Paris Trip: Day 1

We left home at 6:10am so Mama could take us to the Hauptbanhof. Our train left at 6:50am. After a boring train ride where I got no sleep since I cannot sleep upright, we arrived in Paris at 10:30am. This is the first picture we took, outside the very famous Opera House.



After a good hour of looking for our hotel (Brian read the street name wrong, so we thought it was on Aubre, but it was really on Hadrel) we arrived, sun burnt and exhausted. But we weren't going to let that stop us! After riding up on an elevator that literally fit 3 people (more like 2...) we took a break in our small hotel room before heading outside to see the sites!

First on the list of To Do's: Saint Chapelle and the Hall of Justice. Here they are together; Saint Chapelle is on the left. We didn't actually go in the Hall of Justice, but only admired it's golden gates.


These are the oldest frescoes in Paris.


I was happy with the stained glass windows on the first floor, but as we walked up the stone staircase to the second floor, I was astonished. My mouth was literally open in amazement.






And here is tour guide Brian with the low down:


Needless to say we stayed here for a pretty good amount of time, just enjoying the scenery. But we knew we had to leave if we wanted to see everything else. So, it was off to Notre Dame! Unfortunately, it was in the rain...


But it wasn't that bad. The line to get into the Cathedral was ridiculously long, and this girl behind me kept trying to hide under my umbrella...um...no. Get your own. Here's an unobstructed view of the Cathedral:


Because we were not allowed to use flash, the quality of these pictures really does not do justice to the Cathedral. Notre Dame is huge and very impressive, especially given its gothic architecture. Unlike other churches which took centuries to build, Notre Dame was constructed in a relatively short period of time, by the 13th century.

Here is the famous rose window.


We lit a candle to remember our loved ones that have passed, and said a prayer.


Here we are!


The outside of the Cathedral.




Then it was off to Ecole Militaire, which is where they trained the soldiers back in the day, and it actually has small bullet holes in the bricks from WW1. Across the park is the Eiffel Tower. We came back here after dinner at a local cafe, which had good food but terrible service. I guess they were short on waiters, so the owner took our order, but halfway through she got upset with one of the waiters and stomped off to tell him what he did wrong and was gone for 5 minutes. No, "Excuse me, I'll be right back" or anything. Anyway...we went to the Eiffel Tower after dinner as we planned to go to the top.





Unfortunately we got there too late as they had already closed access to the 3rd floor. So we went back to our hotel and rested our tired bones instead!