Something else that had piqued my interest when researching Paris was Aura. Described as “an immersive experience which combines light effects, video mapping and original orchestral music. It intends to illuminate the Dôme des Invalides and help us (re)discover the magnificence of this jewel of Parisian heritage.“
And basically, it does just that.
Just for context, Les Invalides is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, containing museums and monuments relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and an Old Soldiers’ retirement home, the building’s original purpose.
Most famously though, the Dôme des Invalides houses the tomb of the great Napoleon Bonaparte.
The production delivered all it had promised, about fifty minutes of music and light representing the history of Paris throughout the last couple of centuries and well worth the ticket price and us staying up until it was dark 😉
The next day, allowing ourselves a sleep in after our first night up after dark, Russell and I parted ways, he to do a cooking class involving “tart baking” and me to do a photography tour with an expert.
We both had a blast, but when we reconvened back at the apartment, the pleasure was all mine….
My walking tour with the delightful “Clara” was wonderful and I did actually learn a lot plus I got to see parts of Montmartre that I hadn’t experienced previously. She was very patient with me and I highly recommend this type of tour if you wish to become a bit more skilled with your camera. I’ll let you be the judge…
Thank you Aperture Tours.
Russell had a night off from the kitchen when we found a lovely restaurant a short walk from the apartment, the lamb was to die for (and the price nearly did kill us) but it was well worth it for a trip to the loo 🤣
Finally, another place we had never gotten to on previous trips was the Paris Catacombs.
“In the late eighteenth century, when major public health problems tied to the city’s cemeteries led to a decision to transfer their contents to an underground site. Paris authorities chose an easily accessible site that was, at the time, located outside the capital: the former Tombe-Issoire quarries under the plain of Montrouge. The first evacuations were made from 1785 to 1787 and concerned the largest cemetery in Paris, the Saints-Innocents cemetery.”
Before being opened to the public in 1809, it underwent an extensive decorative rearrangement …..
…….The bones, which had previously been loosely piled, were carefully organized in walls, according to a quarry backfill arrangement. The façade consists of rows of tibiae alternating with skulls, and the remaining bones were piled behind this wall. They were often only small fragments, as a consequence of their being dumped into the quarry…..
Les Catacombes de Paris
So, we found ourselves in this very eerie and unique site – twenty metres underground with millions of dead Parisians including some very famous historical figures that were unceremoniously dumped here during the French Revolution.
It was a very interesting visit, be sure to book ahead as they strictly regulate how many people can access the catacombs per time slot and rightly so.
We wandered streets, we reacquainted ourselves with the metro, with markets and with the great and grimy parts of this wonderful city and still didn’t complete half of my wish list.
Au revoir, à bientôt Paris!