After getting checked in at our hotel, we headed straight for the Eiffel Tower in search of crepes. Emily knew about a particular stand just beneath the Tower with the best crepes she'd ever eaten. On the way, my first glimpse of Notre Dame and the Seine River.
Oedipus and the Sphinx,
We happened upon a "South of France" festival complete with wine tasting
and passed a number of important looking buildings.
Then there it was!
And the crepes were delicious.
We then walked over to the Arc de Triomphe (started in 1806 for Napoleon, finished in 1836) which turned out to be much more massive than I had imagined.
We started the next day at the Louvre.
Some highlights from inside the museum:
The Nike of Samothrace,
the Mona Lisa,
Oedipus and the Sphinx,
the Venus de Milo,
the Sleeping Hermaphrodite,
Napoleon's apartments,
and the always funny "Gabrielle d'Estrees and one of her sisters in the bath."
Our next stop was Notre Dame, construction of which began in 1163.
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| Joan of Arc |
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| Blurry--my camera was having trouble getting clear pictures in the dark |
On our walk back toward the Eiffel Tower for crepes day two, we saw this mass of people rollerblading down the street. There were even cops on rollerblades with them!
The beloved crepe stand.
We began the next morning at Sacre Cour (Basilica of the Sacred Heart, finished in 1914).
No pictures were allowed inside--there was a beautiful mosaic of Jesus on the domed ceiling that I bought a postcard of.
From the sacred to the profane--our next stop was Moulin Rouge, situated on a street filled with sex toy shops and porn theaters. It was a little less spectacular than the glossy postcards had led me to believe.
On our walk through the city, we also stopped to look at the Paris Opera.
and La Madeleine, a Christian church built in the style of an ancient Greek temple.
We continued our walk toward the Marine museum near the Eiffel Tower.
The Marine museum was pretty cool. It featured paintings of and artifacts from ships and boats from earliest to modern times.
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| from a lighthouse |
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