Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle

Hi all,

Well today we finally headed off to see Notre Dame. We took our time getting there as it was a sunny day and we found a park and ate our lunch which we picked up at a local bakery. You can buy the most amazing selection of premade baguette sandwichs with the loveliest fillings. One of them is lots for Lyn and I to share. Today it was chicken with pickled tomatoes and fresh greens and lovely flavoured mayo. They have so many varieties. Someone told me about them but I can't remember who. (thank you! if you are following us). Yummy! About 3.5 Euros.

So we arrive at the island that the church is on and there are police everywhere. We head to the front and overhear someone say that Notre Dame is closed until 5:00. What is happening? Some special mass is being held. We suspected that there were dignitaries coming as the number of police was huge. So tonight on the french news channel we can't understand there was the mass on the news. A very popular nun that died 2 days ago at the age of 99 was being recognized at mass and the President was even there. We were not invited......

So off we went on a new adventure and explored some wonderful places. Here are some pictures of the  windows in Sainte Chapelle built in 1248 by King Louis IX. I can't begin to tell you how incredible it was. It is fairly intimate compared to Notre Dame and the church is stained glass 360 degrees around. The walls are painted vividly and it is beautiful. Click on the picture to see close up. A must see.

Travel Tip:
Sainte Chapelle

Leaving comments

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to say we have adjusted the ability to leave comments and anyone can leave a message on the blog now. Slow learning curve here. We love to see the comments and hear from you. We enjoying having your messages with our coffee and tea in the morning.

Haven't had onion soup on the left bank yet Laurie but there is a good chance that will happen today. Melinda, I will have that soup with lots of bread and gooey cheese on top. Yummy.

I think we are off to Notre Dam today. Last time we were there it was on the weekend and the line ups were fierce. We have our museum passes now and we can get in more quickly. We have our Rick Steeves tours in our MP3 players and we are off.

Your giggle for the day is Lyn and I at the top of the Eiffel Tower in a hurricane! Yes I mean the tippy top. Way up there!!! See us posing in front before we got there and look at the little platform at the top. We were there!

Museum d'Orsay

We woke up to rain - there goes our sunny days - back to reality. We were going to Giverny to see Monet's garden but it is raining- so today is a museum day. Off to the Musee d'Orsay. As usual we didn't get our bums in gear so we didn't arrive till 12:30. Well the line was long! But we had bought a 4 day Musuem Pass yesterday & we went into a shorter line it was worth the price.

This museum is in an old art deco era train station. When you walk through the doors you are shocked by the beauty & size of this museum. The paintings are from the Impressionist School of Art (Chris's dictate) I am not familar with a lot of the art but I even recognized the pictures from Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec & countless more. We spent the whole day wandering from gallery to gallery. We have been taking the bus everywhere it gives us a chance to see our surroundings. Taking the Metro might be faster but I feel like a mole emerging from the ground not knowing where I'm at. It might be raining but you can't keep a Wet Coast Girl down!



Travel Tip:
Get a Paris Museum Pass. You can buy 2, 3 or 4 day passes that will give you entrance to more museums and points of interest than you will have energy to see. You can buy them at metro stations, museums or Tourist Information Offices. This pass will allow you to bypass the lineups that sometimes are hundreds of people long and get priority entrance.
Musee Orsay
We used Rick Steves podcast for the museum.

Dinner at the Bistro

Here we are eating again. We found this restraurant on the way home last night. We know the neighbourhood better now and the windows were very inviting. The name of the place is Restaurant Perraudin. We were lucky to get a table without reservations because this is apparently a very popular spot because it is an authentic bistro that sells truly french food that comes from the regions of France. As our lovely dining neighbours explained to us, there are two types of French cuisine. One is very arty and leaves you hungry and one is ethnic and fills you up with lots of food from the areas around France and this place did that kind of food very well. It was all delicious and we had no problem finishing it all off. The service was wonderful and there was no rushing us through dinner even though they were turning people away while we were eating. It was a bit of a splurge but we have balanced it against the last two dinner which we ate in.

Travel Tip:
Restaurant Perraudin we had dinner twice here what a treat! Be sure you arrive right at opening because it fills very fast. We had the homemade ice cream & it was delicious. Very small place but you get to meet the other diners.

Walk through Paris

Today was an outdoor day because the weather was so wonderful. We started the day buying a sandwich at a nearby bakery and heading out to see the gardens of the Louvre. The building itself is huge and they say that if you were to stop in front of every item for 3 seconds it would take you 3 months, 24 hours a day to see it all. So we just walked around the building. We walked around the grounds and through the gardens and stopped for lunch beside a beautiful pool with a view of the Champ D'Elysee.

Checking out our neighborhood

Bonjour Amis,

Friday night we arrived a little tired so we went to the Rue Mouffetard for dinner. We are 3 blocks away. Our first night so we thought we had to have a special dinner. This street is very busy with lots of tourists & restaurants. We found a small restaurant where we had a delicious dinner with lots of wine. Some how with our terrible french we were understood. Sunday morning we woke to a blue sky. We had to pinch ourselves we are in Paris & it isn't raining!

We can see the Pantheon from our balcony & hear the church bells.

We went to the Sun. market on the rue Mouffetard & it was very busy. The stalls are selling fish, cheese, bread & vegetables. It is open 3 days a week, this is were Chris & I are going to buy our food. I bought a teapot for 2 euros at a stall, they wanted 20 euros in the store. People just set up a table in the street & sell their things (like our garage sales - trust me to hit one of these) This afternoon we did a walking tourof the Marais district, the old Jewish Quarter. Chris & I have been on the bus. metro & boat, we are doing well.

Exploring and a Seine River Cruise

Sorry for the delay but my luggage arrived Sunday night at 8:00. The same clothes for 4, that is four days. Lyn is a dear friend to share her deordorant (probably in her best interest) and put up with my hanging underware for this long.

Saturday we got off to a slow start as we were a little jet lagged and took our time hoping my bags would show up. No luck so off we go to see what is outside our door.

My goodness it is wonderful! Can't really comprehend that we are here and we can do what we want. We started to wander and took a bus to Ile de la Cite and took a look at Notre Dame. The crowds were huge and that is in the off season. We will come back to see it on a rainy day. The weather is so wonderful. It is warm and sunny and we should have brought our suntan lotion.

Next we take a walk along the river bank (just like in the movies, ask us about the spys!) and at the end of the island there was a river cruise that was just about to leave so we had to do that and spent the next hour traveling past the major site like the Eiffle tower and museums and palaces and to many things to remember.

Travel Tip:
Take a river cruise it is a great way to see Paris & have your first sight of the Eiffel Tower. It also gives your feet a rest.
Boat cruise there are several tours that leave from Ile de la Cite.

We have arrived

Well here we are and it is about 10:30 at night and we haven't slept since Thursday night. I don't know what is keeping us going but we are starting to wind down. Our flight on KLM was great. The seats were not roomy but very acceptable. We actually got supper and breakfast. Free liquor and all the movies you could want on your own screen that you controlled and could start or stop with your own remote control. You could even make phone calls for a price. We got to Amsterdam and had a 3 1/2 hour layover and started to fade about then. We were back on the airplane with Air France and had a good flight which ended with my luggage not showing up. They were very prompt in attending to the eight of us and telling us to go spend 100 Euros to replace the items I couldn't live without and we were off to our apartment. Boy is rush hour awful here. Finally made it to our place and went out for a wonderful meal at a place around the corner. My luggage is coming in sometime tomorrow and I need to go shopping in the morning. to you later. Here are some pics of our neighbourhood, our view & our balcony.
Chris

Day one!

Here we are at the airport waiting for our flight. We are standing in front of a Bill Reid sculpture.
I am practicing on Chris's computer not very good & I type with 2 fingers.  

This is a wonderful picture of Lyn in Paris. I think that she was about 18 when she went on her adventure with a couple of other girls from school.