On day six of our vacation we put on our walking shoes and took to the streets of Paris and saw as many sights as we could pack into the day. We checked out of the hotel, but as with many hotels you can store your luggage for the day so you can still tour the sights. Many of the museums and points of interest will have bag checks, but with all the metro rides and miles walking it was faster keeping our bags at our hotel. Since we were staying in the Bastille neighborhood we past by this tower many times a day marking the Place de la Bastille. The Colonne de Juillet (July Column) marks the spot of Bastille, a fortress (built to protect France from England during the Hundred Years' War) later turned prison. The Bastille was home to more then just the French, but also was a headquarters of sort for other conquering countries of the time including England and Burgundy. Originally other monuments were to be erected at this square as early as 1792, but with the constant changes and revolutions the final monument wasn't completed until 1840.
We turned to Rick Steves once more and his downloadable app for the iPhone and listened to the many city walks for Paris in order to see the sights on our last day. We started with doing the Marais Walk right at Place de la Bastille. We enjoyed the architecture of the buildings, the unique shops, and watching the people of the streets go about their daily lives.
We then hoped on the metro and headed back to Notre-Dame for another walking tour. We started off at Point Zero, the center of France. From there you can see a grand equestrian statue of Charlemagne. Next we the Paris Archaeological Crypt to look at 2000 years worth of dirt and debris left by previous generations. Its a quick look at Roman ruins and also maps out the development of the area and of Notre-Dame itself. It was amazing to see how technologically advanced the Romans were when they were building the infrastructure of cities.
Walking by Notre-Dame once more we headed to a little known memorial for those that lost their lives at Nazi concentration camps. 200,000 French fell victim, and this memorial takes you underground into a darkness on the banks of the Seine River.
The Pont des Atrs is a narrow pedestrian bridge in Paris and also is a "Love Bridge". The locks on the bridge are put on to signify the promise of lasting love for someone. For €5 we could have added our own lock, but passed ;)
We continued our walk on the left bank and refilled our water bottles out of the free fountains that Sir Richard Wallace donated to his adopted home. Paris for years has been center for culture and a home for free thinking, and continues to be to this day.
We then made our way through the Latin Quarter, and found ourselves a nice café to sit at while having a snack.
We then made our way to Sainte-Chapelle, a marvel of Gothic spires and stain glass. It was completed in 6 years, and under the direction of one architect...unheard of during this time when bigger was better. It was built specifically to house the Crown of Thorns that Jesus wore on the cross.
There are 15 separate panels of stained glass allowing an abundance of light in. The panels covers Christian history of the world. From Genesis with Cain and Able, to the coming of Christ (found above the alter and original home of the Crown of Thorns) and the final days of judgement in the stunning Rose window.
The Alter that housed the Crown of Thorns. Only the King and Priest were allowed in the elevated alter. King Louis IX purchased the supposed Crown of Thorns to the equivalent of €500 million.
Saint-Chapelle was built for a mere € 150 million.
The Rose window depicting the Judgment Day.
From Saint-Chapelle we headed to the Conciergerie, the once prison that housed Marie-Antoinette in her finally days before heading to the guillotine.
Outside of the prison is the oldest pubic working clock in Paris. Hard to imagine it is still ticking from 1334 when it is situated outside exposed to the elements, unphased by revolutions and wars.
From the exterior of the Conciergerie you can see the Babbler Tower, said to have echoed the screams of those being tortured inside. A reminder for citizens to behave themselves as they passed.
We then walked past the statue of King Henry IV, the French King that made Paris not only a busy market and the center of society, but also an elegant and family friendly capital.
Once again we hit the metro to do the next walking tour, starting out at the Arc de Triomphe.
It took a little time, but we managed to figure out how to get to the monument. Getting to it involves finding an underground pedestrian walkway under the Champs-Elysées étoile (star) or roundabout, 12 roads lead out from this War Memorial. This is the only known French roundabout that gives those entering the étoile the right away over those that are already in the lane, if an accident does occur it is a 50/50 split fault regardless of who really caused it. The walk gives a pretty good view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
The Arc de Triomphe was started in 1809 to honor Napoleon's soldiers that fought the Austrians at the Battle of Austerlitz. Patterned after arches from Ancient Rome, Napoleon wanted to be known as the emperor of the "New Rome". Napoleon died before the completion of the arch, but you can find him clad in a toga on left pillar. The arch was completed in 1840, Napoleon's final funeral procession (19 years after he died) from his exiled location of St. Helena to Paris did pass under the arch.
The inside of the arch is lined with the list of French victories since the Revolution and on the columns themselves you see the names of the great military leaders, those underlined died in battle.
The arch today is dedicated to all of the French armies and when you walk to the center you will see the tomb of the unknown soldier (from WWI) The fire is stoked and new flowers presented every day at 6:30pm.
The arch served as a parade gateway for triumphal armies, both French and foe. During WWII (1940-1944) a large swastika flew here while the Germans high stepped their way down the Champs-Elysées. As Allied troops liberated Paris, they also marched under the arch in celebration.
You have to climb up all of these (284 steps)....
in order to get these views at the top.
The Champs-Elysées leads to the Tuileries Garden and the Louvre.
11 million people live in the city of Paris, the highest density of any town in Europe and about 20 times greater then New York City. The white dome in a distance is in the town of Montmartre, which was its own city until 1860.
Paris was a well planned out city, every block was specifically planned out to be symmetrical.
We then descended the steps down the other leg of the monument.
We started the walking tour of the Champs-Elysées, the Tour de France was making its way though the country side when we were in the country. These riders were part of a tour group reenacting where the riders would be coming through...die hard fans there!
During this walk we passed by the very first McDonald's allowed in the city, it had to conform to the French standard of having the characteristics of a city café...no larger golden arches allowed either. This street after all is world's most glitzy street with high end designers, nightclubs, and high end stores galore.
We continued down the street till the shopping turned into a park. We walked past the building erected for the 1900 Worlds Fair, unfortunately with the Tour de France in town a lot of the buildings and streets were fenced off.
We proceeded to the Place de la Concorde, were the guillotine sat during the Revolution. As many as 2,780 people lost their heads during the Reign of Terror including Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and even that of the man that fueled the Revolution and called for the beheading of the royal couple Maximilien de Robespierre.
Obelisk of Luxor is a 3,300 year old Egyptian monument with hieroglyph-inscribed sides. It was erected by Charles X in honor of his brother Louis XVI, and all others who was beheaded on that spot. Charles X became king after the monarchy was restored after Napoleon's reign. It took 2 years for the obelisk to make its way to France.Starting with having been pulled down from a temple, crated, loaded onto a boat to float down the Nile across the Mediterranean, along the Atlantic coast and then up the Seine to be unloaded and reconstructed.
From here we made our way to the Tuileries Gardens, the grounds of the Louvre.
The Tuileries Garden was once the private gardens of the King and Queen of France. Now it is a public garden for all to enjoy and look upon what was the home of those same Kings and Queens, the sprawling Louvre. Each ruler added their mark (or wing) to this palace creating an impressive 652,300 square foot residence.
Some royal animals still wonder the gardens helping take care of the acres of grass and weeds.
After concluding our walk we headed for a café for the nights supper, supper once again doesn't start till after 730pm. We had a satisfying supper, finally getting the hang of how to order and tried Foie gras for the first time....on purpose ;) He then gathered our belongings from our hotel and found the metro to connect to the RER that would take us closer to the airport hotel. We were getting slightly worried when we pulled into the small town next to the hotel that we would have a problem finding a cab to get us to the hotel, but thankfully we only walked a block before we found one on duty. We had an extra early morning an thought the hotel closest to the airport would be a good idea, however, getting a later flight and staying in our downtown hotel would have been a better choice in hindsight.
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