Yesterday continued to be a busy, see-everything-you-can-possibly-see-before-you-leave-Paris kind of day. I continue to go through my list of things to do and cross off some miscellaneous items. 
After my climb up the towers at Notre-Dame, I headed across the Seine to tour the Saint-Severin church on the Left Bank. I’ve walked by it many times and decided it was time to check it out. The church is dedicated to Severin, a hermit that used to live and pray on the site. After his death, a basilica was constructed at the beginning of the 13th century. When several fires during the Hundred Year’s war destroyed parts of the church, it was extended and reconstructed in the 15th century in pure Flamboyant (flame-like) Gothic style. Because the church is so short, you really get a close-up view (and a bath if it's raining) of the gargoyles leaning over the street.
The church is famous for a pillar in the ambulatory in the form of the trunk of a palm tree; and for its stained glass windows, which combine a series of Gothic windows with seven modern ones inspired by the seven Catholic sacraments. I didn’t like the modern ones—they seemed to be out of place with their angry big splashes of brightly-colored paint flung across the glass panes and depicting no story at all. But it was a small and intimate church—unique—maybe I’ll attend mass there on Sunday since it’s also famous for its organ.
After lunch, I bussed and Metro’ed around the city—first to the Bastille Metro station to view some remnants of an old prison wall and the area’s history. In one hallway, there are copies of historic engravings of the place de la Bastille. Among the panels is the famous Fragonard drawing of the Bastille prison showing elegantly-dressed women visiting their wealthy imprisoned relatives (this photo didn't turn out too well).
There’s also a drawing of the 74-foot high elephant statue that Napoleon wanted in the center of the place to commemorate the arrival of water from the Ourcq River into the city. It rose above a green tower and discharged a jet of water through its trunk. It was said that Napoleon wanted it so large as to include an interior spiral staircase in one of the legs leading to a viewing platform on the beast’s back. 
Built of clay and rough plaster, the elephant soon became a ruin because of the rain, wind, and pollution, not to mention the influx of rats and street boys who made it their home. Though the rat-infested model stood for 35 years, the project was finally abandoned and the city had to organize hunting parties of dogs and men to rid the terrified neighborhood of the vermin. (Victor Hugo used the elephant as a hiding place for Gavroche in “Les Miserables;" and I think there is a model of it in his museum...if I remember correctly.) 
Then I got off the Metro on the Champs-Elysees and walked to the monument originally called “The Flame of Liberty.” It is located on a roundabout named Alma Marceau close to the Seine River on the right bank. It is a full-sized replica of the flame in the hand of our Statue of Liberty and was erected when the Statue was restored in 1987. Since it is located above the tunnel in which Princess Diana had her auto accident, it has unofficially become a memorial to her by admirers. There were flowers there the first time I walked by weeks ago; yesterday, no flowers but only Diana stickers on one of the metal plates on the monument’s base.
After that, I walked on the footpath along the Seine to the Petit Palais, an art museum built for the Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in 1900. It is built around a courtyard and garden; its dome, ionic columns, and porch are similar to Invalides (notable for holding the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte) across the Seine. There’s supposedly a free museum of art not as good as other collections in the Paris museums; there was also a 9 euro exhibition of impressionists’ paintings that I didn’t attend. 
I just wanted to see the interior of the renovated building—very beautiful. Last night, I visited the Louvre again and wandered though the Egyptian antiquities. I am going to return at least one more time before leaving and get the audioguide, which I’ve never listened to before. Last night I discovered some rooms beautifully decorated for Louis XIV’s use so I’ll listen to those descriptions first before revisiting some of the art in which I’m most interested.
