Arènes du Lutèce

While walking through the Latin Quarter I made a detour to see the Arènes du Lutèce.  I've been to Rome and seen Roman ruins in a number of places, but it was interesting to see a relic of Roman culture in Paris that has been so thoroughly incorporated into modern life.  I sat and watched children playing soccer and men playing pétanque in an arena once used by gladiators.

Sainte-Chapelle

We decided to take advantage of a gorgeous, sunny day to visit Sainte-Chapelle.  This church was built in the 13th century and is known for the dazzling stained glass panels that line the walls of the second level.

Château de Fontainebleau

We spent a rainy day visiting the Château de Fontainebleau, which is less than an hour from Paris by train.  The train station is about 2 kilometers (0.6 mile) away from Fontainebleau but there is a convenient bus that you can take to the château.  We were amused by how not only the bus driver, but also several locals on the bus, all shouted "Castle!" when we reached the appropriate stop.  Everything about the bus signage was extremely user-friendly but they must be used to confused tourists in that town.  

We had initially discussed going back to the Château de Versailles and bringing a picnic to enjoy in the gardens, skipping the palace itself to avoid the crowds, but thought it might be fun to visit another nearby château instead.  We were delighted to find Fontainebleau so uncrowded that we could take our time with the audio tour and have many rooms all to ourselves.  It was much more fun to enjoy the grandeur of the former royal chambers without having to squeeze by tons of people.

Crowded Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

Peaceful Gallery of Francis I at Fontainebleau

A few more pictures of the interior of Fontainebleau:

And a few of the grounds of Fontainebleau:

Musée National Gustave Moreau

Many of the museums in Paris have free admission on the first Sunday of each month.  We quickly learned not to try to go to one of the most popular museums (especially the Musée du Louvre or the Musée d'Orsay) on the free Sunday as the lines were incredibly long.  Instead we would pick lesser-known museums and visit a different one each month.  

The first Sunday of our visit we explored the Gustave Moreau museum.  Moreau, a French Symbolist painter, started construction of the museum in his family home during his lifetime.  We enjoyed seeing the combination of his art, personal art collection, rooms he lived in and his high-ceilinged studio (pictured above).

Cimitière du Père-Lachaise

We spent an afternoon walking through the winding lanes of the Père-Lachaise cemetery.  It's one of the few places inside the city limits where you can walk for a while without seeing anyone else (as long as you aren't near one of the heavily-visited graves like those of Jim Morrison or Oscar Wilde).