January in Paris: St. Denis

On Sunday, which was again gray and freezing, we took a Paris Walks tour of the St. Denis cathedral in the outskirts of Paris. If the cathedral were in central Paris it would be a major attraction, but since it’s in the low income, largely ethnic suburbs, it’s not on the usual tourist trail. Apparently a lot of people consider the area to be somewhat dicey and are apprehensive about visiting, but it was actually a fascinating place. The cathedral is the burial ground for almost all French kings and queens, including Louis XI and Marie Antoinette. Like most cathedrals it’s almost impossible to get a decent picture, because it’s just too big and too dark inside. The tour guide, a British woman, was great – enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

We headed home after freezing inside the cathedral and out for about three hours, looking forward to another delicious rotisserie chicken dinner, but sadly, the boucherie was closed, so we settled for Chinese take-out, which was actually pretty good, and fed us for two nights.