the six part vault. Because of this our eye is led all the way to the altar.
Notre Dame Cathedral – the ceiling above main nave view 1
Right above the altar rose the Cathedral’s flèche or spire that sadly collapsed in a mass of led and charred wood in the April 2019 fire.
The Altar
solemn interior of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris with stained glass windows and altar with cross and crucifix
Left and right of the high altar are the kneeling statues of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. At the back we have a glimpse of theouble ambulatory.
Notre Dame Cathedral view of High Altar and Pieta
In front of the cross found on the altar is the Pietà statue by Nicolas Coustou. They both escaped unharmed from the April 2019 fire. How unbelievably amazing is that, considering that the spire that collapsed rose right above them? Did you know that pietà means “pity”, “compassion’? A pietà is Christian art sculpture depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus.
Notre Dame Cathedral view of High Altar and Pietà – close up
The Rose Windows
The North rose window, 12,9 meters in diameter, has almost all the original stained glass dating back to the 13th century. Its central medallion is dedicated to Virgin Mary.
A North beautiful rose window of Notre Dame Cathedral including lower 18 vertical windows The north rose window of Notre Dame, Paris. Built in 1250 AD rebuilt in 1861
The South rose window, 12.9 m in diameter, 84 panes ( donated by King St. Louis and installed around 1260) was affected by the French Revolution and both World Wars. Its stained glass window dates from 1845. The south window is dedicated to Christ as south receives the most sunlight, more illumination (in the northers hemisphere) – associated with the coming again of Christ thus being the most alight between the two rose windows of the transept.
Looking up towards a beautiful South rose window of Notre Dame Cathedral
After multiple repairs throughout the centuries its panes are now out of order. The architect Viollet-le-Duc rotated the entire rose with 15° to create horizontal and vertical axes for stability in the masonry.
Notre Dame Cathedral south rose stained window and ceiling
The Stained Glass Windows
Beautiful lighting through the stained windows. The lighting inside the Notre Dame Cathedral is never the same as the outside daylight plays different shades on its stained glass windows.
Notre Dame Cathedral – stained glass windows detail
The elegant stained windows of Notre Dame Cathedral depict religious stories. Although some of them were destroyed during the World Wars, some are even originals from the Middle Ages.
Above the isle there is a (with windows as well) and above are the clerestory windows. Notice there is one arch on the bottom level, then three arches above, then the windows.
Notre Dame Cathedral stained glass windows along the North and South aisles
The original clerestory windows were just a rose window and up above was just wall. The cathedral was much darker. So below, the left bottom image shows an original clerestory window (except that above the round window it would have been wall).
Notre Dame Cathedral stained glass windows
Lighting with color through the stained glass windows of the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris.
The clerestory windows are the little windows right at the top. They have no crosspiece dividing the light.
Notre Dame Cathedral – clerestory windows
The light pouring through a stained glass window always differ – with your distance from the window, the angle you see the window at, the time of day or season. It is always a good idea to revisit a church, if time permits. It will be a whole new experience. Spiritually too.
Notre Dame Cathedral – Saint Mary Statue and stained glass window in one of the side altars of the ambulatory
Each stained glass window has a biblical story to tell.
Notre Dame Cathedral – stained glass windows details
Is this statue looking away from us or is he absorbed by something small, at his feet?
Notre Dame Cathedral – statue in the aisle – notice the high vaults and the inner row of columns
The Chandeliers
There are 27 chapels inside Notre Dame of Paris, their entrances marked by chandeliers. These chandeliers are a symbol of the light of God and were know as “Crowns of Light” during the Middle Ages.
Notre Dame Cathedral – columns and chandeliers
Lighting up a candle is such a personal, spiritual experience.
The transept, perpendicular on the nave, forms the big body cross of a church. Notre Dame of Paris has a rather narrow transept as it has been built after its nave. At each end of the transept we find a big, rose window, the North and the South.
Notre Dame Cathedral ceiling main nave view above the transept.
If memory serves me right, this medallion mural of Mary and Jesus surrounded by gold stars on blue sky was in the middle of transept, above the altar. The great spire would have rose above it.
Notre Dame Cathedral ceiling mural – Mary and Jesus gold stars on blue sky
The area where the choir members sit is located behind the transept and shielded by this Gothic wood screen.
Notre Dame Cathedral interior detail, stone column and wooden panel depicting the life of Jesus
Medieval wood sculpture on the chancel screen in Notre Dame de Paris depicting biblical scenes – below.
Medieval wood sculpture on the chancel screen in Notre Dame de Paris depicting biblical scenes
Great image standing in the ambulatory, looking up through one of the arches, looking up into the vault. Have you ever tried to steal an unconventional peek inside a cathedral or museum? See things from a different perspective, literally.
Notre Dame Cathedral – interior
This would be a view from the North ambulatory. You can see the North Rose Window and the stained glass windows of the north aisle.
Notre Dame Cathedral – interior
The Vaulted Ceiling
Notice the six part of the 12th century vault. The clerestory windows are 13th century.
Notre Dame Cathedral – vaulted ceiling
One lesson I learned from our visit to France: always look up. The ceilings, the vaults are often overlooked and are simply magnificent. A work of art in their own right. Just think of all the forces that keep them together. Right above your head.
Notre Dame Cathedral – vaulted ceiling
On each side of the vault notice the isle, above it the galley (with windows as well) and above the clerestory windows. What a beautiful elevation.
The Pipe Organ
Notre Dame Cathedral – view along the nave towards the main entrance and vaulted ceiling
I love the space above my head when I sit in a church.
Notre Dame Cathedral – view of organ, West rose window and Angel statue standing above the main entrance
Did you know that your entry in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, is blessed by this Angel placed atop the entry doors?
Notre Dame Cathedral – Angel statue standing above the main entrance
Bless those near by,
Hear their prayers, see their hearts.
Sings the Angel still.
(Notre DameAngel, a haiku by Patricia Furstenberg)
The Notre Dame Cathedral Great Organ was one of the world’s most famous musical instruments consisting of almost 8 000 pipes, playing five keyboards, parts of it dating back to medieval times. It has been often renovated over the years but it still contained pipes from the Middle Ages before the April 2019 fire.
Notre Dame Cathedral Pipe Organs and West Rose window – photo by Lysandra Furstenberg
Sculptures
Christ on cross-great bronze crucifix was a gift from Napoleon III. Napoleon III (Louis-Napoleon) married here Empress Eugénie de Montijo in 1853. He was 45 years old, she was 23 and would not succumb to his charms without a marriage. Later Napoleon III restored the flèche, or spire, of this Cathedral, a work carried by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.
It was Napoleon I, Napoleon Bonaparte, to be crowned King in Notre Dame Cathedral on 2 December 1804.
Notre Dame Cathedral -Christ on cross-great bronze crucifix was a gift from Napoleon III.
A painted wood sculpture in scenes from the life of Christ, the risen Christ appears to the holy women, Wood painted panel inside Notre Dame Cathedral
Scenes from the life of Christ, the risen Christ appears to the holy women, Wood painted panel inside Notre Dame CathedralNotre Dame Cathedral – Virgin Mary icon and painted statue
So much dedication and work goes in a sculpture. Dare I compare it to the work that it is poured inside a novel?
Notre Dame Cathedral – interior: stone carving and column detail
Cloister detail in Notre Dame Cathedral, interior -Statue and stained glass window
Notre Dame Cathedral interior -Statue and stained glass window
Hopeful stretching towards the sky.
North facade of Notre Dame showing the exterior of the north rose window
A different view of the Notre Dame Cathedral: from atop the Eiffel Tower.
Notre Dame Cathedral seen from top Eiffel Tower
“But noble as it has remained while growing old, one cannot but regret, cannot but feel indignant at the innumerable degradations and mutilations inflicted on the venerable pile, both by the action of time and the hand of man, regardless alike of Charlemagne, who laid the first stone, and Philip Augustus, who laid the last. On the face of this ancient queen of our cathedrals, beside each wrinkle one invariably finds a scar. ‘Tempus edax, homo edacior,’ which I would be inclined to translate: ‘Time is blind, but man is senseless.’” (Victor Hugo – The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Embedded in the stone and concrete outside the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris is this geographic marker. It is used to measure all distances away from Paris. It is Paris Point Zero.
All roads lead to Notre Dame Cathedral – Paris Point Zero.
A useful detailed floor plan of Notre Dame Cathedral, source Wikipedia. When visiting a monument or a museum having a detailed floor plan is an excellent idea.
