Today we are heading to the 14th arrondissement in the Montparnasse district.
This Lion of Belfort statue in the Place Denfert-Rochereau is a smaller version of the massive original in the town of Belfort. It was created by Frederic Bartholdi, the sculptor of the statue of liberty.
The Paris Catacombs are a massive underground ossuary. The world’s largest grave was established underground in the late18th C to relieve overflowing city cemeteries.
The catacombs are made up of a huge network of tunnels and parts of ancient mines, former limestone quarries that were used to build much of the city. The tourist site covers only a small 2km portion of the much larger site, said to span over 300km beneath Paris.
The bones of over 6 million people are densely and artistically arranged in decorative patterns with plaques bearing their original cemetery name.
for transfer to the catacombs
Eric at the Emily in Paris shooting locations at Place de l’Estrapade
And we were surprised to find out we were right around the corner from the Pantheon!
The Luxembourg Gardens were modeled after Marie de’ Medici’s memories of her childhood in Italy.
The Palace was originally built in 1615 to be the royal residence of Marie de’ Medici, widow of King Henri IV and mother/regent of King Louis XIII. Now the Palace serves as the seat of the French Senate, and is typically closed to the public.
The gardens contain 102 statues, mostly from the 19th C. It is now a very popular place for people to play pétanque (lawn bowling meets bocce)
We dropped by the Lego store on our way back to our B&B
We celebrated Dave’s birthday tonight with dinner at Le Pied de Cochon. We all tried the escargots for our appetizer.
This is our last night together in Paris. Tomorrow we split up and head for other adventures.
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