I went back into tourist mode today, focusing on some churches I had wanted to see last time but ran out of town.

First, I went to the Deportation Memorial, which honors French citizens who were deported to concentration camps during WWII. It is a small memorial, but touching. Most interesting to me was a list of badges that concentration camp victims wore to identify why they were encamped. I think most of us know the primary group were the Jews, but other groups, such as gypsys and gays were also targeted. I was intentionally looking for the mentally handicapped as a targeted group, but they were not listed. When I found "non-social" I assumed that was for the mentally handicapped.

Next stop was Madelaine Church. It is an interesting church in that it does not look at all like a Catholic church. It resembles the Pantheon from the outside…but it is a gorgeous church once you step inside. As I was walking in, I saw a sign indicated that a choir of students from Texas A&M and Mississippi State was performing that day at 3:00. I decided to leave to see some other sights and come back for the concert. (However, I first took a bunch of pictures of the flowers in the front of the church!)

Next I hiked over to St. Eustache, a chuch that was built from the mid 1500's-1600's. It, like Madelaine and so many other churches were heavily damaged during the French Revolution (defacing of statues, broken windows, etc). Still, a beautiful church.

Back to Madelaine for the concert, which was really great.

Finally, I went to Val de Grace church, which was and is many things, including a church, an abbey, a hospital and a medical museum. The church was built by the mother of King Louis XIV in honor of his birth. It was an odd visit….the place has very limited hours and is somewhat off the beaten path. I wasn't expecting the medical museum, but I had to walk through it to get to the church, so that was a bonus. The crazy thing was that their were 'guards' everywhere. Every time a turned a corner there was another employee watching over the room. And they were all bored out of their minds….I would typically see them before they saw me, so I'd catch them messing with their phones, then they would notice me and jump to attention. I think the entire hour I was there I saw 2 other guests in the entire place, so I don't blame the employees for being bored. It was just so odd that it was so heavily guarded….I kept expecting to turn a corner and find priceless jewels, but it never happened. I still think there was something there that I missed.

As I left the museum it started raining, so I dropped the idea of walking over to the Resistance Museum (I still wanted to catch the other half I missed) and decided I would hit it tomorrow.