Not having any firm plans again, other than wanting to see Sainte-Chapelle and do our river cruise, we opted to go to the Invalides museum...which is a bit of a misnomer - it's actually a complex of buildings - museums and monuments - pertaining to the military. We didn't want to do all the museums, but we did do the World War museums and the museum with all the old armour and cannons used in centuries past. There were some quite fascinating items there - beautifully etched armour, a helmet that looked like a duck (!), cannons with smiling lion faces, amazingly detailed firearms...after doing that portion of the museum, we had a quick bit to eat at the café there then went to the WW museums. I went thru a little faster than hubby, and like all war museums, there was some disturbing stuff - especially the videos of the holocaust and the atrocities...it is so horrifying, but hard to look away. It makes you despair that people could treat other human beings like that, but also, I think it is important not to sweep it under the rug - these videos need to be seen so people don't ever forget. But a bit of a dark cloud did descend until we left. Military history is never 'fun'.
Oh - we also did the church with Napoleon's tomb. Of course, being from an English country, I always thought Napoleon was...hmmm...how to put this (my impressions) - a short egomaniacal man, who wasn't thought highly of by the world. But of course, you learn the history of the country you are in with all their biases and apparently they liked Napoleon in France! (Of course they did!). All told, we spent about three hours here.
Afterwards, we sat outside for a bit (another beautiful, warm sun-drenched day) the went back to the Rue Cler to see what it was like during the day when more things were open. We also needed a cash machine! I found my pastry shop which was near to Rue Cler and got three of the yummy pastries(Aux Merveilleux de Fred - my goal was to go to the one in Paris and London after visiting the one in NYC earlier this year - unfortunately, we were close by the one in London but didn't have the time to get there...). Had some delicious Swiss ice cream - looking at google maps, I'm sure it was from the Movenpick kiosk outside the Patisserie Viennoiserie at 40 Rue Cler. Got caramel - sooooo good.
After, we walked back to the room to relax for a bit...and for me to enjoy my pastries! Then it was time to head for St Chapelle. We hopped on the metro and arrived around 4:30. Now, they only let people in until about 5:20 or so, and about 20-25 at a time, about every 5-7 minutes. The line went down along the side of the church and around back up the sidewalk - I'd say a few hundred people in front of us. I was feeling a little trepidatious as this was one of the few things I really wanted to do in Paris and it was our last day so no coming back. We were getting really close, it was about 5:05 and I thought I heard one of the guards say they weren't letting anyone else in...after almost 40 min waiting, I was freaking a little. But thankfully they kept letting people in. I think we were one of the last few groups to get in - we got in about 5:15 and into the church itself about 5:20 (there is security to go thru and paying for the entry) The part that was bothering me tho, was people would come up and ask the guards if they would be able to get in and the guards kept telling them it shouldn't be a problem...and these were people asking around 5pm, and the line was still as long as it was when we arrived I believe there were people there who probably waited in line 30 min or more who didn't get in. I would be losing it. So my recommendation would be to get there at least 90 min before closing...we cut it VERY close...and this was late Sept - I imagine in the summer the lines can be even longer.
In the end, it was worth the wait. It is a small church, but the stained glass is amazing. We only spent about 20 min there, so we waited twice as long as we spent in the church, but now it's off my bucket list. And we had some gorgeous afternoon sun shining thru the glass - I imagine at high noon, it wouldn't have the same effect.
Then we were off to find out boat ride on the Seine. I booked online beforehand with Vendettes du Pont Neuf. You saved money booking ahead, and the tickets are good for a year, so you don't have to pick a specific time and date. I think they go every 30 min or so, and we got there about 10 min before the ride started. The boat left at 6:30, just as the sun was getting lower in the sky, so we had some lovely late afternoon golden sunlight. The boat went down as far as the ET (leaving from Pont Neuf), turned around, then back up past Notre Dame around a little island in the middle of the river and back down the other side. About 45 min or so all told. And there was commentary about all the places we were passing, including the D'Orsay (on my visit list for the next trip to Paris), lots of bridges, the ET, Notre Dame, etc. For 10 euro per person, it was a nice end to our trip to Paris.
We were getting pretty hungry by now (it was about 7:30) so we wandered down towards Notre Dame (I wanted some night photos) and ate at a place called Café Bords de Seine...eating...yup...pizza and fries.
Went out and took some photos of Conciegerie - a former prison now used mostly as law courts - it's a beautiful building - looks a bit like a castle. Then over to Notre Dame for some nighttime shots...by now it was cooling off quite a bit and we were both feeling the chill. Hopped back on the metro to go back to our room to get things packed up for our farewell to Paris the next morning.
Day 4 - Nothing to see here.
I had the train booked for about 10am, giving us lots of time to get up and get going and get to Gare Lyon (I believe). We arrived with about 30 min to spare, so we could get some snacks and hubby could get some coffee. We had a bit of a hiccup when boarding, as the reservation I printed out didn't show which car/seats we were supposed to be on, so one of the conductors had to use her handheld computer and input the info and tell us where to sit. Generally, the trip takes a little under 3 hours...but about 45 min in, there was an announcement - in French - that made people groan...I understood a few words...a delay. A man seated nearby told me they said the train was delayed about 30 min arriving. Groan. Then...another announcement - all of a sudden, an hour late. Then...soon enough...another announcement - 2 hours late. Someone decided to use the train to suicide themselves (poor soul) and delays across the board. I was a little worried about our car rental as I had pickup for a certain time, but there was nothing to be done. We got pretty hungry too (our snack wasn't enough) so we picked up a sandwich on the train.
Upon arriving at the Avignon TGV station, it was a short walk to the Europcar kiosk. Not an issue being late - they were well aware of what was going on - other people were 4-5 hours late (I would have hated to be having to catch a plane!). We went out and got our rental - a Citroen Cactus - a neat car - mid-size - smaller than an SUV...but bigger than a sedan - bit of an SUV hybrid. It had rubber bumper panels on the door (which didn't do a lot of good - more on that later) and had a system where when you had your foot on the brake, the car engine would turn off. Hubby thought it stalled when we first pulled out and he hit the brake and the engine stopped. But we got the hang of it. And it was great for gas mileage! It also had a built in GPS system, which was great. We started towards Carcassonne with the GPS set to avoid tolls - well...that doesn't always work. It can make the journey a lot longer. I can't even tell you how many roundabouts we did. About half way there, we still felt like it was taking forever. I changed the GPS to allow tolls, and our time went down by an hour! So off to the toll roads we went! We found our airbnb pretty easily (I'll go more into that on tomorrow's entry)...then walked up to the castle for a look-see, but we were pretty hungry and ended up eating at the only place we could find close to the bnb...called Plein Sud - not much was open either. I had a nice roast chicken leg and hubby had a pizza. I liked the chicken, but the pizza was not very good - a little burned and more like a frozen pizza. Then we went back to the room to relax after a long stressful day of sitting on trains and in cars!
