The next day in Paris we started off by going to La Sainte-Chapelle, "the Holy Chapel." It depicts the period of gothic architecture and was sponsored by King Louis IX of France. Then we headed to Notre Dame and musée du Louvre. (anyone who is a Da Vinci Code fan.. we saw a lot scenes from the movie, the Louvre is one of them) The Louvre is so huge we picked out a few of the famous pieces we wanted to see and just took our time in between those. I don’t think we even saw half of the museum! On our list of things to see: Mona Lisa, Virgin of the Rocks, (both big in The Da Vinci Code), The Winged Victory, Aphrodite sculpture known as “Venus de Milo,” Colossal Statue of Ramesses II. We got to see a lot of other great sculptures and paintings too.
That night we went to see Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (The Sacred Heart Basilica), which is in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris and just another pretty church. It was up a huge hill so there was a great view of the city, and then we headed back down and walked through the Red Light District of Paris which has Moulin Rouge and is off the Pigalle stop on the Metro so then became known as “Pig Alley.” I found this to be less sketchy than Amsterdam’s Red Light District.
Sunday morning we went to Notre Dame again on our way to the Pantheon. We realized we forgot to see Point Zero, which is the center of Paris. Distances from Paris to other cities in France are measured from this point. It’s right in front of Notre Dame and we didn’t remember to look for it the first time we went. We also saw the crypts under Notre Dame which were pretty neat. Next we went to the Pantheon which was also kind of cool. The big thing in there was Foucault’s pendulum showing the rotation of the earth, which was first installed in the monument in 1851. Then we headed to the National Museum of Modern Art called Centre Pompidou, which is just this crazy looking building with floors and floors of modern art – some that use technology and lights and some that are very abstract. There’s also a library, bookstore, and movie theatre in the Centre Pompidou – it was huge.
After this we went to see Palais Garnier or Opéra Garnier, which was the inspiration for The Phantom of the Opera. By this time during our trip we didn’t feel like spending money to see the inside, but it would have been pretty cool.
So we headed to the Eiffel Tower once again, hoping to not be turned away this time. We timed our tickets so we were at the summit during the sunset and saw the city lights come on so, you’re going to see a lot of these pictures because it was so pretty!
We had one more half day before we headed back to Swansea so we saw a few more things. Saint Sulpice which is another pretty church we saw. Also, another Da Vinci Code location.
Paris was awesome and it was nice to have a four day weekend there! We got to experience the city too not just rush to all the sights as fast as we could. Sorry that took so long to post though because now I have to make up a weekend or two. All I’ve done since then was a trip to Snowdonia (Welsh National Park) and hiked mountains with the hiking club at Swansea University. I will also be posting about basketball soon with lots of pictures. Kathy, we actually don’t have a mascot, isn’t that weird?! We have two games this week so I’m likely to be exhausted right before the family gets here next weekend! I’m so excited to see them that I planned out every little detail of what I wanted to show them! :)
You'd better be ready for the family, because the family is ready to come see you!! How fun and exciting for all of you! What an awesome tour guide you will be! Don't let your mom buy too many souvenir t-shirts!! :-) Happy trails in Wales, KSJ
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