marvelous glass

"Notre Dame! The great cathedral of which France is justly proud was naturally the objective of one of my earliest artistic pilgrimages, I may say of the very earliest. The tall columns, whose shafts, composed of little assembled columns, rise clear to the vaults; the admirable proportions of the nave; the choir, the seats of old carved oak, the railings wrought of iron--this harmonious and magnificent pile impressed me deeply. But what enchanted me more than anything else was the marvelous glass of the lateral rose windows, and even more, perhaps, the rays of sunlight that vibrated in the church, in various directions, intensely coloured, as a result of having passed through these sumptuous windows. I quite forgot where I was. I took my handkerchief from my pocket, a white handkerchief, and I waved it in the beams of coloured light . . . ." ~Loie Fuller


How different it is to have personally been to place that you read about in an essay than to be seeing solely through the writer's eyes.

My trip to Europe seems a bit like a dream now, except the moments when I read of places I've seen, paths I've walked upon -- then, it suddenly seems much more real -- for a minute or two, at least. 

p.s. Just in case you were wondering, not even a minute after the events recorded in her quote, Loie Fuller was removed from the cathedral by a security guard.