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.