Paris -- Day 2

I seem to have become a bit of an insomniac here in Paris, so I will tell you about our second day in this lovely city.  Since we had gone to bed the night before without a "proper" dinner we decided to begin the day with a "proper" breakfast.  We sat in the hotel lobby and had hard boiled eggs, toast and jam, cheese, cold cuts, figs and freshly brewed coffee.  Bryan read the International New York Times while I savored every bite.

Our guidebook suggested that if we should want to tour Notre Dame we should arrive before 10 am and get in line for the Tower Tour.  By 9:30 am we were in the line that already stretched halfway back the length of this impressive cathedral.  We got in line, smug that as soon as the doors opened we would quickly find ourselves beginning to scale the 400 steps up to the top of the cathedral.  It wasn't until 11 am that we finally found our feet on step one. 

Two-thirds of the way up we crossed the front of the church, past the "infamous" bored gargoyle.

Some helpful tourist took it upon himself to try and organize use of the final steps to the top.  So while everyone in our group was stopped in limbo, I busied myself by taking pictures of every lovely picture I could find.

When an official finally arrived we were sent up the final flight of stairs to the top. This was only our second day in Paris but it was the third tower we climbed!  Bryan and I have now experienced many spectacular views of Paris...all in a city that has no love for skyscrapers.

When we descended all 400 narrow steps we were both wobbly and weak kneed...but looking forward to exploring the interior to the cathedral.  Alas, the line to get inside the cathedral was longer than the one we had just survived.  With great disappointment we left without going inside and headed over to see Sainte-Chapelle. When we saw the line there we gave up and decided to find a cafe to fortify our weak spirits. We lucked upon a perfect place.  After sharing a plate of steak and "frittes" we felt ready to face the world again.  We queued up outside Sainte-Chapelle and made it through security in record time.  Then we by-passed about 100 people because we had purchased museum passes when we landed at Charles de Gualle airport.  When we entered the sanctuary we discovered that the stained glass is under repair and scaffolding hides about 1/4 of it, including the rose window of the final judgment on the back wall....and still Sainte-Chapelle is the most magnificent chapel I have ever experienced.  "Fiat lux"...Let there be light...and there was and it was very good.  With 6,500 square feet of stained glass the chapel was alive with beauty.

Much of the 1,100 scenes depicted come from the biblical narrative.  I was delighted to learn that even the Book of Tobit is portrayed.  I spent too much time looking for Tobias, a fish and a dog.

Back outside Sainte-Chapelle we decided to see if things at Notre Dame had settled down.  The line was half as long and we so we joined it. 

 As soon as we got inside we found our way to the worship chairs and spent time in silence soaking in the beauty and the wonder.

After lighting a candle and saying a prayer for my father, we wandered along the sides of the cathedral, past the new modern confessionals that are now glass and called dialogue rooms, the stained glass windows....

...the statues of saints (like Joan of Arc), and all the wonderful art depicting the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  I was pleased to find one of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples.

Once outside we walked across a bridge over the Seine.  We looked down and remembered that just the night before we had been mooned in that same location by three drunk young adults that decided to add their scenery to our romantic cruise of the river.  Then we headed for the Shakespeare & Company Bookstore.  We entered but didn't stay long.  The store is tiny and there seemed to be almost as many people inside the store as there are books.

Tired of crowds we found a nice park and sat down to decide how we would spend the rest of our day. We opted for Pere Lachaise Cemetery since the predicted rain had not shown up.  Bryan was eager to see the burial place of Jim Morrison.  I wanted to pay my respects to Heloise and Abelard.  We hopped on the Metro only to discover there was some kind of mechanical problems on that particular line...not sure what since we don't speak French.  It took us 45 minutes to make three stops.  We got off and rerouted ourselves to the Louvre.

Once again, Museum passes allowed us to by-pass the long line of tourists.  We saw quite a bit...too much actually...of great works of art.  We saw the Mona Lisa, of course.

After all, we had to see how the real thing compares to the rendition above our bed.

We walked past the Venus de Milo...

...and tried to read the Code of Hammurabi.

However, by that point I had passed my limit of appreciation.  The Louvre is overwhelming, a bit daunting and the temperature was set at "sauna".  We sat down to see if I could recover.  

It quickly became clear that I had reached my limit.  We left and found a cafe to see if coffee would help.

Then we made the trek back to our neighborhood and an Italian dinner.