I had a 10 o’clock appointment at the Conciergerie so I got up early went to the bakery and bought some thing called a toursade which is really just croissant dough twisted rather than rolled up with almond paste in it it was delicious with a cup of coffee.
I made my way down to the conciergerie via the Latin Quarter because that’s the way the bus goes. The one thing about the bus here as while it’s very user-friendly it’s also not particularly dependable in a Time wise. You can wait 25 minutes or you can wait two minutes either way and sometimes you see one next one right after the other which I’m sure can happen anywhere. The Concergerie was originally a palace, then a prison and now a museum.
There’s a main area where the soldiers hang out and then you can see a vacant area that was a kitchen that was separate from the building due to fear of fires. And I can see why because they had these huge fireplaces four of them one in each corner to roast meat for all those soldiers.
There was also some explanation about the justice system at the time which was pretty grim quite frankly. One of the things people wanted it through the course of the revolution, and there were several, but one was to have better punishments, more humane punishment.
I was a little frustrated at the souvenir stand right before you go into the “Marie-Antoinette area“ because I feel like it kind of made light of her situation. Pretty roses, cofffee cups and lovely pillows. It would have been a pretty horrible place to be for her but for really anyone it was not a good.
(You got your hair cut off here before you went to the guillotine)
If your family could pay for you you got a
bed not a very good one, but you still got a bed. If your family could not pay then you slept on the floor on a straw pallet with several other people, so many that not everyone could lay down at once.. Old Louis the XVIII created a Expiation Chapel here too, in the area she was imprisoned.
This room delineates Several thousand names of people who were murdered during the revolution. It is very interesting how they have delineated who is who.
There were Separate areas for the men and women as they kick them out of their cells during the day and they had to be outside, if they had any opportunity to clean themselves or their garments it would be in this basin here.
I have a funny feeling it probably was not as pretty then as it is now either. By the way the men did not have that basin. Always watching out for the frailty of femininity.
From there I want it back to Boulevard Saint Michelle and over to Saint Andre des Arts to couple of little restaurants I knew they’re hoping for some French onion soup, something light before that cooking class I was going to do later.
This little partially covered alleyway is very very old and it’s very fun to go see. I did find French onion soup and I also had a salad-Chevre. I had some inventive presentations of chevre of this year it’s not that exactly what one expects.
I went back to the house rested for a little bit and then headed out for class there’s a bus that goes specifically from here to there which is amazing. Especially at night when I’m by myself, it’s kind of nice to not have to walk very far to get the bus after dark. I did have to wait to wait 25 minutes for it though, In the rain, after dark, all by myself……….There were class of eight of us, two newlywed couples which was very fun. One couple had gotten married in Paris the other couple head I got married in May and this was their honeymoon. Two ladies from California one which of which was a nurse and a young man from South Korea who bless his heart just didn’t really understand much of what was going on. But he did try and he was he was sweet.
We made Oeufs en Meurette, Fricassée de Volaille aux champingions and PdeT Rôties (PdeT is short for pomes du terre),and Poires Pochées Sauce Caramel.
It was a fun class and the food was awesome. I was a bit iffy at an egg in wine sauce, but the French do lots of fun things with eggs and this was no exception.
