Day two in Paris was a whirlwind of activity. We knew the lines at the Louvre museum were going to be very long, so we headed there straight away in the morning. Turns out that having the stroller plus the Paris Museum pass was, again, a perfect line-skipping formula. We arrived and were immediately ushered (by a Louvre employee- at first I thought we were getting in trouble or scammed because she grabbed us so quickly and insisted that we follower her) to a special entrance with a special elevator meant for handicapped people and, you guessed it, strollers. Because of its enormity, it is practically impossible to see everything in the Louvre in one day, so we toured the Sully, Denon & Richelieu wings. Presented in these wings were Greek & Roman sculptures and artifacts and loads of paintings. Of course, the Mona Lisa is the most famous painting, but I have to admit, rather unimpressive. Its 30in x 20 in frame sits on a wall across from a 20ft by 40 ft GIANT, impressive painting…You enter the room and think, “WHOOAH…that’s a huge, amazing painting. Where’s the Mona Lisa?? It has got to be equally impressive!” You turn you head to the right, spot something minuscule in the distance, squint and think, “Is that is? Really??” Yes, really. Why they chose to stage the famous painting across from the other giant one is something I cannot fathom… Anyway, we had a lovely time perusing the artifacts and paintings, but we were all ready to move on by lunch. Eating near the Louvre is sure to be a tourist rip-off, so we ventured toward Notre Dame (our next stop) and found a nice little eatery. It was delicious and fairly cheap!
Before moving onto Notre Dame, we stopped at a little chapel called Sainte Chapelle. It was built between 1243-1248 (extremely quick construction for a building during those days), under Louis IX, and is considered a masterpiece of Gothic Rayonnant style. It is a fairly small chapel, but three sides of the chapel are made of basically a continuous wall of 50-foot high stained glass telling the salvation story of the Bible. Sainte Chapelle was built to hold the relict, Christ’s crown of thorns. Next was Notre Dame, one of the most famous gothic cathedrals in the world (remember Quasi-Modo from the “Hunchback of Notre Dame”? Same cathedral). Notre Dame was very impressive and amazing- great flying buttresses! While Bethany, Kacey, and Ben climbed up to the Notre Dame tower, I took a free English tour of the cathedral with a sleeping Isaiah. During the tour, we got to see the crown of thorns, which is encased in red crystal…very interesting.
We then meandered over to Isle St. Louis for a bit of gelato and window shopping while we tried to figure out how to get to Sacre Coeur Cathedral (Sacred Heart). After a few metro rides and hike to the top of the highest point in Paris, we found ourselves in front of a beautiful Arabian-esk Cathedral over-looking the entire city of Paris. It was beautiful! We were able to listen to part of a mass there as well, which added to its appeal. After our jam-packed day of sightseeing, we headed back near our hotel for dinner and a second try at climbing the Eiffel Tower...the lines were, unfortunately, still super long, so (after Bethany convinced Kacey that it wasn’t a good idea to take the stairs) we headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep before the trip to Versailles the next day.
Sweet Gargoyle.
Flying buttresses on Notre Dame.
Ben entering the Bell Tower...Really, really small doors...maybe the Hunchback of Notre Dame is true..
Beautiful view of Paris from the tower of Notre Dame.
Outside Notre Dame with a sleeping Isaiah.
Sainte Chapelle- Beautiful!
Bethany and Kacey on Pont Neuf (Paris' oldest bridge, I believe). Also the place where a scene from the Bourne Identity movie was filmed. I'm pretty sure Matt Damon was scouting the scene from atop the building in the background.
Isaiah reaching for a water bottle- watch out!
The Mona Lisa.
The giant painting across from the Mona Lisa.
One of my favorites in the museum. Commemorating a Greek naval battle.
Inside the amazing pyramid Louvre entrance...Kacey thinking "hehe, way to go Isaiah! You got us special access again!"
Play time before heading out for the day.
Isaiah started to want to touch everything in Paris- here he is toughing the walls of Sainte Chapelle
Crazy police buses...there to watch over the small demonstration pictured below- this was directly across from the entrance to Sainte Chapelle, so we got to listen to their chants for our 45 minute wait in line.
Paris parking...Really, are you serious?!?!
Sacre Coeur Cathedral
Looking up at Sacre Coeur...before climbing thousands of stairs to get there.
Dinner on night two...Bethany scored big with a both choice of baked duck.
