Tuesday, March 3, 2009

I Love Paris in the Winter...

Apparently, there are still a few of you out there reading my blog. (Or waiting for a post, more like.) So, I guess I will post about Paris. If you twist my arm hard enough.

Hubby and I finally made it to Paris last week! It wasn't the warm summer trip that we'd planned. Honestly, I'm totally OK with that, considering the lines were long enough in February. I don't even want to imagine what it would be like during the busier season.


I could try to squeeze it all in one post, but that would be super long and boring. So, I'll do several, dividing it up according to prettiness. Cause that's what I'm all about. Here goes.

The first thing we saw was Notre Dame.








Pictures just don't do it justice, though our new camera comes pretty close!

We climbed up the towers and was eye-level with this guy.
We were a little bummed not to run into Quasimodo. But we did run in to Albert Einstein.




Our favorite church we saw was Sainte Chappelle.

It's just breathtaking.



It was built for the Crown of Thorns that King Louis IX bought in 1239. The Crown of Thorns is now held at Notre Dame and only displayed occasionally.

Right next to Sainte Chappelle is the Conciergerie- the prison where they held people during the Revolution, including Marie Antoinette. They've set up a room to look like her's. Uber-creepy. The whole thing just gives me the heeby-jeebies.


We toured the Eiffel Tower at twilight. (Nothing to do with Edward and Bella, they went to Italy, not France.)

We were only able to go to the second level. That's all that was open. We felt really high up, though. I can't imagine what the top feels like, being more than twice the height of where we were.



When we got down and took more pictures, the lights went off and started sparkling. Talk about mezmorizing!!! We couldn't take our eyes off of it. It's just so amazing.


We also went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. (You can climb just about any monument in Paris, it seems.)

We got an unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower. And other stuff. We actually walked by this monument everyday as our hotel was just down the street. Cool, huh?

Napoleon's tomb is housed here. Built in 1840, not by himself. Who woulda thunk it? I think King Louis Phillipe had a little man-crush on Napoleon.




We also took a river cruise that made us freeze, but was totally worth it. (We just popped over to a close cafe and had quiche and omelettes to warm us up! For dinner!)






We went to Sacre-Coeur, another church you can climb to the top of. But by the time we visited the church, I was all climbed out.



Oh, yeah and Moulin Rouge. Totally over-rated. I blame the movie.



So, I think that's enough stimulation for one day. I'll post more tomorrow.

7 comments:

Michelle said...

Yup I'm one of those still reading your blog and so glad you posted about your trip! The pictures so far look wonderful. Makes me want to hop on a plane and go to Paris. Can't wait for more!

Michelle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chanda said...

Wow - you're a great tour guide. ;) So fun. Have you read "Pillars of the Earth"? I can't look at an old cathedral without thinking of it. I would love to see some of that in person.

You pic with Albert - LOL. Your expression says it all. Can't wait to see the rest.

Rochelleht said...

I was totally going to say what Chanda said. I totally thought of Pillars of the Earth when I saw the cathedral. SUCH a good book.

I love all the pictures. So beautiful!!! Can't wait to see more.

Casey said...

Awesome! I love this post and can't wait to see and read more. I'm so glad y'all had such a great time! Beautiful pictures!

Liz said...

I still read your blog as well. OOOOOHHH i miss Paris. Sooo pretty!

katri said...

Wow! Really beautiful.

I especially like your commentary! :) {man-crush on Nap. ha ha ha!)