Paris: Part Two

So on Saturday night we went to...

the Eiffel Tower! It was really cool. Every night they light it up, and every hour they have a little light show, which is featured on the left picture. The tower was realllllyyyyy big. I was very impressed. It's not really surprising that it was the tallest building in the world when it was built. We took the stairs up, as it was cheaper and less crowded. Unfortunately, we could only go up to the second floor, but that still gave us some pretty incredible views of the city. As we were going up the stairs, Caitlin started freaking out about the height. I was worried she was going to have a panic attack or something, but luckily she survived. It was close, though.

On Sunday we went to Notre Dame in the morning. We went up into the bell towers for free (first Sunday of every month). There was a lot of stairs in a tiny spiral. It was sort of dizzying, and then we walked out a door and there were these incredible views. There was also chimeras.

They have wire fencing to keep anyone from falling off. I guess people were shorter back in the 13th century, cuz the original guardrails were really low.

After that, we had lunch before going to Mass inside the Cathedral. It was really pretty. There were a lot of people there for church. It was a little strange though, because they didn't close the cathedral to visitors during that time. So there was a constant stream of people going around the periphery of the church during the service. They were all quiet, but it still seemed a little odd. I guess there isn't anything they can really do though. The cathedral is gigantic anyway, so there is still plenty of room.

Next, we went to the Champs-Elysees. We started at the Place des Concordes, where that giant obelisk is located, and walked down to the Arc de Triomphe. The obelisk is actually the oldest building in Paris, as it was brought intact from Egypt during the 19th century. I wonder how exactly it was shipped. Once again, we thought about how much prettier everything would be during the spring or summer. But there were some interesting shops, such as a jewelry store with 40,000 euro watches for sale.

Next, we came back to Notre Dame for an organ concert. It was pretty crowded, actually. Apparently, they have free concerts every Sunday afternoon. The organ was really impressive. Since there wasn't a Mass going on, we were able to take pictures of the inside.

For dinner we went to a Tex-Mex restaurant near our hotel called the Indiana Cafe. We were both curious what French Tex-Mex would be like. I had enchiladas and Caitlin had tacos. Contrary to the weird expressions on our faces, it was actually pretty good. Not as good as at home though; it seemed more bland.

That night, we went for a cruise on the Seine. It was cool to see all the sights lit up at night. It was very cold though. Still fun, and I'm glad we did it. The next morning we got up to catch our 9:16 train. Unfortunately, our train got stopped on the tracks for two hours for some reason, and we ended up getting back to Aix late. But we made it, and we had a fantastic time in Paris.