art&architecture&awesomeness.

Day 3 in Paris:

My eyes were bothering me SO much in Paris. It was ridiculous. I got eyedrops from a pharmacy in France, but they were still super sensitive and I couldn't wear my contacts. Thankfully, we went to the Louvre in the morning this day, so my glasses just really helped to contribute to my art critic look.

For breakfast, I chose an almond-glazed, cream-filled croissant. Can you say delicious? The French definitely know their pastries.

The Louvre was incredible. We were in there for almost three hours, but they passed so quickly--I felt like I was running through the museum, and still only saw the smallest fraction of the art there. It was a weird feeling speedwalking through the galleries, because your eyes would just wander the room, trying to catch everything, but it was just impossible. We did see all the most famous works of art though. The Mona Lisa was a little surreal. It was just so small and there were mobs of people in front. We FINALLY made our way to the front and it was like a mosh pit up there. Fantastic museum, although you definitely have to go early in the morning (like we did) if you really want to enjoy it. Here are a couple pictures from the museum and some of my favorite works of art.

1. Horses of Marly, G. Coustou
2. St. Mary Magdalene, G. Erhart.
3. Psyche and Cupid, A Canova
4. Captive (The Rebel Slave), Michelangelo

1. Trying to push our way through the crowd in front of the Mona Lisa.
2. the Mona Lisa
3. the madness in front of the Mona Lisa.

I didn't take many pictures of my favorite paintings...mostly because some of them are so big, that it's impossible to get the entire picture, but also because pictures of paintings usually never turn out well, because there's always a glare off the paint. But believe me, the paintings were also incredible. We also went to see the Medieval Moat and the apartments of Napoleon, which were both great.

We finally had to tear ourselves away from the Louvre. Sad day.

outside the Louvre.

We left the Museum, walking south, along the quays of the Seine. There was so much to see, and it was just so pretty by the river.

Pont Neuf--the oldest bridge in Paris, dating from 1578. The view off of
this bridge is amazing.

statue of Henry IV, in the Square du Vert Galant.

Right along the Seine is the Place St-Michel, which is especially memorable for its fountain, constructed in 1860. This area of Paris is just fantastic though--so many shops and restaurants. And the prices aren't half-bad either.

Fountain.

Confession: we bought another nutella crepe in Place St-Michel.
It was lunch and it was delicious.

Just across the river from Plae St-Michel is Notre Dame, THE cathedral of France. It is SUCH an amazing exhibition of Gothic architecture. Loved it. I lit a candle for the first time in a cathedral. There's this book inside Notre Dame where everybody writes down a request/prayer for God and as I was writing mine, I couldn't help noticing how personal some of the requests were--it's so easy to see tourists in France (including us) as a faceless mob, but this big book full of prayers made me realize how individual we still are.

front of notre dame.

The inside of this cathedral...yes, it blew me away. But Notre Dame gets even better. We climbed to the top and hung out with the gargoyles and THE bell that Quasimodo would have rang if he were for real. But first, we had to wait in a VERY long line. Thank goodness for street entertainment though. There was this guy who was wearing a rather grotesque mask and he would sneak up on people and scare the heck out of them. He would just sneak in between couples and grab the girl's (or guy's) hand, snatch at people's legs, suddenly appear in front of people as they craned their necks back to get good pictures of Notre Dame...it was hilarious.

After Notre Dame, we went to yet another beautiful cathedral--or actually just a particular chapel. We saw Sainte-Chapelle. It was a gothic chapel, with the most beautiful stained glass I have ever seen. Absolutely breath-taking.

is this not AMAZING?!?

After all that architecture, we needed something.
gelato fit the bill.
seriously, we're addicted.

Afterwards, we just wandered around all the little shops near Place St-Michel. Did a bit of shopping. Around 8:30, we went to Place de la Concorde--a big traffic hub. But there's a nice little side plaza. And most importantly, a thirteenth-century Egyptian obelisk. Quite cool.

The Place de la Concorde is also where the most famous walk in all of Paris begins. It goes all the way down Champs-Elysées and finishes at the Arc de Triomphe. This street is often called "the highway of French grandeur" and has seen a lot of pivotal moments in French history, both good and bad. Now, it's full of shopping places, restaurants, and clubs. Katelyn and I did a bit of shopping, ate dinner, wandered down the street, and finally made it to the Arc de Triomphe.

We got on the metro to see the Eiffel Tower at night. We finally got to the correct stop and were just about to walk out of the station...and then we realized that the metro station closed at midnight, that we were a long way from home...and that it was after 11:40. We booked it back down there, and got back on the [extremely-packed] metro. We had to switch lines so we were RUNNING. I was so stressed. 


But we made it.


And we were both extremely tired, so we went straight to bed.