Whew! It’s only 77 today!
We survived the heat wave of Paris! Thankfully it wasn’t a day longer. Cool breezes came in last night and it felt good to get a good nights sleep. I didn’t breakdown and buy a fan. We talked with some people who did buy one and they had to go to several stores to find one. In an odd way I’m glad we stuck it out. It sure will help us remember Paris.
Wednesday was Maclaren’s choice of what to do which put us at Disneyland Paris. They are celebrating their 25th year so the park was in pretty good shape. It is a small park. They do have a Disneyland Studio Park as well but I limited the Disney experience to one park. In the heat that was a good choice. The park was not busy so we could ride all the coasters and rides we wanted without having to wait more than 20 minutes in line. The castle at this park belongs to Snow White so it is a heavy Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs theme. I would have to say the highlight of my day was the catching the parade before we left and seeing Mary Poppins and Burt! We got back to the apartment and tried to cool off and relax but that was a little challenging to do as it was the Summer Solstice. In Paris this means music though the night to celebrate summer. We saw a drum line and small groups of musicians playing in the area we were staying in. The real awakening was at 3 am when a jazz band started their show outside our windows and plaid for about 20 minutes before marching on down the street. Welcome Summer!
Declan picked part of our activity for Thursday. We visited the Musee de l’Armee and the tomb of Napoleon I. There were some military activities going on on the grounds so it was neat to see that as well. The city is already starting to prepare Bastille Day on July 4th. I’m not sure if it there is that much to do or if the relaxed style the French seem to embrace that makes it take so long to put up bleachers and barricades for an event two weeks away. They even are blocking off streets already but hey, it’s there parade! After the museum we made our way over to the Catacombes de Paris. This is a more of a municipal ossuary created to deal with the need for space in the city and the piles of the dead. They buried the people underground. It was interesting and by the end we were desensitized to the fact the walls were created from bones. It was perfect to be in a place that was about 54 degrees when it was 97 above ground. They shared a lot of history about the space, how they bones have been studied to learn more about the people, the bones were organized and placed in a way to make them look nice. Their are headstones of sort that denote where the bones came from and the era they are from. Overall it was interesting. The tunnels go beyond the catacombes and are know to have active nightclubs and secret societies that you need to have connections to get into. The tunnels have also been the issue of sink holes in the city as well so they are carefully monitor to avoid further damage above or below ground. For dinner we enjoyed La Briciola which was recommended to us. Great little place on a side street. We enjoyed pizza (how French of us I know). What was really interesting is that there seemed to be some sort of high profile event going on next door but I didn’t recognize anyone as famous. No surprise there I know. By they time we got to the apartment the cool breeze had kicked up and we could open our windows and enjoy our best nights sleep in Paris.
