Il pleut à Paris

We had a quieter day today visiting museums and wandering by the Seine. 

For breakfast we walked to a nearby bakery for the most delicious pains au chocolat, which we ate in the park in front of Les Invalides.

We're staying right by Pont Alexandre III but until today we hadn't been across it to admire it properly. The view back to Les Invalides is amazing - so much gold!

We headed to Musee de L'orangerie next  and just as we headed to the queue to get inside it started raining. Ed practised his French and asked for the tickets and was thanked for his efforts by the ticket person. The museum is the perfect size, not too much to take in. We loved Monet's Les nymphéas and went to look through the two specially designed oval rooms where they are housed several times.

By the time we were finished looking around it was pouring with rain but we headed out walking to find somewhere for lunch before making our way to ile de la cité. 

Our first stop was Sainte Chapelle. I've been waiting to see this since I came to France with school in 2001. We weren't allowed in as a group and Jess and I were impatient and didn't want to hang around waiting so we went off somewhere else. It was definitely worth the wait! The light inside was amazing and you could easily identify the stories in the stained glass.

Just along from Sainte Chapelle was the Conciergerie, palace turned prison, where thousands of condemned (including Marie Antionette) were held awaiting execution during the 'Reign of Terror' phase of the Revolution. 

There was a lot more to see here than expected and we were both in awe of the vaulted ceilings.