The Conciergerie, Saturday, 28 November

We had planned to go to the big department stores, especially Galleries Lafayette and Au Printemps to see their Christmas decorations but as the weather had turned wet and it was a weekend; meaning children in department stores, we decided it would be better to go "cultural." This meant the Conciergerie. This has been both a palace and a prison and now, in addition to being a cultural relic, it is an art gallery. And now for a bit of history.

Numerous prisoners of State were kept in the Conciergerie, so called because when Charles V left the royal residence he appointed a steward or "concierge" to run the palace and the prison. It is probably best known for being the site of the Revolutionary Tribunal which used it as a prison and it was here that Marie Antoinette languished before losing her head.



The lower halls were where the staff and Royal Guard were located; no small number - about 2,000 people. Imagine what it must have been like at meal time. No wonder the fireplaces are as large as they are. The Hall of Men-at-Arms dates from around 1300 and is magnificent. There are four rib vaulted naves and the hall was lit by twin windows. The refectory was heated by four large fireplaces.

The prison has an inner courtyard, the Women's Courtyard, which is surrounded by two floors of cells. The fountain where the women washed their clothes is still there as is one of the stone tables at which they ate, and the corner where they waited in groups of twelve to be taken to the scaffold. Although much of the reconstruction, such as the cell of Marie Antoinette, is of more recent origin, they convey a sense of what it must have been like.



On a completely different note, just about everyone knows that the French for sit down is "asseyez-vous." This is what teachers say to students in a classroom or people say in their home when you are visiting, but when you go to the doctor or the dentist or, more to the point, eat out in a restaurant they say "installez-vous," install yourself. For anyone who has eaten in a French Restaurant and knows how closely packed the tables are, this expression is very appropriate. The waiter whips out the table so that one person can "install" his or her self and then the table is pushed back effectively blocking any hope of exit until the end of the meal. Of course, in the winter, with hats, coats, gloves, scarves and all of the other appropriate accoutrements, heaven help you if you need to visit "la toilette."