We rented a small apartment in a great neighborhood near the Luxembourg Gardens, in the Montparnasse district. The neighborhood was quaint, with a wide selection of restaurants and small shops...and we had just a 1/2-block walk to get to the nearest Metro (Raspail), so getting around the city was really easy.
Our first day we awoke to beautiful blue skies, so we went out for a morning walkabout. We started off with meandering through the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens. Lots of people were out jogging, soaking up sun, or sailing wooden toy boats (say it 5 times fast) in the pond.
Or taking their cat for a walk :)
We continued on through the park and came across the Pantheon, nestled in the Latin Quarter.
It was originally a church with beautifully vaulted ceilings and a 65 meter (~200') domed roof.
The Pantheon is where Leon Foucault (French physicist) experimented with the Foucault Pendulum, a pendulum that swings in a straight line as the Earth turns under it. The pendulum hangs from the center domed roof. Because of the Earth's turning (and it's setup), it keeps accurate time (you can see the time on the table below where it swings). It was almost exactly 12:00 noon when we took this photo.
The Pantheon also has a large crypt below, which holds the remains of many famous people, including some world-renowned scientists, politicians, and military leaders. Cisco was particularly impressed to see Marie and Pierre Curie (discoverers of radiation) and Voltaire (an 18th century writer and philosopher). I (not surprisingly) didn't know who any of these people were, but enjoyed walking around the crypt anyway.
After the Pantheon, we headed to Versailles (about a 40 minute train ride out of town) for the afternoon. The palace at Versailles was decadent and expansive to say the least. 
It was originally a hunting lodge for Louis XIV, but grew into a beautiful palace over the years with ornate ceilings, paintings, furniture and gardens.
This room is the Hall of Mirrors where the "Treaty of Versailles," to end WWII, was signed.
Every Sunday (from Spring until mid-October) they play classical music throughout the gardens and turn all the fountains on. The canal in the distance actually floated a battleship during Louis XIV's time. Men and their toys!
There are so many fountains that back when these grounds were first built, Louis XIV diverted a river in order to provide for all of the water, which is how it remains today.
It was a beautiful day and we were happy to be outside enjoying the sun and music.
We headed back to Paris and had a quiet night in our apartment because we were getting an early start the next day heading out of town to Mont Saint Michel. We rented a car and headed out of Paris in the morning. Driving in Paris wasn't exactly a treat, but the result was well worth it. Here is one of our first views of Mt. St. Michel as we were approaching.
Mt. St. Michel is about 200 miles away from Paris, in the northwest of France in the Normandy area. Mt. St. Michel is an abbey and walled town built on a huge granite rock in the middle of expansive salt flats built by the convergence of three rivers. When you look out at the salt flats you can see a couple other granite rock slabs...but none are as large as the one St. Michel is built on.
When the tide is high, Mt. St. Michel is completely surrounded by water except for a modern road that has been built (and through conservation efforts, will soon be gone). When we were there, the tide was quite low, but you could still get the idea of what happens when the tide comes in.
At the top of the hill there is a beautiful abbey. It was initially built 1000 years ago and consisted of a large chapel, Le Marveille, and many large rooms used for various purposes (dining halls, small chapels, lodging for the monks, etc.). 
There was also a beautiful courtyard where the monks used to sit and meditate. If I were going to sit and meditate, I'd probably choose that location, too. It was so peaceful and the views out onto the salt flats were amazing.
After its original use as a monastery, Mt. St. Michel was used as a prison by Napoleon and held as many as 700 prisoners at one point. One of the interesting things we saw was the old "elevator" that was used to raise up supplies. They would strap supplies onto wooden sleds...
...then prisoners would walk on this wheel to draw it up the side of the mountain.
While we were there, however, we got to see the current delivery method. There was going to be a show of some sort up at the abbey so lots of sound equipment was getting delivered by this more modern method.
We stayed one night at Mt. St. Michel in a hotel right on the main thoroughfare. As you can see, our bedroom window looks right out onto the ramparts that go around the town walls. 
We had a nice time exploring the ramparts and narrow streets. It really made us feel like we were back in time.
Most people only go for day trips, so at night as we walked around, we had the whole place to ourselves. And with the abbey all lit up, the scenery was simply stunning.
While walking at night, we could feel sea mist in the air, showing up in some of the pictures
The next morning, before heading out, we did a little exploring around the base of the island. 
And here's one last view of Mont Saint Michel, the Marvel of the West and pride of France, as we were driving away.
On our way back to Paris, we made a slight detour through a town called Lisieux, known for its huge church: the Basilica of St. Terese. We have tried to figure out exactly what Therese did to become a saint, but so far all we could find out is she was healed from an illness at age 10, became a nun at 15, then died from a different illness at age 24. Hmmm...After that she got named "Therese of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face" (That one's for you, Charfu). We are left wondering what you have to do to get saint-hood bestowed by the church?
At any rate, the Basilica is currently celebrating the beatification of the parents of St. Therese, which meant the parents had just been exhumed from their graves and moved into this shrine, placed in the middle of the church (to be reburied behind the basilica). Wow...I definitely don't want that job. 
One thing I've never really understood about the Catholic church is the whole relic business. When saints or important people in the church die, pieces of their bones are given to different churches and put on display. This shrine in the Basilica contains one of the arm bones of St. Terese (beneath the cross)...a whole arm bone. This is where people light candles and say prayers...I guess I don't really get where the bone part fits in. But, to each his own....
The basilica itself was beautiful. There was also a well decorated crypt and several chapels below the main floor.
Here's one last view of the Basilica of France's second patron saint (after Joan of Arc) as we leave to find parking in Paris (to be continued)...
2 comments:
Wow...quite a trip! Beautiful pics!
Gorgeous pics, as usual. It looks like you had a great time. By the way, your little belly is adorable! M
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