Sunday on the Left Bank and Île de la Cité

I'm a day behind but here's Sunday:

Today didn't go 100% according to my carefully-prepared, well thought-out plan, but that's okay. I mean, since I don't read French news I had no way of knowing that Simone Veil's funeral would be at the Panthéon...

We started out at Saint-Sulpice for mass because it houses Cavaillé-Coll's amazing organ from 1862, one of the biggest in Paris, maybe even in France. The organist plays during mass of course, but he also plays a 25-minute recital after mass. This time, according to some website anyway, the recital was played by an organist from Boston who was auditioning for something(?):

(video of the end of the Sowerby that may or not be horrible quality if it even plays...?)

The only disappointing part of the service was that I couldn't get the gist of the sermon this time. Maybe if the microphone had been a little less echoy? Anyway, it's always fun to attend a service where there have been services for hundreds years. 

After mass we found ourselves in the market in the square out front, which turned out to be a once-a-year market fair for sculptors, Les Journées de la Céramique. I could have purchased one of practically everything... it was lovely!

Oh and before I forget, this was breakfast: 

 And this was the sights and sounds from breakfast (Saint-Sulpice):

Anyway, then we walked through the edge of Luxembourg Gardens with the goal of climbing the dome at the Panthéon. As we got closer, we noticed a lot of police. Then we noticed barricades that made it look like there had been or was going to be a parade. Then there were large pictures of a woman at intervals on the street and a recording of a woman's voice playing over loudspeakers. Eventually we figured out that Simone Veil--a lawyer, Minister of Health (1974-79), and president of the European Parliament (1979-1982)--passed away a few months ago and was going to be only the 5th woman ever to be interred in the Panthéon. 

So we headed toward Notre-Dame to see if by chance we could climb the towers there. They have a new system... instead of standing in line you go to a kiosk and see if any times are available, but none were. Womp womped twice in a row! 

Because it was 90+ degrees, we headed for a spot that seemed potentially cooler: the archaeological crypt under the square in front of Notre-Dame. I didn't end up taking pictures but it was quite interesting, especially the nineteenth-century process of making Notre-Dame appear the way it does today. 

After that we gave up and headed back home to take a rest before attempting to climb the Arc de Triomphe that evening. Thankfully that plan worked out well! 

 Steve's face when he saw there were still more stairs to climb...

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