Paris - Day 2 - Notre Dame Tower, St. Chapelle, Pantheon

NOTE: I added more pics to yesterdays post, so if you've read it already, make sure you go back to view the extra pics!!!

We got a late start today, both sleeping in until after the alarm was supposed to go off, because when I set the alarm in the stupor of my sleep deprived chaos, I didn’t quite calculate the time difference correctly, and instead of setting my alarm for 8:30am, I set it for 10:30am Seems like an easy enough task, to set an alarm, but in my stubbornness of NOT resetting my cell phone clock to match the local time of wherever I am, it got all screwed up this morning. No matter, we obviously needed the sleep because we slept like the dead last night and were still tired this morning when we eventually woke up, at 10:30am.

We got ready, spent a bit of time in the lobby (there is only internet access in the lobby) posting the blog from the previous day (it was too late to post last night because by the time we got everything uploaded and written, it was already 1:00am and we wanted to go to sleep), and then walked down the street to a café where we enjoyed a delightful lunch. Stanley had a brunch of eggs, sausage, toast and potatoes, and I had a veggie enchilada. When in Paris (or Ireland), eat a veggie enchilada! This one was super yummy, almost as yummy as that one I ate in Ireland. We then jumped on the metro and rode to the Notre Dame stop so that we could ascend the tower and see the city from the top. After standing in line for almost an hour to get in, and watching a very comical street performer who was wearing a Halloween mask of an old man with stringy hair, who would walk up behind people and scare them as they were walking down the street, we finally made it into the tower to climb a total of 500+ stairs to the very top. Holy crap, this was a work out! I am in the worst shape of my life and it really caught up with me today. If I didn’t lose at least a couple of pounds from that climb, then I’ll be sad because it was a hell of a lot of stairs, in a tight circular spiral staircase that went straight up for what seemed like forever. My legs are going to be sore tomorrow. The view from the top is incredible. Once you get up to it, there is a small walkway around the perimeter of the tower and all around the perimeter are cool gargoyles with personality. There is even one who is eating a small creature, and another one with buckteeth. Too cool and worth the climb. Getting back down was easier but does a number on your knees (at least it did on mine), and once we were at ground level, Stanley found us a bench to sit on and then went to find me some water. I think I overheated and dehydrated a little because I felt sick once we were back down and the water helped a lot. Note to self… GET IN SHAPE!!! Speaking of getting in shape, I have to tell you this story. So, I've gained a lot of weight in the last year and I hold all my weight in my belly area. Well, a few weeks ago I was at a family party and my uncle congratulated me on being pregnant. Um, I am not pregnant, but I guess I look that way because yesterday at the Eiffel Tower, a lady next to me in line asked me when we were expecting our baby, and today at the top of Notre Dame, another lady told me that my baby is going to be the strongest ever after having climbed all those stairs! That's three times in the last month that people have assumed I'm pregnant. I guess that's better than having them come up to me and say "Wow - you're so fat! When are you expecting to shed some of those extra pounds?" Really though, that's essentially what they're saying to the non-pregnant lady. How's that for motivation to lose weight???













After our rest, we walked over to Saint Chapelle, a medieval church that Louis IX (who later became Saint Louis) had built for the relics he bought from the Byzantine Emperor (the crown of thorns that Jesus wore and various other artifacts). This church was pretty plain in comparison to others I’ve seen except for the stained glass windows, which were gorgeous and made up the whole second floor walls of this church.






From there, we walked through a very cool neighborhood on our way to the Pantheon (Paris’ version of the actual Pantheon in Rome and modeled on it in fact, built by Louis XV to honor the patron saint of Paris). On our way, we stopped and ate the most expensive crepe sandwich totally not worth the money, and when we got to the Pantheon, it had just closed, so we’ll have to come back. We did buy the Paris Museum Pass today though, so we’ll be able to get in ahead of the lines when we come back. Nice!!






By this time we thought it would be good to head back to the hotel to rest, so we opted to walk back rather than take the metro. One nice thing about the metro is that it gets you where you want to be, quickly and cheaply, but the bad thing about the metro is it is all underground so you don’t get to see the sights and streets along your way. Walking is nice because you can see the different neighborhoods and enjoy the streets of Paris. Along our way we found a market and bought a couple bottles of wine, some breads and cheeses, some crackers and some bottled waters. We have a small fridge in the room that we can keep snacks in, very nice!

Tomorrow is Monday and most of the museums are closed tomorrow. The Louvre is closed on Tuesday though, so our plan is to visit the Louvre tomorrow and then see whatever else sounds good after that. We didn’t make it to the Red Light District today, so perhaps that will be an afternoon event tomorrow as well, we’ll see. They have these “Hop On, Hop Off” busses here in Paris that are double decker with open tops that drive you around to EVERY major site in Paris and I think it would be fun to buy a pass to that and just ride it around to see everything along the way. I want to research it, but if it goes to the Red Light District past Moulin Rouge and to Sacred Heart Cathedral, it would totally be worth it because I’ve heard that neighborhood is not the best to be traveling around in. Maybe that will be on the itinerary as well. ~Michele

Stanley here…

One of the ways in which the US and Old Europe differ so vastly is in the level of responsibility expected of individuals. The US is littered with ‘caution’ signs, ramps, elevators and barriers. Europeans (not just the French) have a much more laid back attitude toward their monuments, ruins and also safety in general. Perhaps this is because there are strict limits on the amount of damages collectible from tort and personal injury lawsuits; also the government is immune from almost all lawsuits. I have read that many types of lawsuits that have become common in the USA (hot coffee in the lap from McDonalds, smoking liability -duh-, etc.) are routinely thrown out of European courts with out a trial. The resulting atmosphere is refreshingly honest and reality based. For instance, I didn’t read one sign warning of possible heart attacks, deadly 228 foot falls (yes Nortre Dame is that tall at the towers), dangerous pigeons, the possibility of falling into the River Seine (there are no safely walls down on the quay). The climb up Notre Dame was exhilarating mostly due to the fact that we were climbing up a steep, spiral stone Medieval staircase- no elevators! The only real warning signs I’ve seen this trip was advising parents to keep their children out of closing doors on the Metro- ‘Pincers Grandes’ Indeed! Gotta go to the top of Notre Dame if you can.

Sainte-Chappelle was magnificent. See Michele’s bit for that.

Michele indulged one of my (many) eccentricities today by visiting Shakespeare & Co. bookstore (just across from Notre Dame). It was a favorite hangout of Hemingway, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others back in the day. I looked through the ‘antiquarian’ part and found nothing I could afford (1st edition Hemingway books were 75-450 Euros). Over in the part of the store for mortals and schoolteachers I found a cool old English Dictionary and an excellent “Traveler’s History of France” Too Cool. Best bookstore I’ve ever been in.

We also visited a medieval church in the Latin Quarter called St. Severin, it’s not in the guidebooks but pretty interesting nonetheless. This is a functioning church. While we were there we watched a young child being baptized. The family was so happy and the priest was very animated in his service, blessing and prayers. A touching scene.

After that was got lost twice wandering up the hill to the Pantheon, arriving just as it closed and didn’t let us in. No worries, no rush, maybe we’ll get to it later.

We walked back to the hotel. A nice day in Paris.

Food Report
Steak-Frittes at a Cafe for dinner last night-
Tres Bom! I could do that again, and again

Wine- Les Petites Recoltes Vin de Pays da la Cite de Carcassomme
(1 bottle = 3 Euros at a local shop) Excellent sweetish young table wine only available in France. That’s the only bad thing about it.

Brunch at a Café – eggs, sausages, bacon & hash browns-
Frenchified, soooo good. Can you make hash browns seem fancy? The French can.

Lemon Gelato from a stall-type place on a pedestrian street
Michele said it wasn’t as good as in Italy. (I’m sure that is because as cool as Paris is, Paris is not in Italy)

Crepes at a Café for an early dinner this afternoon-
Good but slightly overpriced, they’re just as good from the carts and stall venders (probably fresher as well)

Brie* (best Brie ever) is only 2 Euros here (What the crap US import taxes???)
*Brie is cheese

~SEA