Paris in a Nutshell

OK. Here's the low down: This day was the best day of my life. Really, I think it was. I was so overwhelmed all day because I couldn't believe all the things I was seeing.
We started off at Notre Dame, and the music from the Disney movie was in my head all day. We climbed up to the bell towers, and saw the gargoyles. They were SO cool, and I'm pretty sure they come to life at night. The view of the city was lovely.


We got to see the bells of Notre Dame, and they were even ringing while we were up there. Here is a picture of the Hunchback of Notre Dame.... it was really nice meeting him. You can see the famous bell in the background.



Next we went down the street to Sainte Chappelle, which is the chapel that has walls allllll made of stained glass. It was a breakthrough in architecture because there is hardly any wall holding it up. It was beautiful, and the sky was perfect for stained glass. This is a must-see in Paris. The picture is only .00001% as cool as the real thing.


Next we walked over to the Cluny Museum to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. They are incredible. It is tapestries of a lady and a unicorn exploring the 5 senses.


After that, we went off trying to find the Paris ice cream that was recommended to us by some Frenchie. It was a long search, but we found it. The brand is "Berthillion", and it really was THE best. Oh I'm already reminiscing.

Next we went to the Eiffel tower so we could make it to the top this time! It was SOOOO amazing from up there! I was a little doubtful because I've been on tops of lots of buildings, Toronto, Vegas, New York etc.... but this was different. The tower is the tallest thing for miles around, unlike these other sky scraper cities. And the whole city is white. It's really pretty. We spent a while up there, ad we mapped out our course for the rest of the day, because you can see EVERYTHING. On our way to the next destination, we stopped at a French pastrie shop. They are everywhere, and they are DELICIOUS. I'm definitely on a chocolate detox now that I'm back in London.

Next we went to the Pompideu, which I was exited to see because it was in my Art History text book. It's a modern building that they built inside out, so all the pipes and stairs and bars are on the outside. It's neat. The inside is a modern art museum. How appropriate.

Now for the serious stuff: we headed down the street a ways to the Louvre. I was exited out of my mind... I didn't know what to do with myself. It is so exiting to see something that you've known about your whole life. As we walked past the first little entry there was a flutist playing by the side of the building, and a little ways further there was a really good cellist playing a song that I'd heard Isaac play back in the day. Even the street musicians were more sophisticated here. The glass triangle was bigger than I thought, and the scene as a whole was just way more exiting than I expected. It was a moment I'll never forget.
We descended down through the magical triangle and decided that we'd just be doing a highlights tour, seeing that we were already all limping because our feet hurt so bad from walking so far the past couple of days. I loved everything that had to do with Greek sculpture, and my favorite was of course Winged Victory, because I've been wanting to see that statue for years. I've always been told that the Mona Lisa is anticlimactic- but I completely disagree. I thought it was SO cool. Michaelangelo's slaves sculptures are really something, and the Venus de Milo is just too famous to put on your list of favorites.
The museum walls and cielings are art in themselves, the whole place is really just amazing. The content of the Louvre isn't my favorite, like I said earlier I love impressionism, so I was happy with what I saw, and I limped out of there like a new woman.

Even though we could barely walk anymore, we decided that we couldn't go to bed happy unless we saw the Tower sparkle one more time for our last night in Pairee. The spot of choice was easy, the top of the Arc d' Triumph. So we went on over and climbed the wretched stairs on our broken feet (making the whole "triumphal" thing lot more meaningful when we got to the top"), and looked down on the lights of the city. The arch is really triumphal, and it's cool at night because all the streets lead to it. And, when the tower started sparkeling, my life was then, in that moment, complete. Ok not all the way... just partly complete.