Paris Travel – Day 2

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY NEW SHOP! You can find some of your favorite shots from this post there! SHOP HERE.

Today we did all of the walking. And ALL of the stairs. Why we thought we could climb to the top of Notre Dame and also the Arc de Triomphe on the same day (plus the walking we did all day long between sights) is beyond me. I’ll just put it down to a rookie mistake. We were trying to fit as much of Paris as we could into our 6 days as we could.

Like I said. Rookie mistake. BUT our first day was so great. Notre Dame is SUCH an incredible building and the views from the towers are AWESOME. My favorite views of the city, in fact. I didn’t love the inside of the cathedral very much – it was so crowded and really dark. But every inch of the outside is beautiful. (Which will explain why I have almost 50 pictures of just Notre Dame in this post… haha.) I couldn’t get enough of it.

We walked from our hotel to Place St. Michel and saw the St. Michel Fountain with ham and cheese crepes in our hands.

Then it was to the cathedral. I love it. You will love it. Make sure you get you reserve your time to climb the stairs to the towers. (We wasted time not realizing that we needed to have a time slot reserved and a ticket for proof. There is a kiosk that gives you a time passed the queue that is trying to climb the stairs.) Now please forgive all of the pictures you are about to see.

OK, so now you’ve seen enough of Notre Dame. From here we walked through old streets and went to the oldest bookshop in the city. 

Shakespeare and Co. Staffed by Brits who see too many excitable tourists geeking out over buying a copy of Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame and asked for their book to be stamped with the logo.

More walking around. We even found a UPS truck (and since my husband is a delivery driver for UPS, it is only natural that I would take a picture of it). 

We walked to another cathedral – Saint Chappelle. And it is BEAUTIFUL! The stained glass is really neat to see in person – and hard to capture on camera without a bunch of special equipment and perfect conditions. It is inside the Palais de Justice and fun to experience. Also fun to quote Inspector Clouseau. 

We walked more, not really with a direction. But then we found a McDonalds (haha) and decided to use the free WiFi and try something on the French menu (curry dipping sauce for chicken nuggets is DELICIOUS!). French McDonald’s even serve macarons! We took a break for an hour or two (we were worn out), and then went down to the Arc de Triomphe to climb the stairs for an after-dark-view.