Paris with M&D

We hopped on a high-speed Thalys train direct from Antwerp to Paris on April 2nd and were in Paris a mere 2 hours later. European trains are great! My Dad is a big train buff so it was a real treat for him to enjoy a train ride in another country and see the trains so well patronized and running quite efficiently. We grabbed a cab from the train station to the two bedroom apartment we were renting in the Third Arrondissement on Place du Vosges. It was in a great location and Olivier, the owner, was very accommodating. I highly recommend it if you ever travel to Paris. We had a nice lunch at a little place just down the street from the apartment called Chez Janou. It's a cute neighborhood bistro serving authenic French fare and, because our apartment wasn't in a very touristy area, we really felt like we were experiencing a taste of "French life".

After lunch my Dad was feeling a little tired so we left him to rest at the apartment while my Mom and I hit the town. The ONLY thing my mom requested to do during their trip to Europe was to go to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal while we were in Paris. So off we went. Now, I have this bad habit when looking at maps of always thinking that wherever we're going isn't so far. That it's definitely "walkable." It could be 5 miles away, but I'm all, "Oh, this isn't so bad... we can make it... come on..." So I'm schlepping my Mom across Paris when I realize that it may, in fact, be too far to walk especially if we want to make it by closing time. But by this point I'm thinking, well, we're almost there so we may as well keep walking. We finally made it to Rue du Bac, the street the Chapel is on, and realize we're at #1 and we need to be at #140. By the time we got there, I had drug my poor Mom nearly 3 miles! (2.78 to be exact)

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was built in 1815, but originally was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was only renamed after Saint Catherine Laboure saw visions of Mary in the chapel in 1830 and was told by Mary to create a medal with her likeness on it. Those who wear it with confidence are said to receive great graces. Now thousands of people every year make a pilgrimage to this chapel to be in the chapel where Mary appeared. Saint Catherine died in 1876, but her body was found to be incorrupt (has not decayed) in 1933 and now rests in the Chapel.

This is what a Miraculous Medal looks like: The front:

And the back:


And here are a few pictures of the Chapel. It was really quite beautiful:

And, oddly, the incorrupt body of Saint Catherine Laboure:

After our visit to the Chapel, I granted my Mom a cab ride, but only to Notre Dame. We got out and toured the inside, then headed back to meet up with my Dad. I (mistakenly) thought we were pretty close to the apartment so I suggested we just walk. Probably not the best idea. I'm not really sure why my Mom didn't just trump me and hail a cab. By the time we finally made it back to the apartment, I think my Mom was ready to hurt me. And let's just say that "just one more street" was said numerous times!

A good night's sleep was all my parents needed to be ready for another full day in Paris. I had bought us tickets for the hop on/hop off tour bus, L'Open Tour. I thought this would be a good way to see a lot of the city on limited time and without too much walking. And it was a great idea. The bus passed most of the major sites and you can get on/ off wherever you want to. So we had a light breakfast of coffee and fresh pastries from the corner bakery and then set out for Notre Dame where we would catch the bus.

We stopped for a photo op outside Notre Dame:



And then hopped on the bus:

We saw the Place de La Concorde, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées, where many people, including Marie Antoinette, were guillotined here during the French Revolution. Now there stands a 3,300 year old Egyptian Obelisk given to the French in 1831.
Can you believe this thing is 3,300 years old?!!

We also saw the L'Arc de Triomphe at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It was commissioned by Napoleon I in 1806 as a monument to hail his many victorious battles. It is so big that it took two years just to secure the foundation on which it would be built. You can't really tell from these pictures, but it's pretty big. The views from the top are amazing, but you won't get to see those until I make it to the blog about my trip to Paris with Eric's cousins, Tina & Tim. Until then:


And we saw the Trocadero, a memorial to a battle with the Spanish in the early 1800s. Now it houses several good museums and beautiful grounds. It's across the river from the Eiffel Tower so it has really nice views as well:

The next stop was the Eiffel Tower. We had purchased tickets for the Seine River Cruise which departed from the docks across from the Tower so we got off the bus to take in the views and catch our boat.

Here we are outside the Eiffel Tower:

The Seine River Cruise was really nice. It, like the tour bus, also had an audio commentary, and we were able to enjoy the city from a whole new perspective. Here's a little of what we saw:

The flying buttresses of Notre Dame:

The prison where Marie Antoinette (among others) was held before she was guillotined at the Place de la Concorde:

The view of the "Tour Eiffel" from the Seine:

One of the many bridges over the River Seine:

Parisian homes:

M & D enjoying the cruise:After the river cruise, we hopped back on the tour bus. We were able to see a few more sites before we stopped for a late lunch.

We passed by the Hôtel des Invalides, a complex of buildings which houses a hospital for sick and retired soldiers (it's namesake), the Musée de l’Armée (a museum of the history of the French Army), and Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb, which is what you see in this picture. I was actually able to go inside during my visit to Paris with Tina & Tim so I'll go more in depth about it in that blog.
We also passed by La Madeleine, which was consecrated as a church in 1842, but has a very sorted history. The building was originally begun in the 1760's, but due to the revolution, the purpose of the building was fiercely debated as the "higher ups" thought it should serve a more practical purpose. A library, marketplace, ballroom and train station were all thrown out as options. In 1806, Napoleon decided the building would be built as a memorial to glorify his army, but with Napoleon's defeat, so went the idea for his memorial, and the French were back to square one. Eventually the Catholics won out and the building once again was set to be a church. Interestingly enough, the building has fifty-two columns, but no windows at all. This provides for great acoustics and, therefore, with it's acclaimed pipe organ, often serves as a concert hall.

Here's a great view of L'Arc de Triomphe up the tree-lined Champs-Élysées:

After lunch we hopped back on the bus again just for a bit before hopping off at Musée du Louvre. Here I was able to show my parents just a few of the great masterpieces housed in this former palace.

Leonardo de Vinci's Mona Lisa:

Jacques-Louis David's The Coronation:

The Winged Victory of Samothrace is a marble statue of the Greek Goddess of Victory (Nike) dating from around 190BC! It was found in 1863 on the island of Samothrace in the Aegean Sea.

Venus de Milo is an ancient Greek (ca 150BC!) statue of marble depicting Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. She was found in 1820 on Milos Island.

Michelangelo's The Dying Slave was carved around 1513 and was to be placed at the tomb of Pope Julius II.
And, the 'rents outside The Louvre.... not a masterpiece, but a cute picture, nonetheless:

We got back on the bus and then transferred to a different route which would eventually drop us off really close to our apartment. On that route we were able to see several other sites including the Place de la Bastille. This is where the Bastille Prison stood until 1789 when it was stormed and thus began the French Revolution. This is a picture of the July Column which stands in the middle of Place de la Bastille and commemorates the July Revolution of 1830 that overthrew King Charles X:

We had a little rest back at the apartment and then a very casual late dinner of soup at a nearby Chinese Restaurant. The day had been packed full of activity and we were all happy to head to bed that night.

The weather had not been the best for our visit, but the sun finally made an appearance on our last morning in Paris and allowed us to enjoy my Dad's favorite activity of the trip: taking in the sites and people while sitting at a Parisian cafe.

We had a lovely breakfast at a sidewalk cafe near our apartment where the waiter was kind enough to take a few pictures of us:

Cheers!

And here was my favorite "site" during breakfast:

We packed up at the apartment and headed for the Gare du Nord Train Station. We were off to Cologne, Germany to meet up with Eric for the weekend.


Nous avons aimé paris! Au Revoir!