Thursday we woke up early and met Louise at the entrance to the catacombs…we thought we’d try again to do the ghoulish tour and hopefully beat the crowds by going early. But, no. Again, when we arrived we found a ridiculously long queue around the block. What gives with that? Is every single tourist in Paris  right now really as weird and creepy as we are?

Anyway, we aren’t doing queues. Nope. So we uber-ed (yoo-bayrd) to Le Marais where we walked, and peeked in shops (cute, but yikes! Even with July sales going on it was crazy expensive), and stopped for tea, and walked (A LOT) more. Louise’s boyfriend, Vivien, joined us for lunch and then they took us on a tour of St. Eustache and pointed out other interesting sights along the way. 



St. Eustache was beautiful. Really, really beautiful. Quite honestly, I thought it was more beautiful than Sacre Couer. And Notre Dame is lovely, true, in an old, gothic way…but so dark. It’s hard to see. Trust me, if you’re in Paris, avoid the lines and go to Le Marais/Les Halles and walk through this magnificent old church. The pipe organ is the largest in France and Mozart’s mother’s funeral was held here. (Also Molière was married here, among other notables)

Today was our last full day together before Paige checks into her dorm and I head home. We decided to spend it in Provins and it was a perfect day. 

Once we arrived in Provins, we walked through town and up, up, up the hill to the “old” town, where we wandered and admired…

And then, after fully admiring the age and quaint beauty of Provins, we settled down to watch La Légendes des Cheveliers. It was dramatic. It was well choreographed. It was fun and exciting. The feats of horsemanship were amazing. The several hundred French schoolchildren who were there on school trips seemed to enjoy the show as much as we did!