A Day Exploring Île de la Cité, April 21, 2023

Île de la Cité, Paris, April 21, 2023

Where in the world has the week gone?  How can it possibly be the last day of our time in Paris?  Oh my, how wonderful the week has been.  We woke on the early side and had a leisurely breakfast - as usual. Today's adventure took us on a walk along the Seine to La Conciergerie. 

We had a mix of "moody skies" and sunny skies today, but no rain at all.

Some of Jeff's pictures from our morning stroll ...

L'Institut de Paris

Batobus on the Seine

La Conciergerie is a former courthouse and prison located west of the Île de la Cité, below the Palais de Justice. It was originally part of the former royal palace, the Palais de la Cité, which also included the Sainte-Chapelle. Two large medieval rooms remain from the royal palace. During the French Revolution, 2,780 prisoners, including Marie Antoinette, were incarcerated, tried, and sentenced at the Conciergerie, then sent to different sites to be executed by guillotine. 

The ground floor of La Conciergerie was given over to a display about the history of cuisine, which took me a bit by surprise.

Poster about the Exposition Gastronomique

I loved the small display of 17th-century glassware

Recipe Book from the 1700s

Silver Service from the 1810 marriage banquet of Napoleon and Marie-Louise

On March 11th, Napoleon, who had recently divorced Josephine de Beauharnais, married Marie-Louise de Habsbourg-Lorraine, the daughter of Emperor Franz I of Austria, by proxy.  After the ceremony, the young woman set off for Paris, and on April 2nd, the religious wedding ceremony took place in the Salon Carré at the Louvre with Napoleon present. After the ceremony, a banquet was held in the Salle de Spectacle at the Palais des Tuileries, reorganized at great expense for the occasion. The image depicts Napoleon and Marie-Louise seated at the center of a horseshoe-shaped table on a raised platform, with the imperial family at their sides. Napoleon's primary objective with this banquet was to demonstrate his omnipotence. Over four million francs were spent on the festivities and ceremonies - at that same time, a Paris stone-mason's daily wage came to about four francs.

After we explored the ground floor, we walked upstairs to the area of the Conciergerie that served as a prison during and after the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette was imprisoned there.

Names from the Room of Names of the people who had been imprisoned

Chapel - This is where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before being beheaded

Courtyard (left) and view of the courtyard from inside the Conciergerie

After our visit to the Conciergerie, we planned to go to Sainte-Chapelle, but the line was very long, and we were tired and hungry, so we headed across the street, where we shared a pizza for lunch.

Gates in front of the Palais de Justice

The Palais de Justice (Palace of Justice) is a judicial center and courthouse in Paris, located on the Île de la Cité. It contains the Court of Appeal of Paris, the busiest appellate court in France, and France's highest court for ordinary cases, the Court of Cassation. It formerly housed the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris, which was relocated in 2018. The Palais de Justice occupies a large part of the medieval Palais de la Cité, the former royal palace of the Kings of France, which also includes Sainte Chapelle, the royal chapel, and the Conciergerie, a notorious former prison, which operated from 1380 to 1914. 

Other random photos from our strolls around the Île de la Cité ...

It was a great last day in Paris.  The skies were changeable all day long - ranging from moody to sunny and back again. Not a drop of rain once we moved from the hotel to our apartment!  It has been a truly wonderful and magical week, and we have loved every moment.

We enjoyed the last bits of baguette and cheese, some wine (and the last of the bottle of bourbon Jeff purchased), and the planned over Coc au Vin that I made the day before yesterday. I reluctantly packed and organized our bags, and we listened to some music before our last sleep in Paris.

Tomorrow ... Back to reality!

Bon Nuit, Paris