Like any good art geek, I felt it necessary to go render homage to arguably one of the world's greatest architectural achievements; the cathedral which marked the absolute beginning of the Gothic style, born in France in the 12th century, thanks to Abbot Suger and his abbey which was massively in need of repair. Welcome to the Saint Denis Basilica, located in the outskirts of Paris and is the burial place for nearly every French king and queen over the last thousand years:

So, after about 45 minutes of wandering around the Saint Denis, hopelessly lost... I stumbled across it! Big, intimidating, tall, kinda fortress-like (I mean, it was the middles ages...), three decorated portals, rose window... :)








Note the one bell tower. The other was taller and pointier (kinda New England church style), but was taken down in the 19th century because of some structural problem.










Rose window from the inside.













Upper left side of the choir. Love the stained glass!

















Nave, facing west, right at the transept. Note the organ and the fantastic vaulted ceilings.
















North side of the nave... Like the smoke? There was a group from a German tv station there to get some footage, and they wanted smoke to help catch the rays of sun. How cool!










Nothing better than finding a star of David in a Basilica :)












So, while Reims is where pretty much ever French king was crowned, Saint Denis is where they were all buried. Seriously, ALL of them, from the Merovingian kings to Louis XVIII.










Ceiling of the ambulatory. I LOVE these ceilings. Seriously, they're probably my favorite part.












Central window of the choir, with Saint Denis who is walking around, carrying his head after it was chopped off with an axe. Ah, zombies...















Have I mentioned how much I love these ceilings? They look like dragon scales or something...










Okay, done with the art geekiness...

... NEVER!