2022-07-13: Paris Day 4

The alarm woke us up at 8:00am this morning. We got ourselves showered and had a quick breakfast in the hotel before heading out for the day. Patrick’s knee was sore this morning which we were a little worried about. We gave him an Advil and hoped for the best.

It was a hot day that reached 36 degrees. We hopped on the Metro and made our way to the Paris Catacombs. We had timed tickets to the Paris Catacombs for 10:15am. What an interesting experience. The catacombs started as a quarry. In the late 1700s, several cemeteries were becoming a health concern from how the inhabitants were buried. The King ordered the cemeteries be emptied and the bones transferred to the quarry which had since been shut down. Between 1787 and 1814 remains were transferred from many of the Paris cemeteries to the catacombs. Most of the remains were just thrown haphazardly in piles in the catacombs. Once a section was filled, they would pile some of the bones in artistic fashion at the front to make it more appealing to the eyes. They estimate there are remains from over 2 million people buried in the catacombs. Because of the number of remains an how they were just thrown in piles, it is impossible to know the exact number. There were hallways and hallways full of bones. It is a macabre sight for sure.

After we exited the catacombs, we made our way back to the Metro and proceeded to Musee d’Orsay. We spent a couple of hours exploring the art in the museum. It is a fairly large complex with over 5 floors of paintings and sculptures. Amanda really wanted to see the sections dedicated to Monet and Van Gogh so we made sure to check those out. We say famous paintings such as Starry Night by Van Gogh and Blue Water Lillies by Monet. The boys weren’t too interested in this museum but behaved themselves while we explored. They were a little surprised by the amount of nudity portrayed in the paintings and sculptures.

We returned to the Metro and made our way to Sacre-Couer next. It is a large basilica perched on top of a hill overlooking Paris. We stopped for lunch on the way to the basilica before continuing on. There is a funicular that you can take up the hill which we elected to do. There a ton of locks attached to the fence around the basilica. We toured through the basilica looking at the various alters including one dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul. It is a beautiful basilica. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take any photos inside. As we were leaving we discovered the funicular had broken down. We saw them trying to evacuate the people from the funicular cars. At least we had to take the steps down instead of up!

It was getting late in the day and the heat was getting to us, but Patrick really wanted to see the City of Science and Industry Museum. It is farther out from central Paris so we weren’t too keen on going so late in the afternoon, but he insisted. So, we hopped back on the Metro and headed towards the museum. Google failed us by neglecting to tell us the station we needed to transfer at was closed for maintenance. So, we ended up having to walk between a couple of stations in the heat again which was no fun. We did finally make it to the museum with about 45 minutes to explore before it closed. We checked out the exhibits for math, video games, robots, and space. Patrick was disappointed in the museum. Several of the attractions he saw on the website didn’t seem to exist in the museum. Or if they did, we couldn’t find them. We stayed until the museum closed at 6:00 and headed back to the hotel. Patrick managed to make it through the day with mild to moderate discomfort.

After everyone had a cool down rinse in the shower, we headed out for some dinner. We found a restaurant just down the block from the hotel. The food was quite tasty and the service was good to match which we’ve found to be unusual. After dinner, we headed to a gelato shop we found the day before that was unique. You can choose as many flavours as you would like and they create flowers out of the gelato on the cones. You can also add a macaron on top for an extra charge.

After enjoying our treat, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.