Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The flower and plant market on Place Louis Lépine is a pleasant detour. On Sundays
thissquareflutterswithabusybirdmarket.AndacrossthewayisthePréfecturedePolice,
where Inspector Clouseau of
Pink Panther
fame used to work, and where the local resist-
ancefighterstookthefirstbuildingfromtheNazisinAugustof1944,leadingtotheAllied
liberation of Paris a week later.
•Pauseheretoadmiretheview.Sainte-Chapelleisapearlinanuglyarchitecturaloyster.
Double back to the Palais de Justice, turn right onto Boulevard du Palais, and enter the
Conciergerie.It'sfreewiththeMuseumPass;passholderscansidestepthebottleneckcre-
ated by the ticket-buying line.
▲
Conciergerie
Though pretty barren inside, this former prison echoes with history. Positioned next to the
courthouse, the Conciergerie was the gloomy prison famous as the last stop for 2,780 vic-
tims of the guillotine, including France's last
ancien régime
queen, Marie-Antoinette. Be-
fore then, kings had used the building to torture and execute failed assassins. (One of its
towers along the river was called “The Babbler,” named for the pain-induced sounds that
