Day 26 called for a refuel on food, so we headed to the Baudoyer Market close by our apartment and picked up a lot of fresh produce. After dropping everything off at our place and having lunch, we took a nice stroll to the adjacent island of Ill de la Cite to knock off Sainte-Chapelle. Since we had the museum pass, we also checked out the Conciergerie, which was next door, and finished off the day by seeing the Crypt Archeologique that spans under the square of the Notre Dame Cathedral. After yesterday's experience of getting lost on the RER, it was nice to not use any method of transport other than our ECCO shoes. Here is a link to our itinerary.
Sainte-Chapelle (5 of 5)
This was the first attraction (of many) that we really saw the usefulness of the Paris Museum Pass. Refer to a previous blog post here. We bypassed the huge queue to purchase tickets and walked straight in which was great! By the time we finished 45 minutes later, there we spotted the same people still in the queue. Anyways, I'll have to admit. Upon first walking into the main floor, I was like "ok big deal". It's not until we walked to the main room on the 1st floor that I understood what all the fuss was about. Sainte-Chapelle is a cathedral of stained glass like no other. Forget about it being a crowning achievement in Gothic church architecture, it is a crowning achievement in project management as it was built between 1242-1248 for King Louis IX. Consider that Notre Dame took over 200 years to build in the same time period, and this only took 5 years - which was unheard of in Gothic times. There are 15 separate panels of stained glass that cover 6500+ square feet and 1100 different scenes. Adding to the appeal of this experience, the legendary Crown of Thorns, yes think Passion of the Christ, used to be kept here and you have an overwhelming sense of the historic journey and significance Sainte-Chapelle has played. The Crown of Thorns was supposed to have cost King Louis 3 times as much as Sainte-Chapelle itself.
Conciergerie (2 of 5)
This former prison is adjacent to the Palais du Justice and 2 doors down from Sainte-Chapelle. It was a prison famous for being the last stop of almost 2800 victims of the guillotine including Marie-Antoinette. I was looking for the guillotine but unfortunately they didn't have one. I didn't find it that appealing and found the prisons at the Tower of London to be a lot more fun. Glad we came, but definitely would skip if we didn't have the museum pass that got us in for free.
Crypt Archeologique (1 of 5)
The crypt simply displays the foundation of the previous ninth century church where the current square outside Notre Dame resides. Extremely boring and not worth the visit - even though it was free with the museum pass.
