Two Americans in Paris, Day Two

We started our second day in Paris by following Rick's Historic Core of Paris walk. We took the Metro to Notre Dame, which actually sites on the Ile Cite in the Seine River. The church was impressive, but after Rome and St. Peter's it has been pretty hard to floor us. Still, it was cool to be at a place that is steeped in so much history and lore.

The lines were crazy, but it didn't take too long to get inside. I had read to be sure and see the rose windows that fill each transept, and they were beautiful, impressive and the subject of several photographs. I imagined it would be wonderful to attend mass here, with music and prayers filling the domineering space. Back outside we walked around the church to see the spire and the flying buttresses --- cool because I taught about this stuff when I was in Mr. Funke's classroom at LHS.

We wanted to visit the Deportation Memorial that is located right across from Notre Dame, but we arrived right at noon, when it closes for two hours. We decided to continue with our walk and hopefully get back to it.

From the Ile Cite we crossed a bridge to the Ile St. Louis. It was very cute and felt like classic Paris. We found the ice cream parlor that we were to meet Laura and Karen and Harry at on Saturday, and then ate a relaxing lunch at a tiny little cafe. Luckily for us, our walk took us back to the Ile Cite and we arrived just as the Deportation Memorial opened. This site honors the 200,000 French victims of the Holocaust. Part of it consisted of a dark hallway lite by 200,000 crystals, with the flame of eternal hope shining bright at the end. The sign above the exit read "Pardonne n' oublie pas..." --- "Forgive, but never forget."

Our walk continued into the Latin Quarter, which was the city's main university district in the Middle Ages. Since educated people back then all learned Latin, the district earned its name. The area was filled with little shops and lots of tourists. We stopped at a bakery so I could buy a macaron (I had been eyeing them since we arrived) but no such luck. As we were walking out of the district towards Sainte-Chapelle we witnessed some sort of protest, and I remembered from my International Relations course that the French are known for this. We just wished we knew what was being protested.

The line for Sainte-Chapelle was ridiculous. Even though we had our Paris Museum Passes, we had to wait because the line was for security and not tickets. After 45 minutes, we passed through security and made our way to the chapel. It supposedly has the best Gothic stained glass windows in all of Europe, but I was skeptical. As I said before, Rome was pretty impressive. But nothing could outshine what we saw. Other churches are bigger and richer, but these windows are amazing. Just thinking about the craftsmanship blew our minds. Initially this church was so important because it held a very important relic, the Crown of Thorns. While the Crown is now housed at Notre Dame and rarely seen, the glory of the stained glass shines on.

We continued on, walking past the Palais de Justice and an original early-20th-century Metro entrance. Most of these were torn down over the years, but a few remain and they are great examples of Art Nouveau. We walked past the prison that held Marie-Antoinette before she became a foot shorter and ended our trek at Pont Neuf, the city's oldest bridge. After looking over the Seine for awhile, we decided we could walk to the Marais neighborhood for some more sightseeing and a trip to the Right Bank.

The area of Paris known as Marais seemed artsy to me, and a little hip. We had wanted to visit the Picasso Museum ("he's an artist I've heard of" said Jason) but it was too late. Instead we visited the Pompidou Center and the National Museum of Modern Art. The center itself is pretty interesting looking, and the square surrounding it had some cool street entertainers. The museum was an eye-opener for our uncultured eyes, and I actually really enjoyed most of the displays, even if I didn't understand them. I was just grateful we weren't looking at more Madonnas and angels and altarpieces, oh my. There were some rather humorous (although I don't think they were supposed to be) film pieces that Jason really got a kick out of.

After the museum we needed to figure out a way to get back to Rue Cler, but we still wanted to walk to the Place des Vosges, so we were glad to discover a bus stop near it --- although bus travel in Paris would be new to us. Place des Vosges was cool. It was a lovely square where all the rich Parisians used to live, and then Victor Hugo. We relaxed our feet in its little park, and then found our bus stop. After some waiting, we rode our cramped bus home and saw some sights along the way.

We ate our dinner at the Cafe du Marche, a favorite with tourists and locals. While we were surrounded by smokers, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that we received FREE water with our meal --- a first in Europe. I ordered fried duck, which was delicious, and Jason ordered the plat du jour, which was veal and rice. Skeptical at first, he ate it right up. To finish off our meal, we had two scoops of vanilla ice cream. While tasty, it didn't compare to the Italians and their gelato. :)