Sainte-Chapelle, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower one last time May 18, 2008

Yesterday we tried our best to see a little more and do a little more. Our feet are complaining every step of the way but we can’t stand to think we may miss something. We must be walking several miles a day, and not in tennis shoes! It’s the only way to see and explore a new city, though.

We started the day with Sunday Brunch at a little café a couple of blocks from our hotel. I had a croquette jamon which was a piece of toasted baguette with ham and then cheese melted on top and a fried egg right in the middle. It came with a nice green salad with wonderful vinaigrette dressing. Caleb had steak and fries. We have an ongoing debate about whether the French gave us the fry or we popularized fries and the French just took on the tradition because every single café, restaurant and bar in Paris serves French fries. I think it may be akin to the chicken and egg debate.

After brunch we started out at the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral on the Ile de la Cite (the island from which all of Paris first began). The Sainte-Chapelle was built sometime between 1242 and 1248 and was commissioned to house relics from the Passion of Christ. The most famous of these relics was the Crown of Thorns that they purchased, along with a section of the Cross, from the Emperor of Constantinople in 1239 for more than the price of constructing the Sainte-Chapelle to house it. The relics were originally housed in the upper chapel that was available only to the King and his close family and friends, as well as the canons who lead the service. The chapel is most famous for its 1,113 scenes on 15 stained glass windows comprising all of the 4 walls of the chapel. These scenes, when read bottom to top and left to right, depict the story of the bible from Genesis to Christ’s resurrection.

After the Sainte-Chapelle we headed just a couple of blocks over to the Notre Dame. We were lucky enough to be there on a Sunday during mass. Construction of this Gothic church first began in 1163 and took almost 200 years to complete. It was damaged during the French Revolution and went for several decades in somewhat disrepair but in 1831 the novel by Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was published. This came at the same time as a revived interest in the Middle Ages and medieval monuments and in 1845 restoration work began on the church.

From the top of the Notre Dame’s South tower we could see the entire city of lights sprawling out as far as the eye can see in every direction. To the west you could see the Ile de la Cite and the Sainte-Chapelle. To the north the Saint-Jacques Tower and Sacre-Cour rising up over Montmartre can be seen. And to the south the Pantheon and the gilded top of Les Invalidades where veterans are still housed today.

We were even able to go into the belfry where Quasimodo famously rang the bell in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Ol’ Quasi must have been a short little dude because those were some small doors.

The bell, known as Emmanuel, weighs more than 13 tons and now is only wrung on major Catholic feast days.

We wandered through the streets of the Ile de la Cite after our visit to the belfry. There was this great little creperie on the side of the street where we got the most heavenly of crepes you could ever imagine. First we tried the sucre et beur (yep, that’s sugar and butter, baby!) and it was breathtaking. Then we tried the nutella and it wasn’t bad either.

We stopped at a little bar called The Beaver, which just happened to be full of a bunch of Canadians. There we had a couple pints of Foster’s before heading out for the carousel at the Place de Concorde. Boy, what an adventure that turned out to be. We may have found it and it may have been closed, but we’re really not sure and we do know that we didn’t get to ride the dern thing!

Then it was back to the Eiffel Tower yet again. This time we were determined not to be too early and not to be too late. We didn’t however plan on it being way too cold! There were lines on each of the three floors to go up and then again to go down. It was an amazing view from the top but if I get pushed by one more snotty French person or rude American tourist I may go postal. C may already have gone postal over the line cutters that are common place here, but if so he’s doing a great job of hiding it!

We’re going to wander around the city casually today before heading out to the airport and flying to Rome. We are sorry to be leaving Paris as it there is soooo much to do here and we just didn’t have time to see everything we wanted to. We are planning on coming back to this beautiful city someday, though.

Will post more once we get to Rome – have a great day everyone!

Caleb doing his best Bond

Sainte-Chapelle Gargoyles

Sainte-Chapelle upper chapel

The stories of the Bible in stained glass at the Sainte-Chapelle

Sunday mass at the Notre Dame

The holy priest of the Notre Dame

Katrina exiting the tiny doors of the South bell tower at the Notre Dame

Caleb exiting the tiny doors of the South bell tower at the Notre Dame exiting the tiny doors of the South bell tower at the Notre Dame

A cute little ball of white fluffy fur for sale at a market on the Ile de la Cite

The Louvre May 17, 2008

We spent most of the day today at The Louvre, unintentionally. We had big plans for The Louvre, Notre Dam, Montmartre and the Eiffel Tower at night. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans.

The Louvre was overwhelming to say the least. It seems reasonably easy to navigate when you get your map in the main lobby but the second you step foot into one of the three wings you wind around and around mesmerized by everything you see and you just end up getting lost. We were able to see some of the oldest and most famous art in the world in the world’s largest museum.

Unfortunately, as soon as we got to the Mona Lisa the camera battery died. We did get to take lots of video (which I’ll add to the appropriate posts as soon as we get home) and video barely does the place justice.

Poor planning on our part landed us at The Louvre on a Saturday afternoon with every tourist this side of the big pond. There were groups of them swarming us like flies, there were kids touching the pharaohs and grown women standing on the Winged Victory – it was ridiculous and we were ready to go after several hours wandering around lost inside.

After we headed straight back to the hotel to charge the camera battery, and just in time as the rain was right on our tails. We waited out the storm in the hotel and then headed out for some lunch/dinner. The nice hotel lady charged the camera battery for us while we went out since the hotel rooms here only have power when you are in them. {You insert a fob attached to your room key (which by the way is round and quite odd looking) into a little slot on the wall and, as they say in France, Voila – you have power.}

Dinner was at some place a couple blocks down called the Hippopotamus. It was pretty good but I’m trying to convince Caleb to be a little more daring. He doesn’t want to eat anything new, even though he promised me he would be adventurous! I’ve still got a week to get him to step out of his comfort zone.

We went out to the Eiffel Tower after getting back to the hotel but it was a little after 9:30 p.m. by then and the last trip up the Tower is at 11 p.m. They fail to mention that the last trip all the way up is actually earlier than that. We got to see it sparkle twice though and I took some darn good shots of it from across the river, if I do say so myself. Wandering back to the metro we stopped at a courtyard where there were fire dancers practicing. It was just a bunch of people standing around playing with fire for the most part, but really cool to just sit (for a welcome change) and watch.

It’s 1 a.m. Paris time and we just got back to the hotel. I’ve developed a pretty nasty cough (probably from all the germs and germy people in the subways and on the airplanes) and so I just took some cough syrup a pharmacist prescribed. That being said, I may be kind of out of it for this post and those in the near future but will try to keep you all posted.

We can’t believe we are half way through the trip today, we are having so much fun and thinking of just staying…only kidding, of course. See you all in another week and write at ya tomorrow.

Oh, and the Louvre pictures ending up separate so I will post them separately in the morning.

This rainbow shot was taken leaning out of our hotel room window.

Fire dancer in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Caleb in front of a sparkling Eiffel Tower.

Katrina in front of a sparkling Eiffel Tower, and amidst many tourists – as you can see.

Fire dancer practicing in a courtyard at midnight.

Long exposure of the Eiffel Tower backlit by the moon and set on the Seine.

Paris – Oui, Oui! May 16, 2008

Our first day in Paris was gorgeous. We were a little hurried because we wanted to get back to the hotel in time to get ready for the Willy concert tonight. We are still unsure of how that will work (slight problem with our lack of French speaking ability) and our hotel lady has been so nice to try to call twice for us but says it is only a maze of options. We are going to try to head there early and hope for the best!

This morning we enjoyed breakfast at a casual 9 a.m. in the hotel, it was coffee (with warm milk, which was so nice), fresh juice, chocolate croissants, toasted breads, an assortment of cereals, fresh fruits and baguettes with nutella or jam. The jam I had was cherry and it was a delight, but there was also orange and they came in the cutest little individual size jam jars – so French chic! I grabbed the one I didn’t use, the orange, and brought it back to our hotel room – if I don’t eat it first I’ll bring it home with me.

We got lucky because apparently another couple who just checked out today bought a two day pass on the hop on/hop off boat tour. It cruises the scenic Seine and lets you off or picks you up at 8 different popular spots: the Hotel D’Ville, the Louvre, the Champs Elysses, the Eiffel Tower and several others. The lady at the hotel desk gave it to us to use today so we spend the day doing that.

We walked down to the Seine where we hopped on the boat and then hopped off at the Champs Elysses. From there we mostly wandered around in amazement at all the amazing architecture that is centuries old. We walked down to the Arc d’ Triumph and saw all of the couture shops there, including the flagship Louis Vuitton. They even let us in – of course we only browsed and quickly left.

From their we walked to the Eiffel Tower. We didn’t go up, we plan to do that tomorrow night so we can see it and the city all lit up. We did walk around it a bunch though before heading to the boat pick up next to it on the Seine. The Eiffel Tower is massive and surprisingly pretty up close. I expected it to be more like the Golden Gate pretty – nice on a post card but anticlimactic in person. To the contrary, it is beautiful and awe inspiring and it took us both several moments to take in the reality that we were actually there. I honestly never thought I’d get to be there.

The boat ride was pretty hot and we may have even gotten a little of a tan from it. We took it all the way back down the Seine to our original hop on point and walked as quickly as we could to get back to the hotel and get ready for Willie. We stopped in at a little grocery market and picked up a bottle of wine and beer and water, a baguette, a sandwich for Caleb and some cold chicken pasta salad for me. It was yummy and quickly devoured.

Off to Willie, will write more soon!

Just a small street, hardly any traffic – yea right!

The original Louis Vuitton.

Some radio tower we thought was cool looking – hee, hee

Hard to believe we were actually standing there!

Typical Parisian Scene, Part Deux

Typical Parisian Scene