France Trip Day 11: Paris

Our day in Paris was planned to be an easy one. We did not plan on touring anything. I said, "Let's just take a double-decker bus tour so that we can see the big sights, but just relax, too."

We took a train from the hotel north of the city straight to Notre Dame Cathedral. Beforehand, I thought, "OK, we don't need to go into Notre Dame. The line will be long and we've seen plenty of other cathedrals here in Europe."

When we exited the train station and Notre Dame came immediately into view, it still took my breath away. We may have seen other cathedrals, but Notre Dame is immense and just seems to stand above all other churches.

You could spend quite a bit of time studying the front doors of Notre Dame, but we had hungry children to feed.

It was Nutella crêpes for breakfast at the playground behind Notre Dame.

James and me behind Notre Dame. David, Micaela and James visited Paris in April 2008 and I wrote about their day in this blog, including a little on the history of the Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.

Em on a spinning disc

James and Emilie trying to figure out what they were supposed to do with this thing

Point Zéro in the courtyard in front of Notre Dame. This is the place from where distances to Paris are measured. So when a sign on the highway says "Paris 324 km," it means 324 kilometers to this exact spot.

By this time, the lines to tour the Cathedral and its Museum crossed the courtyard and wound around the church. We just smiled and said, "Lines we don't have to stand in! Hooray!"

We caught the bus right at Notre Dame and settled in for a 2-1/2 hour tour. Les Invalides is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans. Napoleon Bonaparte is buried here.

View of the Seine

The Louvre, home of the Mona Lisa, among many other masterpieces.

We could see the bum of Rodin's The Thinker from the upper deck of the bus.

The center of the Place de la Concorde is occupied by a giant 3,300 year old Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramses II, often believed to have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

The Place de la Concorde is most famously known as the location of the guillotine during the French Revolution.

Underneath the Arc de Triomphe is the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I.

L'Opéra. At this point I turned to tell the kids, "This is where the Phantom of the Opera lived, guys!" and they were all half asleep, or in Emilie's case, completely asleep.

Detail from the front of the opera house

Bridge over the Seine

Demonstration in support of the Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka

The Eiffel Tower seems to be just like how you see it in movies and pictures. Then, you find yourself right beside and you can't help but be struck by how truly massive the structure actually is.

Beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower as we exited the tour bus.

A large, happy crowd was gathered at the Eiffel Tower. We were immediately accosted by people selling cheap Eiffel Tower keychains and scarves.

David's favorite way to take a picture at the tower.

Ice cream break



Another view of the river

We ended our day back in front of Notre Dame. Here is the portal of the Last Judgement.

The weighing of the souls in the center of the door, is a rather terrifying image.

The gargoyles 2/3 of the way up the cathedral, looking like they would love to spit on the crowd below.

The west rose window, unlike several of the other rose windows of the cathedral, only contains a little of the original 13th century glass.

Typical French café

Emilie's souvenir of choice.

One thing we couldn't help but notice during our visit to Paris was how many Americans there were. They were everywhere! James remarked at one point, "Mom, it's true. Americans really do talk loudly. They seem to be shouting all the time."