Journées du Patrimoine, part II

Continuing on from yesterday...

Next I went on to the Val de Grâce Church. It's yet another thing that I walk by practically everyday, and I've always wanted to see the inside. The Church is located within the Val de Grâce military hospital grounds, and normally you need to buy a ticket to the attached museum in order to be able to visit it. However for the Journées du Patrimoine, the church itself was free, as was the visit to the Royal Abbey (which is normally closed to the public).I unfortunately underestimated the amount of time required to visit it, so it'll definitely be on my list of things to check out next year.As I made my way back home, we happened to run into the 2009 Techno Parade. It's my least favorite of all the manifestations throughout the year. For some reason it always strikes me as really odd to see all of these people basically clubbing in the streets in the middle of the afternoon.
And what exactly is it about these things that makes kids want to climb stuff??
After showing my boss l'Hôtel de Ville, Notre Dame, and the Louvre, we made our way over to the 8th, and I happened to notice that the Opera building was also open. It was a nice surprise, especially as it's not something I ever would've thought of to visit last weekend. And since there were no lines, we decided to check it out. It was definitely another amazing building, and I've now decided I need to buy tickets to see something there this year.And I thought this ceiling was absolutely amazing - it was probably my favorite of the entire weekend:All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful Journées du Patrimoine weekend. I got to visit four really interesting buildings and didn't have to wait in line for a single one. There were a few other things that I didn't get to see (l'Observatoire, le Lycée Henri IV) since I ended up going to to the Château de Versailles Sunday afternoon, but they'll just have to go on my list for next year!