A quick trip to Paris – part 4

You still here?

Life got in the way of writing for a bit – I know some of you have been waiting for part 4. So here it is.

I hope you had a nice rest looking at Notre Dame cathedral. It’s going to be a quieter part of the trip now. Well, sort of.

I decided to walk around the cathedral and suddenly saw a sign that said “visite”. I was confused and thought “it surely can’t be open”. Well, it wasn’t. They had put up pictures of the restauration work with a bit of text as well. It was nicely done but kind of difficult to walk and read as the passage was very narrow.

I walked across the bridge behind the cathedral towards the Panthéon. I loved walking those streets. The Panthéon is not that far a walk and I passed a few interesting restaurants but nothing I really fancied. I mean why do they put meat and/or sea food in everything?

Quick side note on that. If you’re trying to find a ready-made salad that’s vegetarian – good luck with that. I looked hard. Couldn’t find one. Not even at a big supermarket. I didn’t ask about it because I didn’t want to be THAT tourist. It just seemed odd. Oh and … don’t separate two yogurts if you only want one. There will be an argument at checkout because apparently you have to buy two. Even if you say that you’ll happily pay the price of two, but you only want one. They looked at me like I was completely nuts. Well … you know … I explained to them that I didn’t have a fridge, so I had nowhere to keep the second yogurt and that I really only wanted one. The second cashier said “it’s the tourists – they don’t care about the money” (I translated that for you – we were having the discussion in French). I agreed with her and was finally allowed to leave. With just the one yogurt.

Eglise Saint-Etienne-du-Mont – that’s where I went next. The church looked interesting, so I entered. The architecture was fascinating. There were gothic but also Renaissance elements. I love exploring churches that were built in the transition phase to a new style period. Plus, this one was housing the shrine of Paris’ patron saint, Geneviève.

It always amuses me when speakers of other languages realize how words or names are pronounced properly in a language. Geneviève has that letter “è” in it and you can’t just ignore that. Of course, this happens to me too and I find that even more amusing. Being a linguist, I should know. Anyway, it was a nice little church, but I didn’t spend much time in there as they were getting ready for afternoon prayer. Or at least it looked like it.

Next up the Panthéon. There was a very short line for non-ticket holders, so I chanced it. It took me no more than five minutes to get in and wow! Just wow! Where do I start? There’s the Foucault pendulum that this physicist Léon Foucault constructed to demonstrate the movement of the earth. Fascinating stuff. And it still works today. Look it up, it’s really neat.

Then there’s the crypt. A lot of famous people have been laid to rest there. Some writers like Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas or Emile Zola. And then there’s also Marie Curie and her husband Pierre. Many more, but these are the names I took a picture of or could remember. I always love the tranquility of a crypt. I can’t imagine this in the summer, but I guess they have a limit to how many people they let in. I felt lucky to get a picture without people in it.

Another reason why it took me a bit longer to write part four was a temporary exhibition at the Panthéon called “Oser la Liberté” (I guess that would translate to “daring to be free”). When I think slavery Great Britain and the US come to mind immediately, but of course others played a role too. And, I don’t know why I did not have the French on my radar as much. That exhibit did something to me. I’ll explore it a bit more in my Sunday morning thoughts which I can’t link to here as I haven’t written them yet. Check for Sunday Morning Thoughts – February 25, 2024. It was a sobering exhibition with video footage and pictures telling the story of individual freedom fighters. It’s something I will want to read more about. It’s already given me a lot of food for thought and I’m sure there is more to come.

That’s the Eiffel Tower way in the distance.

Walking out of the Panthéon I was in deep thought. I saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance and started thinking about heading back to my hotel. As I hadn’t really had lunch yet, I went to a little café close to the Jardin du Luxembourg. Yes, I know it was kind of late for lunch, but what can I do? I forget to eat when I’m in explore mode. The mother and daughter at the table next to me ordered a Croque Monsieur each. That made me smile. I had some lasagna (I was craving Italian food for some reason) and the most delicious cake with a liquid chocolate core. DIVINE!

Again, I didn’t hang around for too long. I walked through the Jardin du Luxembourg loving the clouds and the kids playing. My feet were again not happy with me. I mean I’d been walking for hours already. So, I checked how to get back to the hotel fasted but ended up opting for the *how do I get back to my hotel walking the smallest number of steps* option. It was by bus. Up to that point I had not actually taken a bus. I figured this was a good opportunity to go for it. I would have had to have rushed to catch the next bus, so I went and explored l’Eglise Saint Sulpice. It looked pretty special from the outside and it was. There was some sort of service going on and people were discouraged from walking around. Still, nice to get a peek.

I was now so ready for my Paris bus adventure. Anybody who wants to take a bus in Paris, here’s what you need to know. Hold on tight and keep an eye on bus stops where your bus doesn’t stop. It also helps to know what the one or two stops before you need to get off are. I mean that’s a good idea on a bus anywhere. You can use the same ticket as for the metro. I had a metro card with like 10 rides on it. For most activities zone 1 is enough. This 20-minute bus ride cost me the same as the two-minute ride on the funicular in the morning, but who’s counting…

The yogurt story I told you above happened next. Just to get the chronology straight. Back at the hotel was when the past two days caught up with me. Too many impressions, too many steps. I just basically fell on my bed and stayed there until Sunday morning.

Don’t worry, I had snacks and stuff.

I think I owe you a picture of my guillotine bookmark. So, here it is. Also, there were two Richards on my bed when I got back. This might be funny to some of you – for reasons.

I’ll be back with part 5 where I tell you about my Sunday morning in Paris and possibly about what surprised me about my first trip to Paris. Or that could be part 6. We’ll just have to wait and see.