Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sunday in Paris





This is the front public area in front and it became MUCH more crowded later in the day!  Notice the large round stain glassed window....you'll see below from the inside.
The gargoyles that surround Notre Dame

Hubby goofing off, but it shows you just how large one of the bells was.....

Some of the famous steps up to the top!

The large round window from the inside!!! Spectacular!
On Sunday, the second full day we were in Paris, our plans took us to Notre Dame.....just the inside of the church itself is spectacular....but it also has stairs that lead up into the tower....OVER 400 of them.  I need a t-shirt that says I survived the climb!  There are stone steps that circle up around to the top of the tower....and you get there to discover a fabulous view of the city!  You can come face to face with the gargoyles that surround Notre Dame and get a bird's eye view of the bell as well, which is massive!  One interesting thing to note is that they allowed tourists to go in while the worship service was going on.  It was somewhat dark in the area that tourists could walk around, but I would have been so distracted if I were trying to worship there.  Anyway, magnificent architecture and such massive stain glass windows and artifacts... Amazing!

We left there and walked a few blocks over to Saint Chappelle.  The security was much stiffer here, so we had to stand in line for security.  It was a must see if you love stain glassed windows.  Apparently, the whole Bible is told in stain glass window form....massive windows, but a little difficult to tell which story each window portrays.


Looking to the front of Saint Chappelle
This massive window told the story of Genesis, but it was very difficult to tell what each square represented.....


After leaving this church, which only had 200 steps, we were on to the Arc de Triomphe.....which by the way also had 200+ steps......I got my workout in that day, so it didn't matter about that Pain au chocolat I had that morning with my coffee!!!  Whew!
When we were walking back over to catch the Metro, we also came across a large group of people rollerblading thru the city. There were people of every age, so it must have been some fundraiser or rollerblade-athon or some such thing... and a few blocks over from that, we saw some college aged young men, rollerblading much more elaborate moves, I suppose hoping to wow the crowd for a few coins in their boots!!!

Can you see him in the air? They would skate in and out of these yellow cups and do tricks to entertain the crowd; we did video them, but it wouldn't load to blogger, so you get to see the pic instead!

Well, this was our full day of step workout!! I'll be back with more sights and such of our trip to Paris in March 2011!  Au revoir, y'all!

10 comments:

karen said...

Wonderful pictures!! That kid can rollar blade for sure. Looks like a great time. I love walking . Not sure if I could of made all the steps but would of gave it a shot.

Cathy said...

The windows are beautiful works of art.

Wow, you did get a good work out in.

April said...

Suzanne,
I really enjoyed looking at all your pictures. Just BEAUTIFUL, to say the least! Talk about the trip of a lifetime! I'm sure you made memories there that you'll always cherish. Can't wait to see more!

Nancy said...

Saint Chappelle is beautiful isn't it? I just always thought that the people who were worshipping in those big churches where tourists are walking through must just be used to it and able to tune it out.

Gorgeous pictures!!!

FrouFrouBritches said...

Those stained glass windows are AMAZING! I can't believe they let y'all go in during worship. CRAZY! Everything looks so beautiful!!

Unknown said...

I'm pretty sure I could just sit inside Notre Dame for hours and take in the majesty....and then I'd snap a bazillion pictures. Just gorgeous.

Anita@Theycallmejammi said...

How fun...love the architecture and I could stare at those gargoyles all day. You should have strapped on some rollerblades and joined in the fray...when in Paris....

Debbie said...

Notre Dame is magnificent. I have a "thing" about churches so I would have loved it. I envy your Paris trip!

The House That A-M Built said...

I am sure our paths must have crossed! I was at Versailles, the day before you! A-M xx

EuroMom said...

Suzanne, I think I read somewhere that the rollerblading is a Sunday activity!