Day 3 - Full day in Paris

Five of us were anxious to get into the city bright and early, so we met up at 7:30 and took the subway instead of waiting to take the coach bus with the rest of the tour group. The train system was slightly challenging - we did fine until we had to switch trains, but then we had trouble finding the next train. Thankfully Daryl knew some French and was able to ask. We figured it out and got on the right track (literally) pretty quickly. I guess you could say it was our first adventure being "lost" in a country where we didn't really know the language - and certainly wouldn't be our last.

We got off the subway very close to our first stop of the day, the Notre Dame Cathedral. The Cathedral was beautiful - it's probably one of the largest I've seen and definitely the most impressive.

I was there!

The details on the cathedral were amazing.

It is hard to see the gargoyles from the ground without zooming in with a camera

The Notre Dame Cathedral

After taking many pictures of the exterior, we moved inside. The cathedral was huge, with many impressive stained glass windows and a big area for worship. We took a walk through it and explored all the different sections. There was some kind of small ceremony that started while we were there, but there were very few worshippers and very basic music.

Inside the Notre Dame - it is so big!

I was really impressed with all the stained glass windows

From this angle, you can kind of tell how high the ceilings were 

View of the back of the cathedral from inside

After exploring the interior, we walked back outside and around the cathedral. It is just such a neat place with so many details to look at. It took us a while to stroll around the whole thing  - we were trying to find the place where you access the stairs to climb to the top. 

More Notre Dame, from a different angle

Notre Dame from the side

I think this was the back of the Notre Dame - either that or right behind it, I can't recall

One of several "lock" bridges - lovers put a lock on the bridge and throw the key into the Seine to signify their love. I don' think this was "the" true lock bridge, but people use it anyway.

Another view of Notre Dame

Finally, we decided we had had enough of the Notre Dame and we were ready to move on for the day. We didn't end up climbing to the top, but I don't feel like I missed out on anything since we spent a good amount of time exploring and there was so much else to see in Paris.

Next we headed to the Louvre, which was probably no more than a mile down the road. I recall walking past many beautiful buildings and being struck with how amazing the architecture is in Paris. Every building is so unique and it's obvious that someone put a lot of thought and work into creating each. Nothing like in the US, where it seems houses and buildings are slapped up as quickly and cheaply as possible with little thought to details. I suppose in major cities there is more pride in architecture and building something beautiful, but I have never been anywhere that even began to compare to Paris.

The Louve is breathtaking in its own right. It was originally built as a palace, but King Louis XIV decided it was not large enough for him to live in, so he moved to the Palace of Versailles and left the Louvre for other purposes, including the grand museum that it is today. The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, and it's not surprising. Have you ever seen another museum that looks like this?

The Louvre

I was really there!

The building was just massive. We went inside intending to see the Mona Lisa and to explore a bit, but there was no possible way we could see everything. I think you'd need days to get through the whole museum.

The inside of the pyramid from the ticketing area of the Louvre

I think the five of us all agreed - we are not art scholars or enthusiasts. We all thought it was neat to check out the Louvre, but none of us really knew where to start or what we were looking for most of the time. It was kind of overwhelming with so many different galleries and such a large area. 

Honestly, I was more struck with the building itself than the paintings and sculptures housed within it. At every turn, there were beautiful hallways, art painted into the ceilings, and just very elaborate details within the architecture. The entire museum could have been empty and I would have been just as delighted to be there. It made me wonder if maybe architecture is something I should learn more about - I found myself just so excited about it.

One of the hallways inside the Louvre

We spent a couple of hours exploring - we saw the Mona Lisa and wandered a bit to see some other things. It was a really neat place, but crowded. Danielle and Phil are fast walkers and Kris and I are more the types to stroll and chat and take our time - Daryl kind of went back and forth between the two pairs. There were many times when I thought Kris and I were lost, but thankfully our friends waited for us to catch up. It was so crowded that it was easy to almost lose them! 

I knew this from an exhibit I went to in Des Moines - the Mona Lisa is small and not very impressive. But there was a huge crowd surrounding her and I had a hard time taking a decent picture.

This was part of the original building - I think it was a fortress. The guys are actually inside of a cell (or what we assumed was a cell). They are not very big at all, Kris is probably about 6'1 and couldn't stand up straight 

My overall conclusion on the Louvre: it's not a place I'd spend all day on my one day in the city, but I would actually like to go back - after studying history a bit more and mapping out exactly what I'd want to see. If I was spending several days in Paris, it seems like a place you could really lose yourself in. Art history is not my passion but I can appreciate how much of it was in this museum. The Louvre was definitely worth visiting for the building alone.

The group, minus Daryl (I think he was taking the picture, unfortunately)

I think it was about mid-day by the time we were done with the Louvre, so we grabbed baguettes (mine was cheese and tomato - yum!) and kept moving. We took a train to the Arc de Triomphe, which is a famous monument that was created to honor those who fought and died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. It's a giant monument and it's stunning. We had taken a drive by it during our tour the night before, and seen it lit up at night from the top of the Eiffel Tower, but you really had to see it up close to get the full effect. Again, there is so much detail put into every part of it.

It's in kind of a weird place - it's in the middle of a circle of traffic. There are no lines on the roads there, so cars are haphazardly driving around the Arc. According to Sarah, insurance does not cover accidents that happen in that circle. It's a crazy place! Thankfully there is a safe passage to the Arc by going underground. If not for that, I think you'd get run over.

I am 5'9 and look tiny in comparison to the Arc de Triomphe

After fully exploring the Arc, we were ready to move on. The Arc is right near the Avenue de Champs-Elysees, which is a world famous street with many stores, cafes, and places with food. It's the home of several flagship stores for major design labels. Even the McDonalds on this street was fancy.

The golden arches are so fancy, they are white gold.

This was a neat street to walk down. We did walk into a few stores (and I thought we were going to get kicked out of Louis Vuitton for trying to take a picture of the 80,000 euro watch) but mostly just walked down the street and took it all in. We did make one stop to get macaroons - one of the things I really wanted to do while I was in Paris. Honestly, I don't think I had ever had a macaroon before but when in Paris I wanted to try all the Parisian specialties.

They were AMAZING. I'm sure macaroons in Paris are better than anything I'd find in the US, but I would love to eat them again. They were the right balance of flaky cookie (I'm guessing the French would scoff at the word cookie being used here) and cream filling. It was like the best oreo cookie you'd ever eat (again, the French are probably dying at my description). Pictures can probably describe better:

There was a fairly long line to get to the beautiful sweets on display

So many flavors to choose from! And two sizes, too. It was really hard to decide.

I chose raspberry and vanilla - both good choices but vanilla just melted in your mouth.

The macaroon shop - I highly recommend a stop here!

Phil, Daryl, Danielle, and Kris enjoying their macaroons

After the Avenue de Champs-Elysees, it was getting late in the day. We headed up to another area just to check it out - we walked through a beautiful square (and almost got run over multiple times) and saw a some other really neat structures. I could not tell you much about them, since we were just kind of wandering at this point, but I was again struck with what an amazing city Paris really is. Everywhere you go is just gorgeous.

Last picture of me in my favorite city

Finally, we ended up in the spot where the coach bus was picking us up to bring us back to our hotel. I remember barely being able to walk by that point - my pedometer said we talked over 20,000 steps by this point in Paris. 

The coach brought us back to the hotel to change, then it was time for a night out. We went to a French restaurant and cabaret show. The restaurant was cute and the food was mostly good - we had a delicious french onion soup as a starter, and I had beef as my main course. Most people ordered the duck and were very pleased with it. I thought my beef was ok - it was kind of salty. The meal was followed up with a piece of brie and some kind of dessert that I don't recall.

And the wine - there was a lot of wine. It was red, and it was delicious, and I had way too much of it. I was kind of uncomfortable through much of dinner - I was technically sitting next to Danielle, but she was at the next table (only a few feet to my right) and it was hard to hear her because of it. So I was sitting with a bunch of guys who I hadn't really gotten to know yet and who weren't being overly friendly. I came to find out through the week that the person I was sitting directly across was the exact type of guy I don't like - thinks he's hot and hilarious and wants to make sure everyone notices it. He could be nice at times but it was pretty obvious we weren't going to hit it off. Anyway, I found myself bored and in typical Jill style, if I feel out of place I start knocking back drinks. Then I feel better. Ha.

So long story short, I had too much wine. As dinner wore on, I did talk more with Danielle and Phil and it was very nice. But there was so much wine on the table and I kept drinking it. We couldn't let it go to waste!

By the time we left dinner and walked to the cabaret, I was pretty drunk. Unfortunately, that means I don't have much to say about the cabaret. It is a blur. I think it was fun from what I saw. I don't think it was worth 80 euros, but I've paid much less than that to see excellent theatre on Broadway so I may have high standards.

After the cabaret, we headed over to a fun bar  - I think it was called O'Sullivans (not very French) that was playing a lot of dance music. I had stopped drinking at dinner, so by the time we got to the bar I was less drunk and had a lot of fun dancing. It was our first big night "out" and I think everyone had a lot of fun. Despite being kind of annoyed that I had overdone it at dinner, it was a good night and it was a great way to cap off an even more amazing day in Paris.