Paris, Day 3

This morning, the group went on a guided tour of Pere Lachaise. This is a very large cemetery of over 100,000 tombs on the outer edge of Paris. Pere Lachaise is a popular place to visit because it contains the graves of many famous people. Among the most recognizable names are Frederic Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison. Oscar Wilde's tombstone was very interesting to look at because it is covered in marks and writing - many of which are kisses in lipstick! There is a sign asking people to respect this monument, but they have to clean it frequently because so many people want to "pay their respects." I really enjoyed this trip. We had a very enthusiastic tour guide who told many interesting stories about various points in the cemetery.

The day started out cold and a bit rainy but consistently got nicer as the day went on. After the tour of Pere Lachaise we were dropped off in the Place de la Concorde in the center of Paris, and had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. Gramzie and I designed a very ambitious sight-seeing tour but we managed to accomplish everything we set out to do! We visited Les Invalides and saw the tomb of Napoleon, and Le Madeleine, the church of Mary Magdalene. Next we hopped on the metro to the Ile de la Cite, the island in the middle of the Seine where Notre Dame is located. We visited the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral. This cathedral is much smaller than Notre Dame but is very beautiful and I think I enjoyed visiting it more. The walls are made almost entirely of stained glass and the whole chapel is filled with colorful light. We also went to the Concierge which is the place where all the prisoners of the French Revolution were housed and executed.

After our full afternoon of site-seeing we headed back to the barge for our departure down the Seine. We traveled through a few locks along the way which was interesting to see first-hand how they worked, and then parked in the town of Evry just before dinner. For dinner we had a baked croissant filled with goat cheese and arugula salad, salmon with a red wine glaze, risotto, and snow peas and carrots. Dessert was chocolate souflee. It was all very delicious. Markus treats us well.

Tomorrow we finally begin biking and I am very much looking forward to getting started on this part of the trip. Check back to see how it went!

(Pictures: Upper chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, grave of Frederic Chopin, part of the grave of Oscar Wilde, Les Invalides)