Paris: Night 3

My original plan for Friday evening was that after attending the veneration of the Crown of Thorns, we would do the Louvre, since it was open late and would be the least crowded. However, since we had actually done a lot more walking and sightseeing in the morning than I had planned on, we thought the Louvre might be a bit much for us! Instead, since it was a gorgeous day, we decided that we would do the Seine river cruise that night. There are a lot of different river cruises, but I'd heard good things about the Bateaux Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf, and I had an internet coupon for a discount, so we went with them. We were really lucky, because the timing was just perfect! We had just the right amount of sunlight for most of the trip so that we were able to snap great pictures, and then we got to see the sunset for the return part of the trip. It was a gorgeous ride! Rebecca really loved being on the boat and seeing all the sights (she especially liked pointing out the Eiffel Tower again).

We went by the Louvre...

...past the Pantheon...

under the bridge at Pont Alexandre III...

...then we got fabulous views of the Eiffel Tower. (I'm sparing you all. I took no less than 40 shots of the Eiffel Tower from the river. This doesn't count all of the ones I took when we were actually AT the Eiffel Tower. )

Then we turned and cruised back down the river again, passing Place de la Concorde (where they guillotined many people, including Marie Antoinette, and a river of blood ran into the Seine, staining the river red). We passed under a lot of bridges, almost all of which were ornately decorated or adorned with statues that I found interesting or amusing.

Our cruise took us past the Musee d'Orsay....

then past the Hotel de Ville...

...right beside Notre Dame...

By this time, it was becoming bad light for taking photos, so I just enjoyed the ride past the Rodin Museum and some of the cool architecture of modern Paris. It was a great ride that helped us acquaint ourselves better with how the city is laid out. When we headed back to Pone Neuf, the sun was really setting and the view of the river was so beautiful.

After the cruise, we set off in search of dinner. We ended up in the Latin Quarter, in St. Michel's Square.

There are hundreds of options for dinner in this area, and they were all quite crowded on a Friday night! It was very lively, with music and street performers everywhere, and just a really fun atmosphere. We ate at an outdoor restaurant (as always - I think we only ate inside for one meal our whole time in Paris), and we were seated quite near the tables to our left and right. On one side of us was a table of two ladies who were chatting. Each of us noticed them looking at Rebecca, but we didn't think too much of it. I mean, really, who wouldn't look at this cute thing?

Then we noticed the ladies surreptitiously taking pictures of Rebecca. After watching them for a few minutes, I saw that they were sketching the outfit she was wearing, which is a Wanda Preston original.

Apparently they realized we were on to them, because then, they asked if they could take a picture of her dress and told us they were designers! They made a sketch of the design of the dress and closeups of the fabric. You can't tell from these pics, but it is a toile with Eiffel Towers in aqua on a lime green background, and it has her monogram in the middle. So if you see this outfit on the fashion runways, you'll know it came from Rebecca's inspiration!

We wandered and sauntered and ended up finding dessert (surprising!). I had the best Nutella crepe ever! Of course, my mom had another apple tart (she had at least one every day in Paris). I think Rebecca probably had more ice cream. We were exhausted! The thought of taking the metro and having to change was met with groans, and I thought that we should try out the bus system. Fortunately, there was a bus that took us directly from the Latin Quarter to our stop at Saint Paul, without any changes or need to go up and down the stairs of the metro stations! I personally thought the bus was better because you could see more, it wasn't so loud (Rebecca abhorred the sound of the metros), and you didn't need to go up and down the stairs of the metro stations carrying either a 3-year old or her stroller! We all fell asleep as soon as we got in that night!

Paris: Day 3

We allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping in a bit on Friday morning. While it is a bit against my nature as a traveler (my travel philosophy is to go until you are completely dead and rest when you get home), Parisians actually live the way I'd like to: they are late risers and stay out late at night. Nothing starts before 10, and many of the shops don't open until 11. We had breakfast at a little cafe not far from our apartment, and then we made our way back to the Ile de la Cite. One of the things I most wanted to do was to experience the Parisian street markets, so we hit up the Marché de la Fleurs first thing. It was lovely! So many beautiful plants, bouquets of flowers, and lots of cute little shops. I had read that there were shops there with reasonable prices on Provencal table linens, and surely enough, we found it. My mom and I were in heaven! Our biggest difficulty was in deciding on what to buy for ourselves.


























We strolled around on the Ile de la Cite and then made our way across this cute little bridge to the Ile de St. Louis, which is just the most charming place in all of Paris, in my mind. Ile de St. Louis is also the home to the famous Berthillon ice cream, which holds the fame of being the best ice cream in France. Now, how could we pass that up?



















































There were so many cute little shops. One of the things that we had talked about with Rebecca was in finding a special doll while we were in Paris. The Ile de St. Louis was the perfect place to make good on that promise, and we found the perfect doll there.





We didn't have quite enough time to shop as much as we wanted on the island, so we promised ourselves we'd come back before we left Paris. We had just enough time to grab a bite for lunch before heading back to Notre Dame. We ended up eating lunch in a cute little brasserie, and we enjoyed some great food. We were pleased to see that the restaurant had a toilette, until Ramy went in and then came back to tell us that the "toilette" was a mere hole in the ground! Later, we learned that on that island, that isn't at all uncommon!

We walked back to the Ile de la Cite to Notre Dame to get in line...

Notre Dame cathedral is now the home of the relics of the alleged Crown of Thorns (although Sainte Chapelle was actually built to hold it). They are brought out for veneration on the first Friday of the month. It just so happened that we were in Paris for the September veneration. Although the relic has been in the Church's hands for about 1300 years now, of course, there was quite a bit of time after the crucifixion before it was purchased by one of the Louis'. The church officially states that the crown has not been able to be authenticated. Nonetheless, like all relics, they are worthy of veneration, because they are a prototype of the actual holy object, wherever it may be. It was a pretty cool service to be a part of.

The crown itself is encased in glass, and at the end of the service, we all had the opportunity to file past and venerate it in person. (By the way, because I had a little Facebook argument last week, venerate doesn't mean that Catholics are worshipping an object, as in worshipping a false idol. It means paying respect to an object that points one in the direction of Christ. I love a good Facebook theological debate). It gave all of us a bit of chills! Ramy and I've been lucky to be able to attend mass at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and now Notre Dame.

After the mass, we took the opportunity to tour the inside of the cathedral. I have a great love of cathedrals and adored Notre Dame, inside and out.

I lit two candles at the chapel of St. Joseph, in memory of Ramy's and my fathers.

Back outside in daylight, we met up with Ramy. He hadn't taken as long to tour as we had and was biding his time by people-, dog-, and bird-watching. There are plenty of all of those in Notre Dame square!

We all took another opportunity to get a closer look at the outside of the cathedral and to notice all the zillions of details.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Notre Dame are its many gargoyles. Actually, it has gargoyles, chimeras, ghouls, and some other things. They're captivating! I couldn't stop looking at them and snapping pics.

Finally, we tore ourselves away from the gorgeous cathedral and set off for our evening adventure.