Paris City Sights

We are quickly running out of time in Paris but as exhausted as we are, we want to push ourselves today again to see all that this beautiful city has to offer. Please be warned pictures of exposed bones are in this blog and anxious children may be disturbed by the images (‘cause adults don’t get scared by this stuff), but that’s later in the blog. 

Notre Dame Cathedral

We started our day at the unmistakable Catholic church of Notre Dame. The exterior was beautifully embellished with the iconic windows and statues of the Apostles. The beauty inside the building of contrasting dark wood tones and colourful glass windows was breathtaking and it was truly touching to see the many alters and candles as offerings.

Notre Dame

We entered the Crowned Jewels room and saw displays of Priest cloaks and precious rings, old scrolls, plaques of previous Priests and gorgeously displayed gold goblets, platters and other gifts.

 

 

Les Invalides and Napoleon's Tomb

We walked around the beautiful church for almost an hour before making our way to Les Invalides and Napoleon’s Tomb. The Les Invalides is a series of buildings once used as a military hospital and later extended to incorporate a retirement home called ‘hospital des invalids (hospital for invalids). Now it is a French Army museum and Emperor Napoleon’s Tomb. Napoleon was a military and political lead of France and Emperor of the French now known as Napoleon I, who shaped European politics in the early 19^th century.

A gold cap on the dome of the building was added in 1676 to mimic the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome for a private chapel for King Louis XIV and was finished in 1708. The cathedral is also the tomb to Emperor Napoleon and other close family. The room inside is truly spectacular with marble flooring and huge pillars. The space opened on the first to see below to the ground floor and Napoleon’s tomb floor and above stretched the beautiful high ceilings decorated with scenic paintings of Nepoleon and gold decorations that scaled almost five floors high. Each white marble pillar supporting the ceiling was carved to give a Roman decor style. Once examining the unmistakable brown marbled tomb below the eye is drawn around the first floor to the back of the building to the enormous alter of black and white marble with angels flanking its sides.

  
We walked past the main alter with sore necks from looking up, then made our way down spiralling wide brown marble stairs to the ground floor. The corridor door was guarded by marble stone figures carrying precious gold crowns. Napoleon was truly worshiped and adored by the people. The walls of the corridor leading to the tomb were spot lit on carved scenes of Nepoleon in battle and shaking hands for peace agreements.

 

The tomb was centred in the room and surrounded by angels at each pillar carrying offerings. Further behind the alter was the resting place of Napoleon with a statue of him with a staff and crown. 

 

 
Uplifted, we left the building for a better shot from outside. Time for lunch! We stopped into the Cafe Du Rendez-Vous and enjoyed a French lunch. It was nice to finally stop enjoy the French pastime by watch the passerby’s over a good meal and coffee. It’s good to be in Paris today. The cafe was across the road from the Parisian Catacombs.

Catacombs

More history: At the end of the 18^th century, rampant disease in the les Halles neighbourhood caused by the adjacent Cemetery of the Innocents led to the mass grave being entirely exhumed. In 1785, it was decided that the bones were to be moved to the building stone quarry under the Montsouris plain in the south of Paris. On April 7, 1786, after being properly converted and readied, the quarries were consecrated and become the principal ossuary of Paris. Until 1788 cartloads covered with black clothes, escorted by priests chanting the office for the dead, crossed Paris by night to deposit the remains. The Catacombs were accessible to the public to view in 1810-1811.

We bought our tickets and walked through the slippery corridors 20 metres below ground level beneath the metro in the old sewer system before coming to the bone galleries which follow the street patterns above ground. It was very eerie walking through nameless bones that were decorated to form patterns.

We walked almost half an hour with only one way out, forward. Although there were other people walking the corridors, no one wanted to speak. We heard every echoing footprint splashing in shallow puddles but were surprised that the bones were dry. There were plenty of lights through the corridors that lit the skulls and bones so we could clearly see the details. It would have been scary if the lights turned out. We were very pleased to breath the fresh air outside. Now we were inspired to keep going and see all there is in life.



Louvre Museum

One last stop for the day was the Louvre Museum, but first before the Museum, the world’s best toileting experience. Check out the toilet paper colours and patterns and the toilet seats. Every toilet is cleaned by an attendant after each use with the latest electronic flushing and taps that technology has to offer.

On with the Museum tour. The prism colours were spectacular.

The museum was very busy with thousands of people everywhere, especially in the room of the Mona Lisa painting but we pushed through and got a shot. The painting was behind glass for protections and flashes were going off all around. It’s clear to see now why so many other museums don’t allow photography.

Mona Lisa

 

La Venus de Milo

Goddess Athena

Though we’ve been to Egypt, we gazed at the Egyptian artifacts of the museum for a long time still admiring the beauty and craftsmanship of the carvings.

Ramses II

 

Becoming tired from our day we rested inside the foyer then took the escalator to the upstairs exit via the prism.

We certainly have a better feeling for the culture and history of Paris after our day and we’d love another week here to slow down and enjoy the sights more, but we can rest when the trip is over.
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