For our last day in Paris, we didn’t plan too much. We wanted to take it easy and fully enjoy what we could fit into the day. Of course, there was walking again, but only 10.3 km.
Day 7, Tuesday, June 9: Paris
We purchased our tickets online 7 days in advance for today’s visit to the Paris Catacombs (Les Catacombes de Paris) for 12:15 pm. We decided not to rush with any activities before that.
Started with a leisurely morning. Bought fresh baguette and croissant at the boulangerie Lucia & Marcelo, close to our hotel. I made delicious sandwiches with the cheese and pâté we got yesterday.
From our hotel, we got to the Catacombs after a 20-minute walk. The Paris Catacombs are a unique labyrith 20 meters underground. Since its creation – it opened to the public in 1809 – it has captured the curiosity of many. It’s an ossuary containing the remains of about six million Parisians. The remains were transferred here in the late 18th century, when there were major public health problems tied to the city’s cemeteries. It’s a place of remembrance.
Going down 131 stairs on a spiral staircase, I felt a little bit dizzy, but being down there (in a little bit damp,14 degrees Celsius environment) didn’t feel stange or scary. It took us about one hour to walk the 1.5 km circuit. We were wearing a headset – it was basically an audio tour – and learned a lot about the history of the site. Visitors were quiet and respectful, nobody touched the bones. Compared to going down, the 112 stairs getting back up were easy.
Overall, the visit to the Paris Catacombs was definitely an interesting experience for us.
What to do next? We took the metro to The Marais, again. I wanted to see the oldest covered market in Paris, the Marché des Enfants Rouges. It was closed yesterday.
On rue de Bretagne, since 1615, it attracts people who want to eat here or buy their produce. Cheese from all of France can be found here and in the narrow aisles you can find a variety of food: Moroccan, Japanese, Lebanese, Italian, Caribbean, etc.
It was around 2 pm, so we had our casual late lunch: delicious North African chicken tagine.
We spent about an hour at the market, then took the metro to the 5th arrondissement, to the Latin Quarter. I wanted to see the Faculty of Science & Engineering at the Sorbonne University. You couldn’t tour it – it’s not a tourist attraction – but I felt great to stand at the entrance to the Pierre-et-Marie Curie Campus. After all, my degree is in mathematics and physics, and the Sorbonne is France’s oldest university, founded in the 1200s.
To end our Paris adventures, we walked again to our hotel in Montparnasse, noticing churches and schools, and hitting some already familiar sites, like the Pathéon and the Luxembourg Gardens.
At some point, we noticed a street sign that read ”rue Descartes, 1596-1650, philosophe-mathmaticien et physicien.” I, as a math and physics teacher, was very happy to see that through a small plaque on a street, the French try to educate people. By the way, René Descartes is the one who said ”cogito ergo sum” or ”I think, therefore I am.” And he is the one, who is credited as the father of analytic geometry (think rectangular coordinate system).
When we reached the Luxembourg Gardens, this time we truly enjoyed its calm athmosphere. We were relaxing for a while in the lovely green chairs, like the Parisians.
What was left? To pack and get a good night’s sleep before our morning flight to Budapest, Hungary. We were going to rent a car there, then visit my sister for a day or two in the suburbs of Budapest, then drive to Pozba, my village in Slovakia, to enjoy a week and a half of quiet life before our next trip.
Paris is magical. We had a good time, saw some of the highlights, got a taste of everyday life, had some moments we didn’t plan ahead, and had pleasant weather (not extremely hot, some rain and wind, but they say Paris is romantic in the rain). There are so many more things to discover in this City of Light. Maybe next time…
Au Revoir!
