Hello friends and family!

Again a day late!

Today we headed out early for the Musee D’Orsay. Alison ordered two chocolate croissants for us to try and yummmm were they good. The chocolate was still warm and oozy.

We arrived at the museum only to discover it was closed on Mondays! Oops. Not deterred in the least, we went farther east and stood in line to enter Saint Chapelle. The chapel is now within the walls of the Palais De Justice (which is still an active court house). So strangely enough we were standing in a line to enter a church, while directly parallel to us was the line of people needing to get into court. It was quite clear the difference in clientele.

Once through security you have to walk across a parking lot and enter through the church gates. The church is under some serious renovation (story of the trip so far!) and we were unable to see the rose window for which it is known for. Unlike other chapels, the sanctuary is located on the second floor. The first level has been pretty badly damaged and has been turned into an information/gift shop area. Another difference is this is not an active church. All those differences aside this chapel is still one of the more spectacular.

Every wall is basically stained glass. From about ten feet off the ground to about a foot from the ceiling. They depict every story from Creation to the Book of Kings. The windows are read from bottom to the top, left to right. The ceiling is vaulted and is covered with small stars on a blue background.

We went next door to The Concierge. Which was once the palace and court of French Royals. The only part that remains is the lower level which was originally the dining room for the servants and soldiers for the palace. When Charles V abandoned the palace the lower level was turned into a prison. During the Reign of Terror, the Concierge was the final stop for nearly 2,700 people before the guillotine. One of the most famous was the Queen Marie Antoinette. We viewed the chambers she was held in before her beheading. She was given a small partition for privacy, but other than that she was watched by two soldiers 24 hours a day.

Next we headed around the corner to climb Notre Dame. Alison and I are experts at climbing stairs after Italy! Notre Dame has 387 steps and while there are less of them than Il Duomo they are no less steep. The gargoyles are as advertised and have the most perfect personalities. The panoramic views were also worth the climb although it was pretty cloudy at a distance.

We climbed down and went across the street to a cafe for Croque Monsieur and frittes (ham and cheese grilled sandwich and fries). We headed towards the Latin Quarter, passed the Sorbonne and entered the Pantheon. Similar to Rome’s Pantheon it has a high dome in the center. On the outside it more resembles the Capital building in Lansing. There are crypts below that hold people such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumais, Marie and Pierre Curie, and Rousseau. It was colder in the building than out and we booked it as quick as we could to warm up.

Down the street was Les Arenes de Lutece which was once a Roman amphitheater. Today it was a place to play tag for two little boys and a bocci arena for a group of men. Not wanting to disturb the men (of all ages) we headed back towards the river and the Centre Pompidou.

The Centre has an external piping system in bright colors of red, blue, green and yellow. It’s not the most attractive building on the outside, but the inside is clean, bright, and white. Very white. It has a huge library on the second (or third?) floor, the permanent exhibitions on the fourth floor and temporary exhibits/outdoor restaurant on the top.

The museum was a MONSTER change from every other museum we had seen previously. I thought it was interesting and somewhat thought provoking, but personally I like more…literal art. I don’t know if that makes sense, but to me some of the art was a little reaching. There was an interesting documentary on 9/11 which had raw footage shot by multiple people that had been edited together by the artist.

Tired and hungry we hopped on the metro and grabbed some food at a food cart down the street from our flat. We watched some Friends and Cool Runnings and went to sleep early.

Tomorrow is Versailles, and the Arc de Triumph!