Feeling rejuvenated by our delicious Parisian lunch (I took the below picture from our table)...
...we continued along our whistle-stop tour of Paris' landmarks.
Next up on our agenda, Notre Dame. We made our way down Ave de l'Opera and passed by the Palais Royal and the backside of the Louvre.
Saw this cool entrance for the Metro station near the Louvre.
The backside of the Louvre, which we visited the following day.
Saw this artist doing some chalk art in a square along the Rue Saint-Honoré, behind the Louvre.
The seat of the Consiel d'Etat, or Council of State, advisory body to the French executive branch, housed in the Palais Royal.
Above and below are pictures of the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois on the Place du Louvre.
The Conciergerie along the Seine. Formerly a royal palace and later a prison, it forms part of the Palais de Justice and to this date is used for judicial purposes.
Just can't seem to escape the Eiffel Tower in this city.
More beautiful scenes of Parisian architecture.
Finally we reached the other major Paris landmark that I've always wanted to see - Notre Dame. It is of course perhaps the most famous cathedral in Paris, certainly one of the most famous cathedrals in the world. In fiction, it is best-known for being the setting of Victor Hugo's classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
In London, all museums are free but tourists have to pay to visit the famous cathedrals. In Paris, it's the exact opposite - you pay to visit museums, but the churches and cathedrals are free of charge. So we went in to tour the inside of Notre Dame, and I was absolutely astonished by the beauty and grandeur of it all. The enormous stained glass windows, the intricate designs of arches and galleys, the dim lighting that conjured a mystical feeling...it was quite simply one of the most incredible places I've ever seen.
Luckily I wasn't tempted at any point to burst out into singing "God Help the Outcasts" from Disney's version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (mostly because it's probably one of the least likable Disney movies ever made, but that's another argument).
After touring the inside, we walked along the Seine to see the eastern facade of the cathedral.
After Notre Dame, we were feeling quite exhausted by our extensive day of walking across virtually all of Paris. We decided we would make our way over to the Luxembourg Gardens and after that return to our hostel so we could check into our rooms, have a rest, and then grab a meal.
The Luxembourg Gardens are absolutely beautiful, but admittedly seeing all the bare winter trees did leave a bit of disappointment. It would be marvelous to come in the spring or summer and see all the flowers in bloom and some foliage on the trees.
The Palais de Luxembourg. During the Bourbon monarchy, the palace was built as a residence for Queen Marie de' Medici, regent of France during the minority of her son, Louis XIII. It was later the home of various minor members of the royal family, including the Count de Provence, younger brother of King Louis XVI who later became king himself as Louis XVIII during the Bourbon restoration after the fall of Napoleon. It was later turned into a museum as well as the seat of the French Senate.
After spending some leisurely time in the Luxembourg Gardens, we hopped back on the Metro and made our way back to the hostel. I took a quick nap, then got ready to go out for some food. We ended up at a cafe close to the hostel where we enjoyed a few glasses of wine, and it wasn't long before the City of Lights beckoned us to come see it again. So back on the Metro we went to catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.
At the top of each hour, the Eiffel Tower is adorned with thousands of flashing lights for a few minutes, and we luckily got to the Tower just before they turned on.
Here's a short video of the sparkling lights:
We weren't quite ready to call it a night just yet, so we walked along the Seine once again and made our way back to the Pont Alexandre III, which also looked beautiful in its nighttime glow.
This building at the end of the Pont Alexandre III is L'Hôtel national des Invalides, originally built as a hospital for war veterans and later transformed into a military museum.
And so concluded our first full day in Paris. The next day was our visit to the Louvre museum, which I will post about shortly.
