Day 1: Notre Dame

The main event of our first day was Notre Dame.  After settling our things into the hotel room, we went down the street just a few blocks to the Musee de Cluny, a very cool medieval museum, which was also where we purchased our Paris Museum pass, which would get us into most of the monuments and museums that we hoped to see during our time in Paris.

The two pictures above show the Roman baths at the Musee de Cluny, and the exterior of the building.  It was beautiful, and so old. 

These tapestries amazed me.  I tried to imagine weaving one of these.  The planning, the time it would take.  Wow.  And the detail was astounding.

We took this picture to give a feel for the size of these things.  Huge.

Today, Dallin has access to 1000s of books on this Kindle, at the click of a button, but in the Middle Ages, imagine the time it took to create one book, and the artistry that went into it as well.

After leaving the museum, we headed towards Notre Dame.  We passed this lovely shop, which became a favorite of ours.  We passed it everyday.  Ahhhh, chocolate.

Dallin and I each got one of these little beauties to try.  So yummy!

The macaroons are so beautiful. We ended up buying a package to bring home and share with everyone. They were not a big hit, and now Daniel will tell you he hates macaroons, but they sure are pretty to look at!!

On our way over to Notre Dame, we made a couple more stops.  We stopped at two other old churches (there are old churches ALL over Paris, and every one is beautiful), St. Severin and St Julien le Pauvre.  This picture is St. Severin.

And we made a stop at the English bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, opened by George Whitman, Walt Whitman's son.

And then we got to Notre Dame.  It was stunning and amazing. To think this had been built in the 12th and 13th century astounded me.  It's difficult to fathom the manual labor this must have taken.  The stained glass windows were exquisite.  Truly amazing.

Another shot of the front facade.

We decided to go to the top of Notre Dame, to walk along the upper "balcony" and see the bell tower.  The line for this was VERY long, but we decided to do it anyway.  It was cold and windy, and remember that we had recently flown across the ocean and experienced a 7 hour change on the clock.  Dallin and I fell asleep, huddled in line.  Rick thought it was pretty funny that he caught that in a picture....

We climbed and climbed and climbed some more, up these really old, really cool stone steps.  We were greatly rewarded at the top with the view of Paris, and the chance to see the largest bell in the bell tower.  Very impressive.  Sadly enough, we did not catch sight of Quasimodo.

 

We did, however, see a few gargoyles, looking over Paris.  You can see the Eiffel Tower in the background of this photo.

Another view from the top of Notre Dame, looking out over the back.

Here's the view of the back from the bottom.  Check out the flying buttresses.  Impressive work of architecture for sure. 

About this time, unfortunately, I started to not feel so well.  The sickness I had experienced before we left, coupled with jet lag were starting to get to me.  From this point until we returned to the hotel, I was walking in a bit of a stupor.  I trudged along, determined not to ruin the rest of the day for Dallin and Rick.  They got some yummy ice cream at Berthilllon on Ile St. Louis.  This is famous ice cream in Paris, and they said it was delicious, but I did not feel like having any.  Walking back from there, we went down this side street, and I thought this plant growing on the side of the building was so beautiful.  Dallin and Rick had their first crepe while I found a bathroom, and we went on. 

Next stop was Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris.  It was cool, but again, I was a little out of it at this point.  We returned to the hotel just before 7:00.  Dallin and I immediately crashed on our beds.  Rick stayed awake a little longer, but retired early as well.  I thought surely I would be so messed up with time that I would wake up at 3 in the morning.  I was prepared to read my book.  Imagine ALL of our surprise when we woke up, checked the time and saw that it was 7:30 AM!!!  I couldn't believe I had slept so soundly for so long, but I was pretty exhausted, and it sure helped the transition to Paris time work out nicely!!