Our Last Hurrah in Paris

Wednesday and Thursday, July 24 & 25, 2013

We started the day going together to Sacre Coeur; the famous white church on the hill. It is much newer than Notre Dame and St. Chapelle being completed just under 100 years ago. Beautiful inside and out it is visible all around the area.










After Sacre Coeur we parted ways with Wayne, Janel and Jake who were planning to explore the Louvre, some bone-filled catacombs and other sights that we had seen on our previous visit. so we wandered over to the nearby Montmarte, which is a haven for local artists and many tourists pose for a souvenir portrait here in the shady plaza. Elane has hers done when she was in high school, a few short years ago.

We also came upon these street performers. I expect that someone better versed in opera could tell us where the costuming came from but their songs ranged from the operatic to the Billy Joelific.

After Montmarte and an espresso we found our way to the Museum of the Middle (Moyen) Age. It was housed in the same neighborhood as our hotel in a  beautiful old building that served as a hotel dating from the 1300's. (Note the sundial on the wall behind Elane in the picture.)

Pieces in the collection include middle age sculptures, original glass from St Chappelle, the original heads of the kings of Judah that adorned Notre Dame for 550 years. They were removed during the French revolution and lost for almost 200 years until they were found in the 1970's serving as part of the foundation of a house.

This museum was a highlight of Paris for all of us (it turns out WJ & J toured it, as well). When the museum closed and we were escorted our, we met the rest of the family for dinner back at the Polidor, returned to the hotel to pack for home and went to bed. But tonight this would be a challenge as it seems that Hotel Claude Bernard is used as a home away from home for American youth groups in Paris with all of the subsequent pounding on the steps and shouting in the hallways. C'est la vie.

The next morning, our last in Paris, we met the kids again wandering the hotel lobby in their pajama bottoms while we, and the hotel management, shook our heads in amazement.

The End.