A Stunning Chapel, Snow and Dinner with the Flames.

Our first stop today was a building called the Conciergerie.  This place has been a part of French history for a long time. The building was once a royal residence (6th Century for the first French King, Clovis), and was later converted into a posh Palace by Philippe IV in the 14th Century. At the end of the 14th Century, Charles V no longer used the building as his residence and instead turned it into the Palace prison.  There were many famous people who awaited the guillotine here, including:  Marie-Antoinette, revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre and Henry IV's assassin Ravaillac.  The tour isn't anything spectacular, so I didn't include any photo's.  In the main hall that you walk into from the entrance, they had a History of Film in France exhibit that was excellent.  All of you film buffs out there would have loved it.

This an old half car used in French film.  The actors sit in the back seat for their scene and the screen rolls in the back ground.  They had it set up where you could sit in the car and see yourself on TV, the kids loved it.

 This was a movie set from "Joan of Arc" that took up a corner of the hall.  

Just down the street from the Conciergerie is one of the most magnificent buildings you will ever see, Sainte-Chapelle. Apparently it is touted as being one of the greatest architectural masterpieces of the Western world.  The Chapelle is divided by an upper and lower chapel.  The lower was for the use of servants and commoners.  While the upper was reserved for the use of the King and the royal family.  Louis IX built the church in 1248.

 The exterior of Sainte-Chapelle.

There are 15 massive stained glass windows that adorn the side walls of the upper chapel.  In this picture you see 5 of them....

 Detail of the upper chapel's ceiling.

 A beautiful Rose window faces west for late afternoon sunlight.

Detail of posts on the upper level.

 The side wall of the lower chapel.

Part of the ceiling and East end of the lower chapel.

 

Post detail lower chapel.

 Ceiling detail lower level.

On Saturday night there is a classical performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Bach's Violin concerto at Sainte-Chapelle.  I tried to buy tickets at the site today but the ticket booth was closed.  I am crossing my fingers that we will be able to get tickets so we can experience some beautiful music in such an amazing setting.

While we were sitting having lunch massive snow flakes started falling. We were told that it only snows 3-4 days a year in Paris.  It was quite funny watching people outside who had clearly never seen snow before.

After lunch we visited the Classical church, St-Sulpice.  The church was started in 1646 and took 134 years to complete.  It was interesting to see the architectural differences between St-Sulpice and the Gothic Notre-Dame.  St-Sulpice was like one big giant block that had been hollowed out (it was still elegant inside), but it didn't have the light, airy feeling of Notre-Dame.

 Inside St-Sulpice

From St-Sulpice we walked down the street towards Luxembourg Gardens, but we arrived too late, the park had closed for the day.  All of us were pretty beat as we have been going non stop since we arrived in Paris, so we decided that we would stop at the first Cafe we came across and have a treat.  The place we stumbled upon "Bread and Roses", was a fancy little spot.  The kids ordered hot chocolate, and no word of a lie, it was basically melted chocolate.  It was like one of those chocolate fountains that you see at posh parties, but thicker.  They also shared a sticky toffee pudding that they were still talking about a bedtime.

The World's thickest hot chocolate and a heavenly sticky toffee pudding.

 My raspberry macaroon, which believe it or not had basil mixed into the cream.

 Stacey opted for the raspberry tart that had vanilla creme brulee underneath.

Back in our hood at the Place des Abbesses (75 ft from our apartment) there was a little mini Christmas market going on.  

 A vendor was selling all sorts of yummy bonbon's.

Fintan dominating the carousel.

For dinner we decided to eat at the apartment.  We went to the local market and picked up tomatoes, basil, olives and some oil & vinegar to add to our cheese and baguettes that we had purchased earlier.  It turned out to be a perfect little dinner, accompanied by what else but a live internet stream of the Calgary Flames shoot-out win over the Flyers.

Skulls, Gargoyles and Chainsaw Boy

We have adopted to French life quite quickly.  No we haven't gone on strike or taken up smoking.  I was referring to our slow starts to the day. It was well after 11 when we left the apartment and headed to nirvana for cafe and pastries.  Amazingly we actually ate a proper breakfast there today as well. 

After breakfast we got right into it.  Today's first stop was none other then the fabled Catacombes.  This is one of the more morbid places to see on your visit to Paris.  In 1786 the Parisians had a problem on their hands.  The city cemetery in Les Halles was deemed unsanitary and they needed to  move millions of skulls and bones.  They were moved into the empty underground quarries that were formed by excavations at the base of three Paris mountains.  It took them 15 months to move the skeletons and rotting bodies to what is now the Catacombes. It has had other uses over the years well.  Apparently Charles X use to throw wicked parties there, and the French Resistance set up shop in the caves during World War II.

 It takes about 45 minutes to walk the length of the Catacombes.

 The piles of bones go back 10 to 20 feet at some spots.

Bronwyn anxiously looking for a "Frog in the Catacombe Well".

All of those bones made us hungry so we headed out for our first steak and frites. Bronwyn was happy to have left the bones behind.

 Fintan, AKA Meat-boy took down his steak and half of mine.

We had missed the chance to walk up the 387 steps to the top of the towers at Notre-Dame yesterday, so after lunch we hoofed it over to Ile de la Cite to the Cathedral.  Stacey opted out, so the kids and I got focused and made the climb. We were not disappointed.  The legendary Gargoyles and city views were awesome.

He is either deep in thought or bored, I'm not sure.  

 This attentive fella has a nice view of the Eiffel Tower, or Eiffy as Fin calls it now.

 This mean looking dude looks down to the plaza in front of the cathedral.

He has a pretty good view too.

 This hyper little fella is ready to pounce.  Don't make any quick movements.

There are some awesome city views from the top.

It was getting dark as we were leaving Notre-Dame, so we hoped on the Metro and made our way to the main courtyard of the Musee du Louvre.  The cool thing about the main courtyard is the stark contrast between the 1190 built fortress (which is now one of the world's most famous museums) and I M Pei's glass pyramid entrance (1989).

Underneath the courtyard is a sprawling complex of shops, restaurants & parking.

 

Facing the courtyard is a smaller Arc, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (1805).

Napoleon has this built to celebrate his victories.

After a great dinner we walked down the south side of the Champs-Elysees from the Arc de Triomphe to the giant ferris wheel.  Along the way we checked out the many vendors selling holiday gifts and treats.  

 The kids took down the meanest looking roller coaster on the Champs-Elysees.

This guy was crazy.  He was blaring angry German heavy metal music while he ran around picking up various chainsaws and angrily swiped at a block of wood. It was probably -6C and this dude was sporting a tank top.  At one point he came running at the on-looking crowd with a chainsaw in his hands.  I wasn't convinced that he was going to stop.

We ended the day with a trip to the last vendor on the block who makes a mean Nutella Waffle, but is pretty skimpy dishing out the plastic forks and napkins.

The City that comes alive at night.

The sun came out to play today.  Judging by the forecast for the next 5 days, it may be the last time we see it on this visit to Paris. We were slow getting going this am, we didn't get to Coquelicot for our pastries until after 11.

All the hard work on the running path is being erased by the tasty bits inside Coquelicot.

After breakfast we set out to explore our hood, Montmartre.  This area has been an artsy community for over 200 years.  From our apartment we made our way up steep, winding cobble stone roads until we reached Place du Tertre.  The little square is loaded with artists selling their work.

An artist works on a new piece in Place du Tertre.

About two mins walk from the Place du Terte is the stunning Sacre-Coeur.  The basilica was was completed in 1914 and took 39 years to build.  Inside are some amazing mosaics.  Most notable is the massive "Great Mosaic of Christ" on the ceiling of the dome.  The mosaic took 10 years to complete!

Sacre-Coeur.  The Ovoid Dome is the second highest point in Paris.

As impressive as the basilica was, a little girl chasing a giant bubble created by a dude with an even bigger lid, easily steals the show.  However, for those footy fans out there, we found this dude juggling a football.  He made the legendary juggler Mr. Woo look like an amateur.

Someone had sent me a youtube video of this guy, absolutely amazing.

After a quick stop at the apartment we headed for a visit to Notre-Dame.  We took the Metro down to Pont Neuf and made our way on to the Ile De La Cite.

The oldest bridge in Paris, Pont Neuf.

Passerelle des Arts was the first cast-iron bridge in Paris.  The bridge today is a 1984 reconstruction of the original which was completed in 1804.

Everywhere you turned there was a stunning bridge.

Notre-Dame took a staggering 170 years to complete.  I am sure many of you have seen it before, but for those of you that haven't, it is truly breath taking inside.  It is mind boggling to think that you are standing in a building where the first stone was laid 847 years ago.  The access to the towers was closed when we got there after our late lunch, so we will have to go back another day to get up close an personal with the famed gargoyles.

West Front of Notre-Dame.

Some of Notre-Dame's gargoyles.

East view showing the Flying Buttresses.

Great view of the south east side of the cathedral.

After dinner the lights of Paris came out.  The city takes on a whole new look.

West front.

North east side.

East end.

Pont au Change and Conciergerie.

Several hours later, we arrived back our starting point at the Metro station at Pont Neuf.  From there we took the subway up to the Arc de Triomphe.  Napoleon promised to his men "You shall go home beneath triumphal arches."  The Arc was started in 1806 and took 30 years to complete.  Trouble with the architect and Napoleon's demise from power were to blame for the delay.  On the ground inside the Arc is a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that fell during World War 1.  

The East facade of the Arc de Triomphe as you walk out of the Metro station.

Inside the Arc looking down the famous Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

This a picture looking up the the spiral staircase (over 250 stairs) that gets you to the top of the Arc.  

Looking East down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

There is a fantastic view of the Eiffel Tower from the Arc's viewing platform.

The four of us on the roof of the Arc.  The red thing sticking out of my head is the Eiffel Tower.

The Avenue des Champs-Elysees is illuminated by over one million lights that were turned on November 19th to signify the start of the holiday festivities.  With all of the posh stores on the avenue, we probably made the best purchases ever, toilet paper and paper towel.  Awesome.

 Nutella and whip cream waffle.  Say no more.

3200 year old obelisk meets 2010 ferris wheel.

View looking back to the Arc de Triomphe from the top of the ferris wheel.

 The ferris wheel.

The obelisk and the Eiffel Tower compete for your attention.

It was a full day with a good mix of history and fun.  We used the Metro more today to get from site to site which helped us to see more things.  By the end of the day we were all ready to get back to the apartment.  I can't wait for my Cafe au lait and Pommes pastry at Coquelicot tomorrow morning.