France - 10 - Paris II

(Jeff) The day started with a metro ride out to the Paris Catacombs. Back in the 1780’s the king decided that they graveyards of Paris were getting too crowded, so they decided to repurpose the underground quarries and fill them with the bones of the dead. The quarries were no longer being used and they were huge, so they took the dead bodies out of the tombs across Paris and from surrounding areas and put them underground. This went on for about 75 years at which point a gentleman decided it might be fun to organize the bones better and take people on tours down there. Pretty creepy, but interesting.

After that, we hopped on the metro again and went to the cathedral Sainte Chapelle so see the beautiful stained glass windows. The place was built back in the 1200’s in only 6 years, which was remarkable for that time. It was built by Louis IX to house an ancient relic, Jesus's crown of thorns. The king spent the equivalent of 500 million Euros on the supposed crown and only 150 million Euros to build the chapel. The stained glass windows are incredibly detailed and time consuming to make, but with a little bit of money and royal encouragement, anything is possible.

We next headed off to the Louvre, the worlds largest collection of art. The building is massive and is the old palace of the king prior to the palace at Versailles. The artwork is basically the old royal collection along some additional donations and items pilfered through various wars and conquests. The place is too big for my taste, but was full of really great pieces. You could spend days in here roaming the halls and galleries. We hit the high points, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, various paintings and Napoleon III apartment. Great stuff.

(Amy) The Venus de Milo is supposed to portray the perfect figure of a woman, a size 14 in today's sizes. It made me feel a little better about all of the eating we've been doing. ;) The Mona Lisa was a little disappointing. It is very small (21" x 30") and dark. Hoardes of people are gathered around with their phones and ipads trying to get a picture. I, of course, did the same. I thought the crowd was almost as interesting as the painting so as I was exiting the area I turned around to get a picture and the 2 body guards practically rushed me with their arms waving saying it was "FORBIDDEN!" to take a picture of the crowd. Oops! Not entirely sure why? Privacy? Bad for business to show how crowded the Louvre is?

(Jeff) After that we wandered home through Tuileries Garden and up the Champs Elysees. In the evening we met up with Amy’s cousin Sarah and her daughter Olive and went and had some delicious pizza and then walked over to the Latin Quarter and had some more food there (crepes, gyro, ice cream). It was fun to see a familiar face and spend some time together.

The part I love about Paris the most is just wandering the city. Every neighborhood has it’s own little charms and we are constantly finding pedestrian only streets with food vendors and little delights. We are walking miles and miles each day, but also eating our way through the city, which is both exhausting and delicious. We split everything so we don’t fill up on just one thing and just try a little bit of everything.

Amy also got her book today. She loves to get cool books for our library and so we spent some time going to different book sellers (bouqinistes) along the Right Bank of the Seine River to see if they had anything interesting. She ended up buying a very old copy of The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. The seller said it was from the 1880’ or 1890’s. I’m doubtful, but it certainly looked old.

The beautiful stained glass windows of Sainte Chapelle taken with a panorama shot.

At les bouquinistes (book sellers) along the Seine. We bought a small, hard back copy of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in French.

Notre Dame at night from the bridge

Jeff buying one more lamb gyro in the Latin Quarter

Jeff got really scared in the catacombs. I had to hold his hand.

Jeff freaking out in the catacombs. "Beware! You are entering the empire of the dead." We laughed way too much in the catacombs.

I see dead people.

I see more dead people.

I see statues of dead people. Towards the end of the walk, you started to get the idea that the bone arrangers were getting a little bored and trying to get a little creative to break up the monotony. 

The metro has been awesome. Some stations are cleaner than others, but overall it is great.

The ceiling in a smaller chapel at Sainte Chapelle decorated with fleur-de-lis.

Super detailed stained glass windows. Amazing craftsmanship that was done in the 1200's.

The gothic arches allowed for higher ceilings and wider gaps for windows.

The booksellers along the Seine.

This guy was really helpful. Amy tried using her charms to get a better price. It worked.

Glass pyramid at the entrance to the Louvre. Jeff doing his best Louis XIV pose.

The Venus de Milo from a modest perspective. 

The Louvre used to be the royal palace for the french until Louis XIV built Versailles. The Great Hall at the Louvre.

A fresco by Botticelli. Amy loved these.

This was the prettiest Mary that Amy found.

Mona Lisa

"FORBIDDEN!"

One of the ceilings at the Louvre.

The famous painting of Napoleon Bonaparte crowning himself Emperor of France. The pope came all the way from Rome and was going to do it, but in the end Napoleon decided he just wanted to do it himself while the pope watched. He had issues.

This guy would feed the birds and let them poop on him all day. This should be on the show Dirty Jobs.

Tired feet resting at the Tuileres Garden behind the Louvre.

Jeff enjoying his ice cream cone from Amorinos. Delicious.

Beautiful Amy taking a picture of the Seine at night. That is the Conciergerie in the background. The castle where they kept the prisoners during the French revolution before they went to the guillotine.

We met up with Amy's cousin Sarah and her daughter Olive for a night out on the town.

In front of Notre Dame cathedral.