Palais Garnier was high on Norah’s list to visit and we booked tickets while planning our itinerary. A few weeks before our trip we were notified that Palais Garnier would be closed that day and we had to reconfigure our itinerary to fit it in. This is why this day has some backtracking when originally we had planned to spend all afternoon in Le Marais. It wasn’t a big deal though as Paris is compact and easy to get around with walking and the metro.

We started our day with pastries from Boulangerie LIBERTÉ which was en route on our walk to Sainte-Chapelle (“Holy Chapel”) on Île de la Cité. We had booked the first time slot of the day and arrived a little early to get in line. This worked out well as we were some of the first visitors into the chapel and were able to get some good pictures before it was crowded with people. It really is a stunning space.

King Louis IX wanted Sainte-Chapelle built to house the relics of the Passion of the Christ, most notably the Crown of Thorns. The Crown of Thorns was kept in Sainte-Chapelle until the French Revolution when it was transferred to Notre Dame. It resided there until the fire in 2019 and was moved to the Louvre. The chapel was built in the Gothic architectural style called “Rayonnant” and was built in six years from 1242-1248. When many churches took decades, or even centuries to build (looking at you Notre-Dame) - this is an impressive feat. And a bonus that this allowed the chapel to be built under the supervision of one architect, lending it architectural harmony.

The most striking feature of the chapel is its glorious stained glass windows. There are 1,113 scenes depicted on fifteen stained glass windows. The windows date from the 13th century (the Rose Window dates from the 15th century) and 70% are original, another impressive number given the history the chapel endured. As a symbol of both religion and royalty, the chapel was a prime target for vandalism during the French Revolution. Among other things, the chapel was turned into a storehouse for grain and some of the stained glass was broken. Between 1803 and 1827 the upper chapel was a depository for the Palace of Justice archives and the lower stained glass was removed to let in more light. Eventually there was a call to preserve the church and restore it to its medieval state and in 1840 a lengthy restoration began. The restoration of the glass lasted from 1846 until 1855. The glass remained in place until WWII when it was removed and placed in safe storage. Varnish had been applied to protect it and this eventually led to another restoration in the 2000s. *phew* A lengthy history and we are the lucky benefactors of all this work - standing in the chapel, bathed by the light of the stained glass, was sublime.

Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie were part of the Palais de la Cité, the residence and seat of royal power from the 10th to the 14th centuries, and are now part of the Palace of Justice. They are some of the earliest surviving buildings of the royal palace. We had booked a combination ticket to visit the Conciergerie after Sainte-Chapelle, which was a short walk away. The Conciergerie was built in the 13th century and originally served as a residence (the name Conciergerie comes from “concierge”, a man appointed by the king to ensure order). The Conciergerie transitioned from a residence to a court, a prison, and most infamously, a cornerstone of the Reign of Terror (1793-1794) after the Revolution. “Enemies of the Revolution” were imprisoned here before they were marched to Place de la Concorde to face the guillotine. This was the last stop for 2,780 victims for the guillotine, including one of the most famous - Marie-Antoinette. During the Restoration period a commemorative chapel was built on the site of her cell. The prison continued to function until 1934.

The Conciergerie is spartan with little to see in terms of fixtures. To fill in the gaps, visitors are given a Histopad when they enter. Each room has a medallion that can be scanned and the touchpad provides augmented reality, pictures, and historical information that enhance the visit. This was definitely a neat way to visit The Conciergerie and it was a good way to learn some history. Norah couldn’t get over the fact that the guillotine was last used in 1977.

We planned for lunch at L’As du Fallafel in Le Marais and on our way there we stopped by Notre Dame to see the outside and read the panels and visited Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation. The memorial is located at the eastern point of Île de la Cité and was inaugurated in 1962 to memorialize the 200,000 French citizens that were transported to Nazi concentration camps. The memorial is underground and on the site of a former morgue. The crypt contains the remains of an unknown deportee and fifteen urns with soil and ashes from the main Nazi concentration camps. Along both walls of the narrow, dimly lit chamber are 200,000 glass crystals with light shining through, meant to symbolize each of the deportees who died in the concentration camps. This memorial is stark and a somber reflection on this dark history of France. It was a good companion to the Mémorial de la Shoah we would visit a few days later.

We spent about half an hour at the memorial then walked to L’As du Fallafel for lunch. There was a short line outside for takeaway (it was much longer when we were finished eating), but no line to get a table inside. I think our bodies were still adjusting to the jet lag as we weren’t very hungry or we would have ordered a lot more - the food we had was fresh and delicious and everything on the menu looked good. We originally planned to spend the afternoon exploring Le Marais, but had to reschedule our visit to Palais Garnier for this day, so after lunch we jumped on the metro to the Opéra district.

The tickets for Palais Garnier are good for the day - no need to book a specific time slot, which was nice for flexibility on this day. Approaching the building we couldn’t get a good look at the facade as it was covered in scaffolding. But once we stepped inside - whoa! Very ornate and opulent. Charles Garnier was the architect, which is where Palais Garnier gets its name. It was built between 1861 and 1875 at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III, which is also the name of the style of architecture. Napoleon III style was eclectic, borrowing from different sources such as Baroque and Renaissance architecture. Palais Garnier was the primary theater of Paris until a new opera house was built at Place de la Bastille in 1989. Palais Garnier is now used mainly for ballet (we got to watch a little bit of a rehearsal). A fun fact about Palais Garnier is that it inspired the setting for Gason Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera. One of the most famous scenes in the book was inspired by a real life event when a chandelier broke free and fell through the ceiling into the auditorium in 1896.


All of Palais Garnier was beautiful and we especially liked the Grand Foyer, which is similar to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. We spent about an hour taking in all the beauty and then visited a few other spots in the neighborhood. I originally thought it would be fun to take a class at Musée du Parfum - Fragonard where we would make our own perfume, but it didn’t work out with our schedule. We still took a spin through the small museum to see perfume historical artifacts and information about how perfume is made. I liked seeing the perfumist’s bottles laid out by olfactory notes. Afterwards we visited Galeries Lafayette to see the dome and views from the rooftop.

In the late afternoon we returned to Le Marais to visit the Centre Pompidou, which houses the National Museum of Modern Art and displays modern art collections from 1905. Although The Centre Pompidou might be most notable for its unique building design. There were plenty of critics when the Pompidou was inaugurated in 1977 - it definitely stands out against the typical Parisian architecture. The building was designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers with the idea of it being “inside-out” to free up gallery space on the inside. To do this they placed all the equipment on the outside of the building and covered it with brightly colored tubes. The tubes are color coded by function - green for water pipes, yellow for electricity, etc.

The Paris Museum Pass was good for the permanent exhibits so we headed to the upper floors to browse the modern art. Another feature of The Centre Pompidou is the terrace on the 6th floor and we timed our visit so we could watch the sunset from there. It was a lovely evening! When we were done admiring the views, we caught the metro to Place de la République to have dinner at Gros Bao on Canal Saint-Martin. Unfortunately we didn’t have time during our trip to explore this area more, but I’m glad we at least got this glimpse and the dumplings were tasty. We covered a lot of ground this day and it was a great mix of attractions. We really enjoyed everything we did.