26-Sept 2008 Paris Blog #9

Friday 26-Sept 2008 Blog #9 Today was a great day. I had a brain fart.. Basically after being one of the top students I could not conjugate a vowel let alone lead the class. The professor said that sometimes the brain gets tired… OLD AGE??? Anyway after a grueling day of class 4 of us went to lunch near the school, nothing special just a nice bottle of wine, a major steak, perfect fries and a salad for 15 euros each. When lunch was finished my friend Gillian from New Zealand and Jimmy from Indonesia (among other places) decided to go get coffee at another café. I talked them into taking an adventure with me, someplace that I have always wanted to go but have never been. I wanted to go to St. Denis which is at the end of the northern subway lines. It is not the best area and not really for tourists, however, the church there has always held interest for me. I have always read about it but never managed to get there. I will put a link at the end of this blog, but I have to say it was far more than I ever expected. Well worth nearly being mugged, kidding, we were never in danger. The center part of St Denis is attractive, some middle aged buildings, some from the 10eme century on up to a very modern ugly area near the metro station. City Hall has an ugly modern façade facing the train, but when you walk around to the church (Basilica) side it is amazing. OK I will start just posting photos here, all smaller and hopefully you can click on them to enlarge. Read the captions and then at the end go to the "wiki" link. Basilica St Denis and St Denis City Hall Gillian and Jimmy in the church and the church Joan of Arch Was Here, love the stain glass Stained Glass and Water stain with Stain Glass Shadow Notice the Fleur de Lys in the tile, the next pics will make more sense Every King/Queen of France is buried here, even Marie Antoinette and Louise XVI Dead Kings and Queens and Creepy Things Louis XVII (3rd Child of Marie) oh yeah the sign says his dried heart is in the jar below... Marie's 2 sons (Louis Charles and Louis Joseph XVII - see heart above) In the Crypt under the church with the Bourbon family And finally Marie, not sure why I did not snap a picture of Louis, next to her For more details on the Church: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Denis_Basilica