Rain, churches, and mnm overload

Another rainy day in Paris!

We started at Chateau de Vincennes, which was a huge medieval castle. It also had a chapel, but for the most part we just wandered around being not entirely sure what to look at. It was pretty off the touristy path.

Next we went to Montmartre (mountain of the martyrs) where St. Denis carried his head after he was martyred. On top was the Sacre Coeur (sacred heart) chapel, which was another church for all the martyrs. For over a lot of years, there has been someone praying 24/7 in the church, so it was another one of the no photos, dress appropriately kind.

I have mixed feelings about that. I understand being reverent and not treating it like a tourist stop; it sucks that you can't get people to respect a sacred area. But at the same time, if you want it to be treated like a church... Why do you have a gift shop and a pressed coins stand inside the chapel?

We ran around the little square for a while for lunch, and I looked at dorky souvenirs before we left for st. Denis (another chapel). Its a reliquary that used to be the burial place for all the royalty in France, but during the revolution they pulled out all the bodies and dumped them in the river, so now it's just a bunch of memorials and the heart of king Louis the 17th in a glass box.

We were supposed to go on a boat ride on the seine river a few days ago, but we finally made it happen today. It was pretty cold and rainy so everyone was kind of grumbly, but we were pleased to find it was a boat with an indoor structure. It was nice, to just relax and look at Paris but not get rained on.

I got my crepe on the way home (this time from a different crepe man) and then came back to the hotel and ate my weight in peanut mnms. I wasted tonight staying in, I know, and I feel guilty about it, but I'm still working on my list for our free days.