Francis woke after pretty much 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep. The day started, for all practical purposes, with Mass at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and then a stroll around the oldest part of Paris on the Ile de la Cite.
Inside the cathedral, the service was in French but we were able to understand it as much as we did in English in the States. (Give me that old time religion). Afterwards we were able to shoot a few pictures inside before the ushers chased us out so they could start the next mass. Here's one of the three rose windows:
Intermittent rain kept pestering us throughout the day but here's some pictures we took while it let up after church:
After a quick lunch, we ventured through the metal detectors into the old palace where the medieval kings lived long ago when Paris was confined to the single island that Parisians could defend. St. Chapelle is a small chapel with incredible stain glass which nearly fill the walls of the upper chapel. (There are, of course, two levels: one for the commoners below and one above for royalty. Here's a few more pictures.
Next we were off to the 14th century palace, the Conciergerie.
We then crossed the Seine to visit St. Eustache, a very beautiful and large structure pretty well unknown to tourists. (And it will remain pretty much unknown for you since my batteries wore down). On the way, we stopped to rest by the Fountain of the Innocents, the only Renaissance fountain in Paris and the site of what was once the city's largest cemetery (2 million bodies). (All the bones have been since moved to the catacombs).
After visiting the church, we headed home on the subway even though the subway doors tried to eat Francis. He survived to live to eat dinner at a Moroccan restaurant. The evening ended with a short stroll around Place Vendome including inspecting the metre stick which Brother Paul pointed out to us on the night we snuck into the Ritz.
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