Paris - Notre Dame, Luxembourg Gardens, Rue Du Bac, and Rue Cler

October 26th, 2013

We started our day walking towards Notre Dame this morning. We walked by a few bakeries which K was absolutely addicted to and wanted to go into each and every one of them. She bought two of the colorful macaroons. They were pretty good but definitely not worth the price. But they sure are pretty to look at!

Many colors of macaroons 

So tempting!

The lines at Notre Dame Cathedral were so long we decided to just walk around the outside and try to get inside the next day. Notre Dame was among one of the first churches to use flying buttresses. These are the arched exterior supports. It was not in the plans to include the flying buttresses but during construction they realized they needed more support on the walls. The cathedral is 850 years old. They started building it in 1163 and it was finished in 1260. By the mid-1800's the cathedral had fallen into severe disrepair, but a restoration movement saved it (and popular novel Hunchback of Notre Dame didn't hurt either). There are 10 bells in the towers and they are all actually named. Just in case you like trivia their names are  - Emmanuel, Marie, Gabriel, Anne Geneviéve, Denis, Marcel, Étienne, Benoit-Joseph, Maurice, and Jean-Marie. 

Seine River view of the exterior

The Bell Towers

We did a quick walk by the Panthéon in the Latin Quarter of Paris. The Latin Quarter is the intellectual center of Paris, called so because Latin was the language of scholars until modern times. The Panthéon was originally a church that was supposed to be dedicated to St Geneviéve but the church was not finished in time before the Revolution started. The the church then became a monument housing tombs such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Huge, Alexandre Dumas, and Lois Braille. In 1806 Napoleon gave the building back to the church.   I went inside this when I was in college and I thought the kids would find this a little boring so we just showed them the exterior.

The Panthéon

The Panthéon is close to the Luxembourg Gardens so we went over there so the children could run around a little. These gardens are so beautiful and even more so since it was fall and the leaves were changing. It was crowded as many Parisian families come here to relax and play. It is 60 acres of gardens, fountains, statues, and playgrounds. It is the property of the French Senate which meets at the Luxembourg Palace. It really is a beautiful place to hang out with your family. 

We noticed a bunch of children with poles pushing the boats in the fountain. The wind moves the boat and when the boat gets close to the edge the children would push it back into the water with their pole. There is a little stand where you could rent the poles. There were many children doing this and it looked fun. 

Luxembourg Palace

We walked down to 140 Rue Du Bac and if you are a Catholic you know what that means. I was excited to show this site to my children and Joe (since he had never been here before). It was in this little chapel where Mary appeared to St. Catherine Labouré, in 1830. St. Catherine was a Daughter of Charity sister in Paris. There were a couple apparitions and in one of them Mary was holding a globe with a cross on top and rays of light coming from Mary's hands. The vision was in a picture and St. Catherine read, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you." Then the picture turned and on the reverse she saw the letter "M" with a cross on the top and the hearts of Jesus and Mary at the bottom. This vision was also very important because St. Catherine was given the mission to have this medal made. She told her vision to her confessor and the priest did not believe her. Two years later the priest was convinced and took her information to the archbishop. It was then commissioned to have the medals made. St. Catherine's goal was then to transmit this message. The medal became popular very fast due to many healings and conversions. It did not take long for Parisians to call it "The Miraculous Medal."

St. Catherine lived the rest of her life as an ordinary nursing sister. Right before her death she received permission from the Virgin Mary and told the Mother Superior of her visions. She died in 1876 and very few people knew that St. Catherine was the one who brought the Miraculous Medal to the world. In 1933 her body was exhumed and was incorrupt and now lies in a glass coffin on the side of the alter. She was beatified in 1933 and canonized a saint in 1947.

We told the children briefly about the story of St. Catherine of Labouré. K and T knew a few bits and pieces but not the whole story. I explained to them that is is an honor to be standing in front of a saint and the exact spot where Mary appeared to St. Catherine. I sometimes forget how young they are at 10 and 8 and they just kept asking questions about St. Catherine's body  - is it real, it looks fake, how can that be her body, her face looks funny, why is she not burred in the ground, etc. I remember when I saw my first incorrupt body probably in college and I thought it was a little strange too! One of our God-daughters is named after St. Catherine of Labouré and we all prayed for her in this chapel and her little brother too! Then we hit the gift shop of course - my children's favorite part of every site. The gift shop!! ;-)

Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal aka Rue Du Bac

St. Catherine is on the left side of the alter

The doors into the chapel

The Miraculous Medal

Mary appearing to St. Catherine in the Chapel

St. Catherine of Labouré

I love walking the street of Paris and looking at the buildings. I have to admit I enjoyed Paris much more this time then when I was here in '95. The Parisian people are still rude though…that has not changed. I did find the French were much more friendly once we got outside the city. 

We walked down Rue Cler street which is really just a street but its full of Parisians. It has many cafés, restaurants, markets, and shops. The best part was there is no traffic as its a pedestrian street. There is nothing touristy about this street just the locals buying essentials to French life. An old man stopped us on this street and in French and broken English asked if the children were all mine. I said yes of course! He was so happy and gave me the biggest smile with a HUGE thumbs up! The average French couple just has 2 children. Its really rare to see more then two children in a family in France. Yea! We are a HUGE family in France - 3 children! 

We even saw a nun buying flowers

We walked past Les Invalides which is a museum of the French military and hospital for the war veterans. Inside here is Napoleon Bonaparte's over-the-top ornate tomb. 

Les Invalides

This is the dome over Napoleon's tomb

The designer for the US Capital was inspired by this dome at Les Invalides when he visited Paris. He liked the "wedding-cake" style and the circular painting on the inside of the dome. 

Then we started our walk over to the Eiffel Tower….