Paris 18 May

Another lovely day in Paris.  Set off for a guided tour of the Opera House but when we got there we found out today's tour was cancelled for some reason.  We then visited the Fragonard Perfume Museum and arrived at the same time as a busload of Singaporeans, who got the guided tour in English so we just tagged along and got all the details.  Then we went to see the Chapelle Expiatoire but of course it was closed today (must check the fine print a bit more closely).  So we headed off to the wilds of St Denis to visit the Basilique Cathedrale de Saint Denis, which turned out to be the most magnificent church we had seen in Paris, and was the resting place of all the kings and queens of France from the 6th century. The first church on the site was built in the 5th century, and it was rebuilt in the 12th and 13th century in its current format.  Of course there are renovation works happening to the stained glass windows which have been on the go since 1997.  However we got there just when it closed for lunch (of course) so we went and had lunch in a lovely restaurant in the town square for and hour or two.  After that we visited the crypt where the tombs of the royals were includig Marie Antoinette. We stayed there for ages until we thought we had better head home. We are getting so good at the trains, we can go anywhere.  It is amazing the amount of police and army presence there is around, the soldiers are in three and fours all bearing rifles, not much wonder everyone is so law abiding.  Finished the day off in the laundromat, as you do.  Sabine is now ironing in readiness for heading off to Nice on Friday.