http://telegraphharp.com/css.php Ste-Chapelle's upper chapel on a sunny day
buy Gabapentin without prescription Mike woke early to send an e-mail about a room in Germany for tomorrow night. I pulled out the clothes I would wear today and traveling tomorrow and decided to try to pack everything else. I was sure I was going to have to expand my suitcase, but everything did fit without expanding – especially after I shed a few items.
The answer about the room – not now but check later. Â By now it was approaching lunchtime, you know we do travel on our stomachs! We strolled down rue Montorgueil to find a table in the sun on the terrace to eat. Â The one we tried yesterday was full, so we checked across the way at the Esplanade St Eustache and grabbed the last spot.
After lunch we walked back toward the Seine, Mike had some Swiss francs he needed to change. Alas, they would only change his paper Swiss francs, would not change his coins. To add insult to injury, they gave him coins when they swapped his francs.
This ramp to the underground parking lot at Place Vendome is closed and covered in black soot from last week's fire
We continued on to Place Vendome to find out if there was any residual damage from the fire last week in the underground parking lot. This lot, in a premium part of Paris, across from the Ritz hotel, usually houses high-end cars: Ferraris, Bentleys, Aston Martins, Mercedes, and so on. The damage to vehicles was reported to be significant. The roadway is still blocked, yellow tape and barricades everywhere. It still smells like smoke. We did not see any of the high-end cars, but did see an Audi covered in black soot. The down ramp to the parking is covered in soot and debris. The only cleanup activity we noticed was a team of people standing in the square filling out paperwork with folks (who, I assume, had cars in the underground parking lot.) Though, I imagine, there’s a lot of activity underground.
Curiosity abated, we headed back to Ile-de-la-Cite, to visit Ste. Chapelle. Â We hadn’t visited in some time, the building has been covered in scaffolding. They are still working to restore some of the stained glass windows but the scaffolding is nowhere to be seen. At least, today! The windows are slated for completion in 2013. Today, with sunlight streaming in the windows the sight was magnificent.
Ste-Chappelle was built in the middle of the 13th century by Louis IX to house relics of the Passion of Christ he acquired from Constantinople. The lower chapel was the place of worship for the staff of the palace. The upper chapel, where the reliquary was placed, was only open to the king, his family, his close friends and the priests leading services. The relics are now housed in Notre-Dame. Ste-Chapelle’s claim to fame is found in its 15 stained glass windows telling the story of mankind from Genesis through Christ’s resurrection bathing the entire interior in color and light. So saving a sunny day to visit was exactly the right thing to do!
Traveler’s Hint: We lined up to go through security where it was marked Public Entrance to Ste-Chapelle. There was quite a line but it moved quickly. As we approached the security check point, we noticed another door to a different security check point, and several tourists walked up from the other direction. So the hint is this – whether you approach from the north or south, one of you get in the line you see. One of your party needs to walk to the other side to check out the length of the line (or lack thereof). There was a guard outside on the sidewalk, but he did not encourage folks in line to use the other line. He just let one line build up while the other one was non-existent.
We headed across the street for a beer at Au Soleil d’Or while we sat in the sun and indulged in our people-watching habit. After a stopover at the apartment, we headed out to Cafe au Centre for dinner, where, despite the smoking ban, a young woman adjacent to us but seated on the terrace, lit up a cigarette every two minutes. We came back to the apartment with our clothes reeking of French cigarettes!
