St Denis

It was a sunny morning but wet in the late afternoon.
I took the Metro to St Denis which was a working-class district, and which was also the largest African community in Europe. It looked depressed around the Metro station with empty buildings but it was more attractive around the square in front of the Basilica and the Hotel de Ville.
The Basilica is a royal mausoleum and necropolis going back 1500 years. It contains the tombs of 42 kings, Louix XVIII beng the last, 32 queens, and 63 princes and princesses.
It has beautiful stained-glass windows, monumnents, and a Cavaille-Coll organ. There is an ossuary in the archeological crypt.
There are statues of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and memorials to Louis XII and Anne of Brittany, and another to Henry II and Catherine de Medici.
I had an alfresco lunch in the square outside the Basilica.
At 16.00, I went to the Athletes' Village for a familiarisation visit, including meeting the anti-doping managers.Baca lagi