This is the last entry for Paris. There is only one picture for today. After a lazy morning, we set out for the 16th arrondisement and a small museum with some Monet paintings of the Water Lilies. It was in a medium sized house at the end of a park, and was well worth the time to see it. Ann and I stopped in the park and Marc took the last picture for the blog. A quick trip across Paris on the Metro and the movie Julia and Julie (in english with French sub-titles). another metro /bus trip and PIZZA at the Pink Flamingo. Some of the best anywhere !! It was written about in The New York Times. Worth the trip. Back to Marc's, packing for the return and off to the airport at 10 AM.

Paris has hills to the north and the south. On the northern hills is another of those icons of Paris, Sacre Ceur. On a warm sunny day the whiteness is almost blinding. Crowds cover the steps and lawns leading up to the Basilica, sellers hawk their souvenir trinkets, beer and water sellers go by, sidewalk musicians fill the air with music of all kinds, and somewhere in all the hubbub, you can find peace and serenity. Ann also found time to text her friend Jeanne, who was here with her 6 months ago. A ride down la funiculaire and 2 Metro rides and it's back the one of the other hills here in Paris, Butte Chaumont, where Marc lives on avenue Simon Bolivar.

After lunch yesterday, we had the chance to just stroll around and go as the wind blew us. A bus ride and a short walk led us to a small Yarn shop, and of course you have to go in and look. A couple of blocks farther and you are at the Macy's of France, Galerie LaFayette. Into H&M next door for a new black scarf and down into the Metro for a short ride.

Our time is fast dwindling down. Only one more full day in Paris. Yesterday we had the pleasure of lunch with Cecile and Jean-Phillipe, friends of Marc, which, I guess are now friends of ours here. This trip has been living the life of the Parisians. We have explored more out-of-the way places, and it's really been great. We are blessed to be able to do things like this.

Several days ago, I posted the Tour St Jacque. I said it was a tower that they forgot to build the church around. Actually is's all that remains of the church that was destroyed after the Revolution. Blaise Pascal, the 17th century mathematician, physicist, philosopher and writer used the tower for barometrical experiments.

Right in the middle of Hausmannian architecture in Paris, stands the Pompidou Centre. The Museum of Modern Art, if you will. It's sort of like a shoe-box on it's side, and the skeleton of the building is on the outside! It make for great space on the inside, though, because there are not very many inside columns or supports. Put up the wall for the art, and voila, there you have it. We saw an exhibit of Post-modern art all created by women; the feminist movement. Not my cup of tea, mind you, but very well done.

Friday was Arts et Metiers museum day. It houses many old scientific instruments and artifacts. A replica of Lavoisier's lab, many old meter bars, examples of how domes were erected, a scale model of the enlargement of the head of the Statue of Liberty, and lots more interesting items of scientific interest. They even have the pre-beta model of the ipod, the Sony walkman! Pictures are at random of various items in the museum. There is also a working Foucault pendulum. How did they figure out that the earth rotates just from a pendulum? Beyond my brain. It was a very interesting place to visit. They also had a fullsize model of the plane Louis Bleriot flew across the English Channel in 1909. Imagine, 6 years from the first flight, Bleriot flys across the Channel, approximately 22 miles.

If you haven't seen enough, here are a couple more, and then, enough.

Some random pictures from Amiens.

During the Middle ages, thousands upon thousands of pilgrims passed through Amiens. Here are a few of the more recent ones.

The floor is black and white marble, and has many patterns laid in it. Because this was a pilgrimage church on the way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, there is a labyrinth inlaid for the pilgrims to traverse on their knees, as a means of penance. Note there are no pews. The common folk either sat on the floor or stood during Mass.

A radiant sunburst fills the altar. An ossuary can be seen here. If my memory serves me correctly, the dove represented Christ descending.

The altar area is where all the action is. The choir, celebrants and everyone who was important in the religious community sits here. The outside of the atlar proper had it's own unique carvings and statues, and much of that was polychromed. In fact, while doing some renovation recently, they found the west facade had been polychromed at one time.

While not as spectacular as Chartres, the stained glass at Amiens is very nice. There isn't a lot, but what there is is good. Most of the stained glass is behind the altar in the chapels along the ambulatory.

The choir was all carved wood, and had been carved over 400 yars ago. The wood was soaked in sea water for 5 years before the carving was done! Incredible !!

Inside, it's all tallness and light. The pilgrims coming through here on their way to Santiago Del Compostela must have been truly awe-struck. There wasn't much stained glass in the upper windows, making it one of the brightest cathedrals I have ever been in. The nave and side aisles seemed to go on forever.

Today's entry will take some time to do. We rode the SNCF to Amiens, an hour north-east of Paris. Amiens is home to the largest cathedral in France. 2 Notre Dame's in Paris fit inside this one.It's so large and other buildings are so close that you can't get a really good picture of the whole building. Let me tell you I tried! This is from a block and a half away. Much renovation has been going on and the front is spectacularly white. The parts that haven't been done are quite dirty and dingy. But none the less striking.

St Jacque stands on top.

And there are many decorations further down on the tower. It has a rather clean, new look about it.

Just outside Les Halles, there is a tower in a square that looks like the church was never built to go along with it. Just so. There were plans for a church but no one ever got around to it, so we have la Tour St Jacque. All the benches in the little park lean back a lot, all the better to enjoy the view of the tower.

Wandering around Paris, you never know what you might see. As we went inside St Eustache, the Grand Organ started to play. The Great Dutch Mens Choir were presenting a free concert and were accompanied by the organ. There are almost 8000 pipes, which makes it the largest organ in all France. They started building the church in 1213 !!

Many of the works on the program were familiar. They also sang La Marseillaises, and the Dutch National anthem.

As you can see, it's quite the view from the side.

Today was another day of slow touring of Paris. We started out at lunch with Cecile and Jean Phillipe near the Odeon. Great Coté de porc, pommes pureé, Beaujolais blanc, and cremé bruleé. A quick Metro ride and we come up at one of the most nondescript churches in Paris - St Eustache in Les Halles. Seen from the front, it's not much, but go around the side; quelle difference!

There is always time for a little shopping here in Paris, and believe you me, we have done that several times. Just a short trip along rue Tronchet for La Bagagerie shop and a new handbag, and then on the bus from Gare St Lazare back to Avenue Simon Bolivar past Eglise La Trinété. Time for an aperitif, some dinner and maybe a DVD this evening.

Back outside for a stroll along Boulevard des Invalides, there is also time to stop to get the pebbles out of your shoe, and maybe take a moment to enjoy the play of sun and shadow under the tree-lined sidewalk.

Back inside St Francis Xavier, stand at the lantern crossing (where the apses and the nave intersect) and look up. A beautiful dome!

Back inside St Francis Xavier, you see a glorious altar, all gold and gilt.

Here in the Hotel des Invalides you find the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. He is in 6 coffins and then in a red marble monument. It was his desire that he rested on the banks of the Seine.