Cramming Paris

The next morning we got up, grabbed the train in and went straight to the Musée d'Orsay, which ended up being closed again. Thanks, Parisians.

So we went to the Louvre instead, and took a quick look around. We saw Mona Lisa (tiny) and the Marriage at Cana (huge. opposite the Mona Lisa, dwarfing it ridiculously) and a bunch of other famous stuff (like the Code of Hammurabi, the first written laws). Here are some pictures:

Not sure what it is about this painting but it's one of my favorites

Someone religious

Woah, dude. Statues!

Conforming to American Boorish Tourists stereotypes, one imitated statue at a time

Sun!

When we saw it was getting nice out we left for the Île de la Cité, the center of Paris. We followed Rick Steves' guided tour of the island, and it was perfect. We started at Notre Dame, which somehow managed to make me slightly less cynical about churches for a little bit. Pretty much breathtaking. We walked around the outside as Rick narrated, pointing out various architectural bits and giving a history of the island itself.

There's a gargoyle up there on its elbows, looking out. 

So pretty

Huge Amazing Rose Window

We walked all the way around, admiring the flying buttresses and gargoyles, and then headed south to the Rive Gauche and the Latin Quarter. Here we were guided to Shakespeare and Co., an old independent bookstore, a small but beautiful park and multiple more churches. We also saw the Place Saint-Michele, with a cool fountain and an art-nouveau Métro entrance (I'm not really giving the latin quarter the time it deserves, but I really want to finish this blog. SORRY). We made our way back on to the island and headed for Sainte-Chapelle, Louis IX's private storeroom for all his Jesus stuff (and with an enormous amount of stained glass). Sun streams in to the room constantly, and the stained glass itself was incredible. The amount of detail that is included in each and every panel was mindblowing. The most amazing part about all of it is that the whole building was finished in around five years, which was completely unheard of at the time. This kind of thing gets Rick Steves really excited, and he went on and on about the architectural harmony of the church/glorified storage space. Here are some pictures:

(One of these was taken by my phone. which one is it?)

After basking in the glow of stained glass light, we made our way down the street to the Conciergerie, an old prison where tons of famous dead people were held before they were dead. These people include Marie Antoinette, Maximilien Robespierre and a bunch of the aristocrats he had killed during the French Revolution. Definitely a break from the norm, there was no religious imagery to be seen and it had a much different feel than the churches and museums I had been spending time in throughout Europe.

Stained glass in Marie Antoinette's former holding cell

We left the Conciergerie, walked through Place Dauphine (constructed by Henry IV and representing his larger body of work in planning the city of Paris) and to the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. We took a quick break here and then headed over to the Champ de Mars, where we relaxed for quite a bit more before heading up the Tour Eiffel. Because it is cheaper, Deanna and I climbed the stairs to the second of three observation decks on the tower. Both of these had pretty fantastic views. I waffled a bit on if I wanted to go up to the very top of the tower, but Deanna convinced me I should. She stayed behind (she had already been up and didn't feel like paying another five euro) so I bought my ticket and hopped in line. While the very top is boxed in (more confined than the second observation deck, which is pretty much wide open) the view was still fantastic. I could see for miles all around, beyond the limits of Paris and maybe even all the way to Versailles.

10 Euro Champagne? Who would buy that?

Oh.

After I took it all in, I headed back down the tower and met up with Deanna. We headed to the RER to get some more sleep after the last two very full days, planning on Versailles and (hopefully!) the Musée d'Orsay.