Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 459- 489

In chapter 102, Silas, wounded by a bullet in his chest, sits in Kensington Gardens. He prays for Bishop Aringarosa and for forgiveness and mercy. Before he dies, he feels in his heart that his Lord is good and merciful.

In chapter 103, Fache, leaving an interrogation of Teabing, goes to visit Aringarosa. Aringarosa is despondent at Silas’s death and the news that he killed the four brothers and the nun in Paris. Aringarosa asks Fache to distribute the money he planned to pay the Teacher amongst the families of the five people that Silas killed.

In chapter 104, Sophie and Langdon arrive at Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. The inside of the cryptex contained a phrase directing them to Rosslyn, which had been built by the Knights Templar. For years, people have thought that Rosslyn might be where the Grail is held, but it’s never been proven. In the chapel, Sophie looks up at one of the arches. She knows she has seen it before. When she was very young, she fell asleep looking at the arch and woke up in time to see her grandfather saying goodbye to somebody who was on the porch of a nearby house. Sophie wanders toward the house. The docent asks Langdon where he got the box, saying his grandfather made the same one for his grandmother. The docent lost his grandfather, parents, and sister in a car accident. Sophie enters the house and finds her grandmother. The two women embrace. Sophie’s brother, the docent, comes into the house and embraces them both.

In chapter 105, Marie Chauvel, Sophie’s grandmother, tells Langdon the story of how the family separated. Sophie’s parents were of a special blood line (spoilers) and they had changed their names for safety. Supposedly, they were in a car accident, but the grandparents suspected it was not actually an accident. They faked the deaths of the grandmother and Sophie’s brother, both of whom went into hiding in Scotland. Langdon wants to know whether the Grail is really at Rosslyn, and Marie reads him the verse again. She says she doesn’t know whether or not it is, and she says the secret is not necessarily meant to be revealed. One day, she says, the meaning of the verse will dawn on Langdon, and he will then have to keep the secret. In the meantime, the Priory is ready to appoint new brothers to the brotherhood and start guarding the secret anew. She goes back inside and Sophie comes out. Sophie and Langdon go to walk in the fields. They kiss and agree to meet in Florence in a month.

In the epilogue, back in Paris, Langdon realizes the meaning of Sauniere’s poem. He runs to the place where the Grail is (spoilers). In his manuscript, he had described a similar location. He now realizes that his speculation was actually the truth, and that is why Sauniere must have told Sophie to find him. He falls to his knees in front of the Holy Grail.

I really thought this was a great ending to the novel.  I thought it was interesting that, unlike Teabing who let the quest for the Grail take over his life and drive him to murder, Sophie never expressed a need to see the Grail. She was more concerned with the desire to see her family again than with the specific location of the Grail.  Langdon has always stood in contrast to those in the story who are obsessed with the location of the Grail, but in these final chapters, he shows that he is not immune to the mystery and charm of the Grail. When he finally finds the place where the Grail must be hidden, he falls to his knees in worship. It is a striking departure from the sort of professorial interest he shows in the rest of the novel. In the presence of the Grail, Robert Langdon seems to have discovered the value of faith.

This is my show choir, but in 2007. So obviously I'm not in this. But I always loved watching this and they were really awesome that year.

Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 422- 458

In chapter 96, Silas wakes up with the sense that something is wrong. He sees the police car outside the building and realizes that the police are looking for him. In the process of fleeing the building, he accidentally shoots Bishop Aringarosa.

In chapter 97, at Westminster Abbey, Langdon and Sophie look for Newton’s tomb. Meanwhile, the Teacher stands outside Newton’s tomb with the cryptex. He doesn’t understand what orb the riddle refers to. When he sees Sophie and Langdon looking for Newton’s tomb, he realizes that Langdon might be able to help him decipher the final clue. He formulates a plan to force Langdon to comply.

In chapter 98, Langdon and Sophie go to Newton’s tomb and see that there are many orbs on it. Sophie sees a message from the Teacher scrawled on the floor. The message says he has Teabing and wants to meet Sophie and Langdon in the garden. In their haste to get there, Sophie and Langdon miss the sign saying that that area is under renovation. When they arrive at the route to the garden, they see that there is no exit. A door closes, and they are trapped—with Teabing, who is pointing a revolver at them.

In chapter 99, Teabing explains his treachery. Sauniere refused to reveal the Grail because he had been threatened by the Church. The Church had killed the rest of Sophie’s family and promised to kill Sophie if the documents were revealed. Teabing orchestrated Sauniere’s death and the deaths of the other three members of the Brotherhood. Because Sophie understood Sauniere’s codes, he decided to keep Sophie and Langdon involved in the quest until the rendezvous at Temple Church, where he was going to steal the cryptex. Teabing asks Sophie and Langdon to help him find the Grail. Sophie swears she will not, because Teabing killed her grandfather. Teabing asks Langdon what he will do.

In chapter 100, Aringarosa, who lies on the ground outside Opus Dei’s house, remembers the meeting he had five months ago with the Pope’s secretary at Castel Gandolfo. The assembled officials told him that Opus Dei was to be severed from the Church by order of the Pope himself. The Church had become embarrassed by its affiliation with the sect because of Opus Dei’s aggressive recruiting practices, treatment of women, and habits of bodily mortification. Not wanting to embarrass Aringarosa and his order, they gave him six months to effect the separation himself. Shortly after that, the Teacher called Aringarosa and told him he had information that would lead to the discovery of a relic that would give him great power within the Church.  Silas, frantic, brings Aringarosa to the hospital. The doctor tells him that the bishop may be dying.

In chapter 101, by Newton’s tomb, Langdon tries to buy time by staring out the window and pretending to think about the password. He realizes that the password must be “apple” - the sign of Isaac Newton, and the symbol of Eve’s fall. He opens the cryptex, takes out the map inside, and then tells Teabing that he knows the password. He lets a flicker of doubt cross his face, so that Teabing thinks he is bluffing. Then he throws the cryptex, which he has put back together, up toward the dome. Teabing tries desperately to catch it, but the glass inside breaks. Langdon then reveals that he has the map. By this time, Teabing is disarmed and lying on the floor. Fache comes to the chamber and apprehends Teabing, who screams for Langdon to tell him what the map says as he is led away.

Oh my goodness!!  I was completely shocked that Teabing was the Teacher.  Brown had hinted that the members of Opus Dei were the ones who wanted to find the cryptex so that they could bury the information even further, but it turns out Teabing was the one who wanted the cryptex. And far from wanting to keep the secret, he wanted to bring it to light.  Also, the fact that the Church wanted to sever its connection with Opus Dei forces a reevaluation of the Church’s motives. The Church has been portrayed as the enemy, but it seems the Church is actually attempting to modernize itself by rejecting sects like Opus Dei. In the final chapters, I think Brown reveals that the Church isn’t actually the enemy.

Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 398- 422

In chapter 89, Fache is in Teabing’s plane with the box, which he found in the safe. He sees that the cryptex is empty. He takes a call from Vernet, who is desperate to get the box back and save his bank’s reputation.

In chapter 90, at the chateau, Collet discovers that the computer in the barn was conducting surveillance on five separate people, including Jacques Sauniere. The other four people are important figures, including the head of French Intelligence. The agents on the scene also find blueprints that show that the bug was hidden in the replica of a knight on Sauniere’s desk.

In chapter 91, Silas and Remy have put Teabing in the back of the limo. The Teacher calls Silas and says that Remy will bring him the keystone so he can be “dealt with.” The Teacher tells Remy where to drop Silas and where to meet the Teacher. Remy thinks Silas will be gotten rid of. He laughs to himself at the way the Teacher has used the Bishop and Silas as pawns.

In chapter 92, at Kings College, where the religious research database is housed, Sophie and Langdon speak with Pamela Gettum, who agrees to help them use the database. They show her only the first two lines of the poem and ask her to search for a knight who was buried by a pope in London. The search turns up too much data, and they have to show her the second two lines of the poem. She realizes that their search is related to the Grail and laughs at the number of Grail hunters who have come into her library. She starts a new search and tells them it will take fifteen minutes.

In chapter 93, Silas goes to the Opus Dei house in London, where he is welcomed by the numerary at the door and given a room. The numerary gets a call from the London police, who ask if an albino monk has been let into the house. When the numerary says yes, the police tell him not to alert the monk. They say they will be over immediately.

In chapter 94, Remy meets the Teacher in St. James Park and accepts some cognac from his flask. The drink contains peanut dust, which Remy is allergic to. Remy slowly dies. The Teacher reflects on how unfair it was that he knew immediately which tomb Sauniere meant, since he had been bugging Sauniere’s office and knew of his respect for this particular knight. Meanwhile, Bishop Aringarosa leaves the airport and is met by a British police deputy, who says that Fache told him to take Aringarosa to Scotland Yard. In the car, Aringarosa hears Opus Dei’s address being broadcast over the scanner. He demands that the officer take him there instead.

In chapter 95, at King’s College, Sophie and Langdon look at several results for their latest search before hitting on a book about Sir Isaac Newton. Langdon realizes that Newton is probably the knight they’re looking for. He was buried in London, was a knight, and was buried by Alexander Pope, the writer.

I thought it was very ironic how Remy laughed to himself at the way the Teacher used the Bishop and Silas and how he thought he was really special because he was the only person who knew what the Teacher looked like, when in reality the Teacher used Remy too and killed him. I also thought it was clever that the “pope” in the poem was not a Catholic Pope, but an actual person.  I also thought it was interesting that it was Alexander Pope because my English Lit class has been talking about him.

My sister showed this video to me and I think it's so funny! The looks on the people's faces are priceless!

Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 348- 398

In chapter 78, when Sophie opens the cryptex, she finds another cryptex wrapped in a piece of vellum with a poem written on it. The poem includes a reference to a knight who is buried in London. Teabing says he knows where they should look.

In chapter 79, Collet, still at the chateau, is supervising the team that is looking for evidence there. One of the examiners has found a postcard of a cathedral with Teabing’s ideas, as well as Teabing’s list of speculations as to who has been the head of the Priory over the years.

In chapter 80, Teabing tells Sophie and Langdon that he plans to bribe officials to let them into England without passports. Langdon is skeptical, but Teabing convinces him that his status as an eccentric old knight will help him get away with it. The pilot says the control tower has asked him to land in a different place and to keep everybody on the plane. Thinking this sounds suspicious, Teabing goes to the front of the plane to try to bribe the pilot.

In chapter 81, Simon Edwards, the manager of Biggin Hill Airport, watches Teabing’s plane taxi onto the runway. Unexpectedly, the plane heads toward Teabing’s private hangar, which was not part of the plan. Before the police arrive at the hangar, Langdon and Sophie exit the plane and drag Silas into the limousine. When the police arrive and search the cabin, they find nobody.

In chapter 82, Teabing explains that the knight a Pope interred was a Knight Templar, or one of the knights of the Priory, and that he was interred at the Temple Church in London. If they can find that tomb, they will find a clue about the “missing orb” that was supposed to be buried with this knight. While Teabing discusses directions with Remy, Sophie and Langdon talk about whether the truth about the Grail should be revealed to the world. Langdon says it might be better to let people believe the myths that help them have faith. Sophie isn’t sure she agrees.

In chapter 83, Teabing lies his way into the Temple Church. He tells Sophie and Langdon that the Knights Templar used to run a primitive sort of bank, storing gold in their churches and allowing people with the right documents to withdraw the gold while they were traveling. Teabing, Sophie, and Langdon make their way into the tomb, where ten knights lie.

In chapter 84, outside of the Temple Church, Remy drinks vodka and thinks about how he will soon be rich. He unties Silas and tells him that he, too, serves the Teacher. They each take a gun and Remy says they have a job to do. At the airfield, Fache is furious with the policemen who have not stopped Teabing.

In chapter 85, Teabing, Sophie, and Langdon try and fail to find the missing orb to which the verse referred. There are ten tombs containing knights; nine of the tombs are decorated with statues of knights. One has no statue. The altar boy who let them in comes back and asks them questions. He hears a sound and goes to investigate. Remy and Silas, who have entered, threaten him. The boy wets his pants in fear, and then he is allowed to run away.

In chapter 86, Silas holds Langdon at gunpoint and demands the cryptex, but Langdon threatens to smash it on the floor and ruin the papyrus inside unless Silas lets Sophie and Teabing go. Since the Teacher has had Remy instruct Silas not to shoot anyone, Silas doesn’t know what to do. The Teacher has also told Remy not to show his face, but Remy takes Teabing at gunpoint and makes Langdon give Silas the cryptex. Remy leaves with Teabing. Silas keeps Langdon and Sophie at gunpoint.

In chapter 87, at the chateau, one of the agents comes in from the barn and tells Collet to come look at something. In a loft in the barn, out of view, a high-tech surveillance station is set up. Collet asks who is being observed, and the agent says the answer will surprise him.

In chapter 88, Sophie and Langdon descend into the subway. Sophie tells Langdon that the best thing they can do for Teabing is to call the police on Remy and Silas and turn them into fugitives. Langdon wants to go to a library and look up one of the phrases from the poem on an electronic database. But when Sophie calls the police, they transfer her to Fache, who tells her he knows Langdon is innocent and he wants her to come into the London police station to ensure her own safety.  

I think that at this point, the identity of the Teacher is the second most important secret of the book, after the location of the Grail itself.  I was surprised when it turned out that Remy was working with the teacher all along just for money.  Remy does not want to be a servant to Teabing for his entire life, so he turns against the employer who has been so kind to him. I think that Remy’s betrayal kind of echoes the biblical story of Judas, who betrayed Jesus for money.

So, I just got home from show choir practice a little while ago that went from 3:15 to 9:15. It was a super long practice because our choreographer is in town from Chicago and he had to change and fix a lot of our show.  So, now I have to start all of my homework. Oh, fun.

This was Luers' ballad from last year. When I saw this for the first time, I was completely blown away.  This was really unexpected and really really epic.  They had such a great year last year and this is one of my favorite ballads now.  The song is from The Lord of the Rings Musical.

Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 299- 347

In chapter 65, Silas has Teabing and Sophie at gunpoint. He orders Teabing to hand him the cryptex. Teabing agrees and then slashes Silas with one of his crutches, right on the punishment belt strapped around Silas’s thigh. Silas goes down, and they bind and gag him.

In chapter 66, Langdon, Teabing, and Sophie fool Collet and the police into going upstairs. Collet goes down to the barn and finds that most of the sports cars are there with the exception of one.

In chapter 67, in a Range Rover driven by Remy, the group drives across the fields and through the forest behind the chateau. Teabing has Silas at gunpoint in the back seat. Teabing makes a call and orders his plane prepared. He plans to take them to England, away from the French authorities. Silas refuses to give the group information about why Opus Dei wants to see the keystone. Langdon has an idea and asks to use Sophie’s phone.

In chapter 68, Langdon calls Jonas Faukman, his editor, who admits that he sent a copy of Langdon’s recent manuscript to Saunière in order to get a blurb for the back of the novel from him. Teabing asks whether the novel was critical of the Priory, and Langdon says it takes a neutral stance. Teabing thinks the Priory should have revealed where the documents were hidden. When they reach the airfield, the pilot does not want to transport Sophie and Langdon, but Teabing threatens him with the gun and offers him a bribe.

In chapter 69, in the jet, Teabing asks Sophie if she understands the gravity of her own position. If she can find the Holy Grail, Teabing says, she will have the power to reveal the great secret to the world. He wants to know what she plans to do with that power. Sophie says that when she finds the Grail, she will know what to do.

In chapter 70, At Chateau Villette, Fache is furious with Collet. Andre Vernet calls the police and tells them that contrary to what he said, Sophie and Langdon were at the bank that night. He says they took something from Sauniere’s account. At the same time, another agent has gone through Teabing’s speed dial numbers and spoken with the airfield. He has discovered that Teabing spoke with them that night.

In chapter 71, on the plane, Langdon and Teabing try and fail to decipher the text on the back of the rose.  Sophie takes the text from them and says it is simply written backwards, the way Da Vinci used to write in his notebooks. One can read it in a mirror.

In chapter 72, Langdon, Sophie, and Teabing copy down the four-line poem inscribed in the box. It includes references to the Knights Templar and the Grail. It is written in iambic pentameter and in English, which the Brotherhood considered the only language uncorrupted by the church. The poem instructs them to find a headstone “praised by Templars” and then use another code, the Atbash Cipher, to decode the password. They feel a bit daunted about the prospect of tracking all this down.

In chapter 73, at the airfield, Fache cannot find out who is on Teabing’s plane with him, but he does manage to determine where the plane will land. He tells his police to have the Kent local police, not the British intelligence service, to surround the plane.

In chapter 74, Langdon guesses what Sophie witnessed her grandfather participating in ten years ago.  I am not going to say what her grandfather did because I do not want to spoil the novel.  Langdon explains the ritual to Sophie and she tells him exactly what she saw.

In chapter 75, on his charter flight to Paris, Aringarosa speaks with Fache and is horrified to learn that the plan is collapsing so quickly. He offers the pilot all of the Vatican bonds to go to London instead of Paris. The pilot asks for his ring instead. Aringarosa gives it to him, feeling sick.

In chapter 76, Langdon has a realization about the “headstone praised by Templars” which appears in the poem. The Knights Templar were accused of devil worship during the time of Pope Clement. The god they purportedly worshipped sometimes appeared as a large stone head, the head of Baphomet. Langdon and Teabing agree that this must be the password for the cryptex.

In chapter 77, Langdon, Sophie, and Teabing use the Atbash Cipher to decode the word Baphomet. The word they unearth is Sofia, the Greek word for wisdom and a variation of Sophie’s name.

Other than the initial action of this section with Silas, the main characters are basically on the plane to England.  So, the content of this section deals more with code-breaking and psychology.  Though I am really bad at figuring out codes myself, I love to see others figure them out.  I liked this section a lot because I think it’s really interesting to see how the characters break the codes.  I was kind of disturbed by the ritual Sauniere participated in.  Even when Langdon explained his actions, I still believe it was wrong and really messed up.  But according to Sauniere’s faith, he thought he was actually doing something very sacred.

I think the choreography in this opener is really cool, especially in the beginning. I would want to be one of the two dancing girls in black dresses in the beginning if I was in this choir. They were really good. This is a really awesome song and of course the soloist is completely amazing.

Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 157- 298

In chapter 56, basically Langdon and Teabing tell Sophie that the Holy Grail is just a metaphor for the embodiment of the sacred female, which has been lost through Christianity.  At this point the manservant, Remy, sees photos of Sophie and Langdon on television.

In chapter 57, Collet receives a tip about Langdon’s and Sophie’s location. He gets in his car and heads to Versailles. Meanwhile, Silas breaches the wall of the estate. He is determined to get the keystone.

In chapter 58, in Teabing’s study, the scholars show Sophie more about the Grail and continue with their explanation.  That is all I will say because I do not want to spoil the novel.

In chapter 59, Bishop Aringarosa calls Opus Dei in New York to see if he has any messages and finds that a number was left for him. He dials it and reaches the French Judicial Police. A man comes on the line and says he has a lot to talk to the Bishop about.

In chapter 60, Sophie starts to think that perhaps her family has something to do with this. Then Teabing’s manservant calls him into the kitchen.

In chapter 61, Langdon tells her about all the modern mythology and works of art, from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute to Walt Disney’s films that reference the story of the lost sacred feminine. Teabing comes back into the study and demands to know what is going on.

In chapter 62, Teabing is about to throw Sophie and Langdon out, but when Sophie mentions that they have found the keystone, he lets them stay. Outside, Silas hears the word keystone and prepares to enter. He plans to make them reveal the keystone’s location. Langdon tells Teabing that all of the members of the Priory are dead. They guess that the Church itself figured out who the brothers were and killed them. They also surmise that the Church struck because it thought the Priory was planning to release the documents. Teabing says the Church may have thought the Priory would time the release of the documents to coincide with the end of the age of Pisces and the beginning of the age of Aquarius, when man will think for himself. Langdon tells Teabing where the keystone is. Silas enters the house with his gun drawn.

In chapter 63, Collet is outside the chateau. Fache tells him not to arrest the suspect without his presence. Collet thinks Fache is having doubts about Langdon’s guilt, or that he wants to take credit for the arrest himself. Collet and his policemen find the armored truck in front of the house and Silas’s rented Audi parked nearby.

In chapter 64, Teabing, Langdon, and Sophie look at the cryptex. Langdon tries to determine whether part of the box might contain a clue about the password. He finds a small hole in the interior. When he pushes the end of a paper clip through it, the rose falls out of the wood. Behind the rose there are some lines of text. As he is looking at the text, Silas hits him on the head.

I really like this part of the novel.  I like how all the parts of the novel (Silas’ story, the police’s story, and Langdon and Sophie’s story) are now coming together at Teabing’s estate.  I was also blown away with Dan Brown’s imagination and the dept he went into describing the Holy Grail.  His idea is completely original and it’s interesting to think about what he suggests and if it could be real or not.

Sam Tsui singing and Kurt Schneider producing an awesome mashup of "Love The Way You Lie", "Dynamite", and "Teenage Dream."  Sam is such an amazing singer and I love this arrangement so much!!! I hope you like it too.

I just think this is super cute. I also love the way the video matches the lyrics to the song. :)

This is one of my favorite groups to watch on YouTube. Their choreography is so precise and all of their movements are very strong. The vocals in this opener are also pretty impressive. And of course, that last lift is fantastic.

Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 197- 256

In chapter 43, Andre Vernet, the bank’s president, hurries to the bank after hearing that the police are after high profile clients. Part of Vernet’s job is to keep the bank’s name out of the press, and he hopes to diffuse the situation. When he enters the vault, he can’t hide his surprise at seeing Sophie. He tells her that he was a good friend of her grandfather’s. She shocks him with the news that her grandfather has been killed. Sophie begs Vernet for the account number, but he refuses, saying that only the clients know their own account numbers. He promises to smuggle them past the police, but Sophie and Langdon do not want to leave until they have opened the safe deposit box. While Vernet goes up to the lobby to try to turn the police away, Sophie and Langdon remain in the vault and try to figure out the account number. Langdon realizes that the number must be the string of digits Vernet wrote on the floor before he died.

In chapter 44, Langdon and Sophie have only one chance to enter the correct account number into the computer. Sophie looks over the numbers once more and decides that the account number must be the Fibonacci sequence. The number works, and the electronic system retrieves a safety deposit box from the basement for them. Inside is a small, heavy rosewood box with a rose inlaid on the top: the Priory’s symbol for the Holy Grail. Sophie and Langdon are surprised when they hear gurgling noises coming from inside the chest.

In chapter 45, Vernet puts Sophie and Langdon in the back of an armored truck, changes into a driver’s uniform, and hides a gun under his clothes. As he drives them away from the bank, Officer Collet stops him and interrogates him. Vernet pretends to be a blue-collar driver and says he does not have the keys to the trunk. Collet sees Vernet’s Rolex watch and grows suspicious, but ultimately he lets Vernet go.

In chapter 46, Silas is extremely upset that he has let down Bishop Aringarosa. He finally brings himself to call the Teacher, who tells him that Sauniere left a message and that he should stand by for further instructions.

In chapter 47, inside the box, Sophie and Langdon find a ball with letters written on each of its five panels. Sophie recognizes this as a cryptex, an invention of Leonardo Da Vinci’s that provided a secure way to transport messages over long distances. A password is needed to get to the message inside the ball. Sophie and Langdon discuss the meaning of the rose that is on top of the box.

In chapter 48, Langdon realizes that they must be holding the Priory keystone. He says that only the leader of the Priory would have access to the keystone, and Sophie says she thinks her grandfather may have been the leader of the Priory. The car stops and Vernet lets them out, but then apologetically pulls a pistol on them.

In chapter 49, Vernet tells Langdon and Sophie to give him the box. He just heard over the radio that they are wanted for three other murders. Langdon realizes who the three must have been. He hands the box over to Vernet, but he also manages to put a spent shotgun shell into the mechanism of the door. Vernet tries to shut them into the truck, but the door won’t shut. Langdon bursts out of the door, takes the box back, and gets back into the truck while Sophie drives away.

In chapter 50, Bishop Aringarosa, leaving Gandolfo, realizes that the Teacher might not have been able to reach him because his cell phone service was not strong in the mountains. He panics, worried that the Teacher will think something has gone wrong with the deal.

In chapter 51, Langdon proposes that he and Sophie visit his friend Sir Leigh Teabing in Versailles. Teabing is a religious historian and Grail scholar who might be able to help them. Langdon remembers a controversial BBC documentary about Teabing’s Grail research. They head toward Teabing’s estate, Chateau Villette.

In chapter 52, at Teabing’s estate, Sophie and Langdon reach Teabing on the intercom. He asks them three questions before letting them in.

In chapter 53, Vernet calls the manager of the bank and has him activate the tracking system on the armored truck.

In chapter 54, Langdon smuggles the cryptex into Teabing’s house and hides it underneath a divan in the grand sitting room. Langdon and Sophie sit on the divan and Teabing enters the room. Langdon says that Sophie doesn’t know the true story of the Grail, and Teabing says he will tell her.

In chapter 55, Teabing explains that Leonardo Da Vinci thought the New Testament was written by men, not God, and that some gospels had been left out. Constantine the Great was determined to unite his subjects under one religion, so he reformatted the Bible in 325 A.D. To make the idea of Jesus a unifying force for his subjects, Constantine turned Jesus from a leader into a holy man. Constantine also included in the Bible many symbols of the sun-worshipping religion his subjects had previously followed. Teabing shows Sophie a picture of the Da Vinci fresco The Last Supper. There is no chalice or Holy Grail present in the painting, as many people think, but only wine glasses for each person. Teabing tells her what the Holy Grail really is, but I am not going to say what he tells her because I don’t want to spoil the novel.

Just like Sophie in the novel, I was extremely shocked by what Teabing said the Holy Grail was. I don't want to give to much information away because this secret is huge. I am fascinated by Brown's imagination and how he could come up with such an idea. I also looked at a picture of Da Vinci's Last Supper and what Teabing describes is true. Each person has his own wine glass. At the end, it is revealed what the Holy Grail is in general but not specifically, so I'm deeply curious for Teabing to continue his explanation. This novel is not just a mystery novel, it is also a religious novel. It makes me think about religion and the different sides to it. It's interesting to look at religion from completely different points of view, especially when the Church is in a darker light.

Reading – The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 155- 197

In chapter 33, Sophie and Langdon continue driving and try to formulate a plan of escape. Langdon looks at the key. Its handle forms a cross with four arms of equal length. Sophie has an idea and drives to the train station. Langdon is apprehensive about her plan and wishes he had turned himself in. They go to the station to buy tickets for the next train out of Paris.

In chapter 34, at the airport in Rome, Bishop Aringarosa gets into the car that will take him to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence. He remembers the last time he was at Gandolfo, at a meeting five months ago. On the ride that time, he was thinking about how the current Pope was too liberal, and how ridiculous it was that the Church used Castel Gandolfo, which houses an astronomical observatory, for scientific purposes. Religion and science cannot coexist, he believes. At the meeting, some terrible truth was unveiled. Now, as the Bishop travels to Gandolfo, he wishes the Teacher would call and say that Silas had the keystone.

In chapter 35, Sophie and Langdon buy two tickets and get in a waiting taxi. Langdon discovers an address written on the back of the key. They head toward that address.

In chapter 36, Fache tells Collet that the train tickets Sophie bought were probably decoys. He decides to alert Interpol to their flight.

In chapter 37, while the taxi drives through the Bois de Boulogne, Sophie asks Langdon to tell her about the Priory of Sion. He tells her the brotherhood was established to guard a secret. Its legion of knights found a special cache of documents in a ruined temple. The cache made them rich and famous, but then a pope caused them all to be killed. Since then, the documents have made their way around the globe are now hidden in an unknown place. Langdon tells Sophie that the documents and the secret they corroborate are commonly known as the Holy Grail.

In chapter 38, Langdon explains to Sophie that the documents the Priory protects are called the Sangreal, or Holy Grail. The Grail is not just a cup, as it is most commonly portrayed, but this group of documents. The cup, he explains, is an allegory for something. Langdon remembers showing his manuscript about the Holy Grail to his editor, who reacted dubiously to his theory. (Though Brown does not reveal what this theory is, he makes it clear that it is a controversial theory that does have supporters). Many prominent historians have written about this theory, but it never gained legitimacy because it was not supported by the Bible or the Church. Sophie realizes that their cabbie is about to turn them in. Holding him at gunpoint, she forces him out of his cab and makes Langdon take the wheel. Langdon can’t drive a stick shift, but they manage to get away.

In chapter 39, Silas sits in the room at the Opus Dei safe house, fretting over the fact that even though he killed all of the brothers, he doesn’t know where the secret is. He is also worried that by killing Sister Sandrine, he has put Bishop Aringarosa in danger. Silas considers killing himself. He feels he has let down the only man who has ever helped him. Silas remembers how the Bishop told him that Noah of the Ark was an albino, white like an angel. The Bishop said Silas, too, was destined for great things.

In chapter 40, Sophie takes the wheel, and they continue driving toward the address written on the key. As Langdon looks at the key, he thinks about the equal-armed cross engraved on it. The cross is very similar to the symbol used by the Knights Templar, the guardians of the Holy Grail. Nobody has seen the Grail since 1447, when a church fire forced the Priory of Sion to relocate it. Langdon is certain that when Leonardo presided over the Priory of Sion, he knew of the Grail’s whereabouts. Langdon thinks the Grail probably hasn’t been moved since then. Many historians study Leonardo’s work closely in the hopes of discovering the secret of the Holy Grail’s hiding place. It was recently discovered that one of Da Vinci’s paintings, Adoration of the Magi, was painted over after his death in order to cover up a secret message. This discovery has fueled a lot of speculation about the conspiracy around the Grail. Sophie wonders if the key is to the Grail itself, but Langdon thinks it unlikely that Sophie’s grandfather was so high up in the hierarchy of the Priory of Sion that he had access such classified information. Sophie, remembering the traumatic event in which her grandfather participated, believes it is perfectly plausible that her grandfather had access to such information. They finally reach the address on the back of the key. It is the Depository Bank of Zurich, a Swiss bank.

In chapter 41, Bishop Aringarosa arrives at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence, where he meets with the Secretariat Vaticana, the man in charge of Vatican City’s legal matters, as well as with two high-ranking cardinals. They present Aringarosa with a suitcase filled with the Vatican bonds he requested. The Church officials are uncomfortable giving him such a large sum of money, which could easily be traced back to the Church. They don’t know what the Pope will use the money for. Bishop Aringarosa signs an official document, which appears to be his resignation.

In chapter 42, in the Depository Bank of Zurich, Sophie and Langdon use the key to get through the elaborate security measures—gates, metal doors, and so on. They arrive at the front office, where a guard greets them and points them to an elevator, which will take them to their vault. The guard recognizes the pair from the news and calls Interpol and the bank’s president, Monsieur Vernet. Sophie and Langdon make it to the vault only to find that they need an account number to access the box. They don’t realize that they have been discovered—or that they are locked in the vault. Fache sends Collet to the bank to apprehend Langdon and Sophie.

Although it seems as if not much has happened in this section, Brown reveals what the entire novel is about - the search for the Holy Grail. I think this is super important because before we were just following the clues to solve the mystery of why Sauniere did what he did and what he was trying to tell Sophie and Langdon. Now we are following the clues to find the Holy Grail and to unravel its secret. I think this was kind of a turning point in the novel for that reason.

And now, here's some good, nice, classic show choir that just puts a smile on your face. Enjoy!

This is also one of my favorite videos.  This choir is from California and they are so amazing!

So, this is one of my favorite show choir videos ever. I hope you like it!



Reading - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 106-154

In chapter 21, Sophie remembers that her grandfather liked to create anagrams of famous paintings. When she was young, he took her to visit the Mona Lisa when the museum was closed. She realizes that the Mona Lisa would be a good place for him to leave her a message, and that he would have been able to visit the painting before he died. Sophie decides to go back up the stairwell to find the painting. She tells Langdon to go to the embassy without her and gives him the keys to her car. As he walks away, Langdon wonders why Saunière told Sophie to find him. Sophie could easily have figured out the puzzle in the message without him. While thinking about the letters “P.S.” in the code, Langdon has a sudden realization. He starts running back to Sophie. 

In chapter 22, at the Church of Saint-Suplice, Silas looks around the sanctuary and finds the Rose Line, a strip of brass on the north-south axis that is on the floor of the church. This line, a pagan sundial, was the zero longitude of the world before Greenwich, England, took that title. Silas has been told that the Priory keystone lies beneath the obelisk at the northern terminus of the line. He walks toward the obelisk. Meanwhile, Aringarosa arrives in Rome.

In chapter 23, Sophie tries to see whether her grandfather left her any messages in invisible ink by the Mona Lisa. Langdon reappears, out of breath. He asks Sophie if the initials P.S. mean anything to her aside from Princesse Sophie. She says that once, when she was younger, she saw a strange key in her grandfather’s closet decorated with the initials P.S. and—as Langdon has already guessed—a fleur-de-lis. Saunière never explained what the key was for, but he said if she kept the secret, the key would one day be hers.
Langdon says that Saunière was a member of the Priory of Sion, an exclusive secret society involved in pagan goddess worship. The Priory has had many prominent members, among them Leonardo Da Vinci. It is known as the protector of a huge secret. Sophie thinks that this might explain the unthinkable scene she witnessed her grandfather taking part in. Meanwhile, Fache and his partners apprehend the truck and discover the bar of soap with the GPS tracker in it.

In chapter 24, Silas kneels at the base of the obelisk. Each of his victims told him that the keystone was hidden there. He knocks on the tiled floor and discovers that there is a hollow opening under the ground. He prepares to break the floor tile. Sister Sandrine, spying on him from the balcony, prepares to do her duty as a sentry for the Brothers of Sion. She thinks the stranger standing at the base of the obelisk is a message from the dead Brothers telling her that something is wrong.

In chapter 25, Fache calls the American Embassy and discovers that there was no message for Langdon. He backtracks through numbers on his cell phone and finds the number that Langdon called. When he realizes that it was Sophie Neveu’s number, he becomes angry. He punches in the access code.

In chapter 26, back in the museum, Sophie and Langdon find blood on the floor and a message composed of six words scrawled on the protective glass over Mona Lisa’s face.

In chapter 27, Fache tells Collet that Sophie helped Langdon escape from their grasp. Fache realizes that Sophie and Langdon must still be inside the Louvre and sends half of his men there. The other half he sends to “the only location in Paris where Robert Langdon could find safe harbor”—presumably the American Embassy.

In chapter 28, the message on the Mona Lisa is revealed: “SO DARK THE CON OF MAN.” Langdon tells Sophie that the message refers to the Catholic Church’s campaign to rid the world of female-worshipping religions and the Priory of Sion’s opposition to this campaign. A police officer appears in the gallery and takes Langdon into his custody. Sophie hides behind the viewing bench.

In chapter 29, Silas takes his cloak off and wraps it around the pole he is using to smash the tile in the Church of Saint-Suplice. He works quietly because he thinks Sister Sandrine is asleep, but she is watching him from the balcony. Under the tile, Silas finds a stone tablet with the reference number of a Bible verse from the book of Job. Excited, he looks through the Bible, but he finds that something is wrong. The verse reads: “HITHERTO SHALT THOU COME, BUT NO FURTHER.” Sister Sandrine runs back to her room, where she retrieves four telephone numbers given to her for emergency situations.

In chapter 30, Claude Grouard is holding Langdon captive. Sophie comes out of the shadows and walks to Madonna of the Rocks, a painting on the other side of the chamber. She examines it with the UV light, but she sees nothing. Her grandfather often showed her this painting, so she is convinced there must be something in it. Moreover, the words he wrote on the Mona Lisa—“SO DARK THE CON OF MAN”—are an anagram for Madonna of the Rocks. When Sophie looks behind the painting, she finds the key decorated with the fleur-de-lis and the initials P.S. wedged into the frame. Thinking quickly, Sophie removes the painting from the wall and holds it hostage, forcing Grouard to put down his gun and release her and Langdon.

In chapter 31, Sister Sandrine calls the emergency phone numbers. The first three people she tries to get in touch with have just died. She is in the process of leaving a message on the fourth number’s answering machine when Silas bursts into her chamber. He demands that she tell him where the keystone is. She does not know. Enraged, Silas clubs her to death with the candle stand.

In chapter 32, Sophie and Langdon run from the museum and get into Sophie’s tiny car. They head for the embassy. Sophie wonders what the key opens. She thinks about the terrible thing she saw her grandfather doing. Ten years ago, she went to his chateau in Normandy and saw a large group of men and women in a secret room. A ceremony was going on and they were observing something (the reader is not told what). As she is remembering the bizarre and traumatic experience, Sophie stops paying attention the road. She hears sirens and sees that the police have blocked off the street leading to the embassy. When Sophie turns the car around, the police notice and follow her.

I feel like this section of the novel is mainly building suspense and it gives us a clue now and then.  I really want to know what happened at the ceremony that Sophie saw, but it specifically leaves that information out.  I like how Sophie and Langdon are the protagonists of this novel and that the church and the police are against them.  I think its interesting to see the church and police in a negative light.  I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Reading - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 44-105

In chapter 7, Sister Sandrine, the keeper of the Church of Saint-Suplice, is awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from her boss, who tells her that Bishop Aringarosa asked him to let a member of Opus Dei come to the church immediately. She is taken aback by this request, but she does as her boss asks.

In chapter 8, Langdon takes in the cryptic message that Saunière has written next to his body:

“13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5
O, Draconian devil!
Oh, lame saint!”

With the help of a black light, Fache reveals that Saunière has also drawn a circle around his naked body with invisible ink. The way his nude body is splayed within the circle suggests Da Vinci’s famous drawing, The Vitruvian Man.  In his office, Collet eavesdrops on Fache’s and Langdon’s conversation using audio equipment.Apparently, prior to Langdon’s arrival, Fache announced to his men that he thought he knew the identity of Saunière’s killer.  In addition to monitoring the audio equipment, Collet is monitoring the GPS tracking system.

In chapter 9, Sophie Neveu shows up at the Grand Gallery claiming that she has deciphered the code.  Fache is angered by this interruption.  As soon as Sophie arrives, she gives Langdon a message to call the U.S. Embassy, which has been trying to contact him with news. However, Langdon discovers that the number she has given him is not the U.S. Embassy at all, but Sophie’s own answering machine with a recording telling him that he is in danger.

In chapter 10, Silas reflects on his past while arriving at Saint-Suplice.  On the plane, Bishop Aringarosa thinks about how Opus Dei offered the Teacher a large amount of money for information about the location of the keystone. The Teacher told Aringarosa that he must not be in contact with Silas, presumably in order to maintain secrecy and throw the police off the scent.

In chapter 11, as Langdon listens to Sophie’s message, Sophie tells Fache that if put in ascending order, the numbers next to Saunière’s body form the Fibonacci sequence, a progression in which each term is equal to the sum of the two preceding terms. If Sophie is right, the code was a cryptographic joke. Unsatisfied with Sophie’s interpretation, Fache grows even angrier. Sophie leaves, and Langdon tells Fache that according to the embassy, a friend has had an accident. Langdon goes to the restroom after saying he isn’t feeling well and would like to be alone. Collet and Fache track him electronically. Fache tells Collet to make sure Langdon doesn’t leave the gallery.

In chapter 12, Sophie meets Langdon in the bathroom to explain her message further. She tells him that he is a suspect, and that a GPS tracker has been planted on him. After rummaging in his pocket, Langdon finds a tracker and realizes it must have been planted on him at the hotel. Langdon’s first impulse is to throw the tracker away, but Sophie convinces him that a static dot on the tracking screen would immediately arouse police suspicion. She shows him a picture of the crime scene that Fache uploaded to her departmental website. Fache photographed a line and then erased before Langdon’s arrival, but the line is visible in the picture. It reads, “P.S. Find Robert Langdon.”

In chapter 13, Sophie tells Langdon that the police have more than enough evidence to arrest him for the murder, but she knows that he is innocent. She believes Saunière was telling her to look for him. Saunière knew that The Vitruvian Man was her favorite Da Vinci drawing. He also must have known that if he put numbers into the message on the floor, the cryptography department would get involved with the investigation. Also, she thinks that the “P.S.” in the message “P.S. Find Robert Langdon” stands for Princesse Sophie, his nickname for her. Langdon is confused about Sophie’s connection to Saunière. He suspects that Sophie may have been Saunière’s mistress until she tells him that Saunière was her grandfather.

In chapter 14, ten minutes have gone by. Fache and Collet wonder why Langdon has not returned from the bathroom.  The tracking dot is showing slight movements, indicating that it is still on his body. If Langdon had found the device, he would have removed it and tried to run.  The director of the cryptology department calls. He wants to talk to Fache about Sophie Neveu.

In chapter 15, Silas moves toward the Church of Saint-Suplice.  Prepared to retrieve the keystone, he knocks on the door of the church.

In chapter 16, Sophie thinks about the phone message she got from Saunière earlier that day.  Their relationship had evaporated in a single instant ten years ago after she saw him engaged in an act she found despicable.  The message Sophie got from Saunière sounded urgent. In it, he said they were both in danger, and he had to tell her the truth about what happened to her family. Sophie’s family died in a car accident when she was little. She thought her grandfather’s message was just a ploy to get her to talk to him. She did not call him back.  Sophie asks Langdon to explain why Saunière would want to meet with him, but he doesn’t know. She tries to convince Langdon to leave the museum with her and go to the American Embassy for protection while they figure out what happened to her grandfather. Langdon refuses to run. Fache calls Sophie’s cell phone, but she turns it off. Sophie looks out the window and wonders whether Langdon could make it out of the building by jumping.

In chapter 17, Fache informs Collet that the director of cryptography cracked the code—like Sophie, he believes it to be meaningless Fibonacci numbers. The director also revealed that he did not send Sophie over to the museum, and that Saunière was Sophie’s grandfather. Collet, like Sophie, believes that Saunière must have written the code in order to get his granddaughter involved in the case.  Fache and Collet continue to try to reach Sophie. An alarm rings, signaling a security breach in the men’s room. The two policemen see on the GPS screen that Langdon has apparently jumped out of the window.

In chapter 18, Collet sees the tracking dot go out of the window and then come to a complete stop. The police assume Langdon has committed suicide, but then the dot starts moving away from the building and down the road. Fache looks out the bathroom window and sees a huge flatbed truck moving away. Assuming that Langdon must have jumped onto the truck, Fache runs out of the building to apprehend him.
Meanwhile, Sophie and Langdon hide in the shadows of the museum. The narrator explains that Sophie broke the window using a garbage can and then threw the GPS tracker, which she had imbedded in a bar of soap, out the window and onto the truck. Once all of the police have left the building, Sophie tells Langdon to go down a side stairwell with her. Langdon is impressed with Sophie’s quick thinking.

In chapter 19, Silas enters Saint-Suplice. Sister Sandrine offers to give him a tour of the church, but he refuses it. He asks her to go back to bed, saying he wants to pray and can show himself around. She agrees, but she is suspicious of him. Hiding in the shadows, she watches him pray, thinking that Silas might be the enemy she was warned about.

In chapter 20,  as he tries to decipher Saunière’s message, Langdon realizes that everything in the message relates in some way to PHI, or 1.618, the number of Divine Proportion, starting with the Fibonacci sequence. He thinks of a lecture he gives about how PHI is the numerical proportion of many things in nature and in art, including the pentacle, the symbol of the sacred feminine.  Suddenly, Langdon realizes that the word portion of Saunière’s message is actually an anagram. He unscrambles it and gets: “Leonardo Da Vinci! The Mona Lisa!”

This part of the novel is very intense and I love it.  Langdon and Sophie are running from the police and this whole section moves very quickly.  Less than 30 minutes have gone by and yet so much has happened in the plot line.  As I am reading this, I feel like I am reading faster and faster to find out what happens next.  I don't like Fache and I feel like even though he is the head of the police, this case is somewhat very personal to him or something.  I also am blown away by how Sophie's mind works.  I wish I had her problem solving abilities.

Snowday!!!!

My friend gave me the "Shrek The Musical" CD to listen to and I listened to this one song and I love it so much!  It's called "I Know It's Today" and I looked it up on YouTube, so here it is. :)

So, its been snowing really really hard all day today. All afterschool activities were cancelled, which was not good because I was going to have show choir rehersal this afternoon and we really need the practice.  So, that was kind of upsetting.  But a good thing is that we already have a 2-hour delay tomorrow!!! Yea! I get to sleep in!

Reading - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, p. 1-44

The novel opens with the prologue, which is set at the Louvre Museum in Paris at 10:46 p.m. We are introduced to Jacques Sauniere who is a curator, the manager of the museum. The prologue is set in Sauniere's veiw.  He is a seventy-six-year-old man and is being attacked by an albino.  He pulls off a painting from the wall which triggers an alarm that seals himself inside the gallary away from his attacker.  The albino wants to know where "it" is, and points the gun at Sauniere's head.  Sauniere tells the albino a lie that he apparently has rehearsed many times.  The albino tells him that the "others" told him the same thing.  He obviously killed the three "others" because he says "When you are gone, I will be the only one who knows the truth."  The albino shoots Sauniere in the stomach and is about to shoot him in the head, but he is out of bullets so he leaves knowing that Sauniere's wound will kill him slowly and painfully.  Sauniere realizes that he must pass on the secret that he has before he dies or the truth of the ancient secret he protected will be lost forever.  He then begins some kind of task in the sealed gallery.
In chapter 1, Robert Langdon is awoken at 12:32 a.m. by the concierge who tells him he has an urgent visitor.  Langdon is a professor of religious symbology at Harvard who gave a lecture earlier on that evening.  The visitor is an agent with the French Judicial Police (Direction Centrale Police Judiciaire or DCPJ), which is similar to the U.S. FBI.  The agent, Lieutenant Collet, askes Langdon about his previous plans to meet with Sauniere that evening and Langdon tells him that Sauniere did not show up.  Collet tells Langdon about Sauniere's murder and shows him a picture of Sauniere's body, which Sauniere arranged himself in a certain way before he died.

In chapter 2, the albino named Silas calls the Teacher and tells him that all four men confirmed the existence of the legendary "keystone."  The "keystone" is an engraved tablet that revealed the final resting place of the brotherhood's greatest secret.  Each of his victims had told him that the keystone was located in one of Paris's churches, the Eglise de Saint-Sulpice.  After Silas gets off the phone with the Teacher, he whips himself to "purge his soul of his sins."

In chapter 3, Langdon leaves the hotel with Collet and goes to the Louvre Museum.  There, he meets Bezu Fache, the captain of the DCPJ.

In chapter 4, Fache leads Langdon through the museum to where Sauniere's body lies.

In chapter 5, Bishop Manuel Aringarosa, the president-general of Opus Dei, boards a plane to Rome.  While in the air, he gets a call from someone who reports Silas's discovery.  The Bishop agrees to pull some strings to get Silas access to the Church of Saint-Sulpice.

In chapter 6, Langdon tries to explain to Fache why Sauniere arranged his body the way he did.  Sauniere is naked, laying flat on his back, with a pentacle drawn on his stomach with his own blood.  The pentacle is a five-pointed star that symbolizes the pagan goddess Venus. Langdon explains that it has often been misinterpreted as a sign of devil worship.  Fache shows Langdon that Sauniere is clutching a glow-in-the-dark marker that the museum staff uses to make maintenance notes on paintings.  By using black light, a message is revealed next to Sauniere.  Fache asks Langdon to help him understand the strange message.  Meanwhile, Collet is taping this conversation from Sauniere’s former office.

I am really enjoying this book so far.  The writing style is different than what I am used to reading, but its very interesting.  There is so much going on in this book in so little time.  The story progresses very quickly and there is missing information so the readers don't quite know what is going on some of the time, but the characters do.  Also, it adds in the character's memories sometimes.  For example, it shows Langdon recalling his lecture that he had just given.  So although it is set in the present, it flashes back to the past often.  I think the flashbacks will reveal some of the missing information for the readers.  It feels almost as if I'm a detective and I'm trying to figure out what's going on by following the different characters because the chapters change perspectives often.  I hate when I have to put it down because I want to know what happens next.