Tuesday 6/26/2012

Tuesday morning we got an early start so we could get to Notre Dame early to avoid waiting in a long line. We jumped on the metro and made our way there.

 

 


As you can see everyone was bright eyed and bushy tailed..

On our way to Notre Dome we stopped to get some croissants... I mean you can't really pass those bad boys up. They taste like heaven. Seriously Justin was not joking about how many carbs the French eat, but it is understandable because everything is freshly baked and delicious.

Notre Dome was absolutely beautiful and we were able to get there early enough so that there was not a line.  It took us about an hour to walk through the entire downstairs and take everything in. Thankfully there were some descriptions in English or else we would be in the dark because we forgot all of our other touristy description books at the hotel.  While we were walking around inside there was a Mass service going on, unfortunately it was in French so we could not understand it, but it was still crazy to be there.

After exploring the inside we got in line to go on the roof... and by we I mean my dad. (He is seriously the best, he told us to go sit in the cafe across the street and have breakfast while he waited in line.. in the rain. THE. BEST. right??) So the four of us sat in the cafe and ate omelets, crepes and drank cafe leit. 

After we refueled we got back in line with my dad and headed up to the top of Notre Dome. All I have to say is... HOT DARN. There were so many stairs, it may sound like I am exaggerating, but our legs were shaking by the time we got back to the bottom.  The view from the top was breathtaking and I was amazed that towns people were able to build such a beautiful structure without tower cranes and what not. This building made all of us want to go back and watch the hunch back of Notre Dome. (Justin even attempted to be the hunch back. lawl.) Gargoyles were also all around the building, just like in the movie, although they did not come alive. shocking I know..

Spiral stairs alllll the way to the top. Running was not a good idea.

                                  

Making our way to the top!

The view from zee top of Notre Dame.

 

Hunch back of Notre Dame. 

                       

     

GARGOYLES!! 

In front of the Notre Dame is the spot that marks the center of Paris and so naturally we took this cliche picture. whateble.

After throughly exploring Notre Dame it was time for a snack! We walked down the street and found a crepe place where my dad ordered a cinnamon sugar crepe! He asked if they had buckwheat... but he didn't know how to say it in French, so it totes wasn't buckwheat.

  

nom nom nom.

After the snack we took the metro over to some suggested shopping areas... it was ridiculous to say the least. There were literally 9 floors of just women's clothing and accessories. Also their bathrooms were "luxury bathrooms" (lol wut). Basically you have to pay 1.5 euros or more, I am not quite sure what services more euros entail, but it was quite intimidating. Justin, Spence and I were just upset because we just wanted to find a darn bathroom. We went all the way up to the 9th floor just to find out that there were not any normal bathrooms, so back down to the first floor it was.  We walked around outside for a while and saw the obelisk which is where the guillotine was in the french revolution. Talk about cray.

The toilet paper in the "luxury bathroom" was colored!

Obelisk

After shopping and exploring we were quite exhausted and our feet were "barking", but we made the "10 minute" walk back. By the time we got back to our room it was 5pm and we all passed out until 7pm. All in all it was a great day and I love the feeling of coming back to the hotel completely exausted from a full day of new experiences.



-Carissa