notre dame and the louvre

we started out our first full day in paris with a trip to notre dame. this church is AMAZING. considering it was built more than 600 years ago, its height and intricate designs are even more impressive.

we climbed a very loooong 400 steps to get to the top, up a twisty narrow staircase. i was a bit winded on the way up but didn't freak out till it was time to go back down...for those of you who don't know, i have a strange fear of going down stairs. but anyway, back up -- at the top we got an amazing view (natch):

along with cool views of all the gargoyles, which i LOVE. i know they are there to scare off evil spirits or something but i thought they were super cute. here's our favorite little guy:

we got to see 400-year old bells:

and climb inside bell towers. this is me crawling inside the mini door...but the photo strikes me now as more of a quasimodo impression:

and if you think all that is cool, just imagine the inside. the cathedral was HUGE. i loved all the side chapels and the high ceilings and the stained glass.

after sufficiently exploring notre dame, we visited an archaeological museum just next door and i ate my first parisian crepe. one jambon and fromage for lunch, with a nutella one for dessert. YUM. literally dripping with butter.

we saw sacre couer, the conciergerie prison where marie antoinette was imprisoned with others during the french revolution, one of the only surviving original parisian subway stations from 1900 and walked along the river banks checking out the street vendors. it was a beautiful sunny paris afternoon.

and then we ended up at the louvre!

i won't lie, we were pretty burned out on museums by this point, and i've never been incredibly into art museums. we didn't spring for the audio tour, which i think would have been helpful seeing as how i did take art history in college and i do enjoy studying paintings and sculptures, but we were tired. basically we checked out the denon wing, focused on the big ticket items, and then headed home for a nap.

please note all the asian photo-takers in the picture above. this little lady is popular! and smaller than expected, though i'd heard she's somewhat anticlimactic. i did also think about the da vinci code the majority of our time in the museum.

brandon got sick while we were in paris, and in typical male fashion he acted like the world was crashing down because he had a sore throat. i tried to be sympathetic but COME ON we were in paris. i did allow him a brief nap after the louvre, but we headed out again.

we had a romantic dinner in a lovely fancy restaurant overlooking a quiet street and i got to order authentic french onion soup. we watched the sun go down over a delicious meal and shared creme brulee for dessert. and then we walked over to the river and boarded a night cruise on the seine.

this was another of my favorite paris moments. we sat out on the boat deck and floated through the city, seeing all of the monuments by moonlight. the eiffel tower did its hourly sparkle, we bundled up together since it was cold and listened to our audio narration of the city, and sailed under famous bridges and next to museums and churches and apartments. we saw couples kissing on riverside benches, groups having picnics on the walls, and a creepy little man crawl into a dark cave. it was fantastic.

do you believe me yet that paris is amazing?