Day 2- Notre Dame

Okay I majorly have to apologize! It has taken me so long to get up even one post because I've run into a lot of problems it seems like! I figured out faster ways to do things after these last 2 so I should be getting caught up pretty quickly :) Seriously sorry!!!

We got pretty lucky with weather the whole week. It would get cloudy at times but it never rained and apparently Paris weather could use a lot of improvement most of the time. It all doesn't look too bad because it wasn't snowing or anything but it was pretty chilly! You could tell winter was approaching! Most of the time I needed my big snowboarding jacket!

Tuesday we went to the big famous cathedral of Natre Dame. We started off with ice cream because that is just about the best way to start off a day! Mailys usually goes classic Vanilla.

And I went with Caramel Beurre Sale! Mmm! So good!

Notre Dame!

The name Notre Dame means "our lady"

Gargoyles!!!

It took almost 200 years to build this Gothic cathedral...

So we decided to go up to the top where the bell tower was! It was kinda a long line and Mailys was getting really impatient... I would just watch all the Parisiens walk by and wonder how they were wearing certain clothing in that weather! But we finally got to the front! We were just waiting to go up the stairs here... We were waiting on these steps and Notre Dame is old and you could totally see the indent of people walking on this step! It was so funny!

It's hard to take a picture of so this might help with the comparison...

We would be climbing all the way up there!

I don't know why I thought it was so fun to take pictures of all the stairs...

This was much more difficult than the Arc de Triomphe because there was 430 something stairs!

Didn't even break a sweat!

But we finally made it! And the view was worth it :) 46 meters about ground

This is called the stryga... Which is a Greek translation meaning "bird of the night"! Eastern legend- a nocturnal and evil spirit! This is NOT a gargoyle! This is a chimera which is just a ornamental sculpture of a monster or mythical creature.

Me and my buddies!

Like I'm pretty sure almost everyone else who loves the Disney movies would, I was thinking about The Hunchback of Notre Dame the entire time!

I do feel lied to a little cuz those are not gargoyles! Chimeras gosh dang it! But then again I probably shouldn't be relying on Disney for my knowledge of Gothic cathedral architecture...

Like pretty much every other Disney movie it was a book first! Written by Victor Hugo (1831) who also wrote Les Mis which is just dang awesome!

Little eskimo!

Okay this was where we had a little scare with Mailys getting lost. She was taking pictures with her Nintendo DS(everyone else was taking pics with cameras and phones so she wanted to join in on the fun) and so she got distracted. We had all moved on but she went the wrong way... We found her real quick but just a little adrenaline rush.

This door was so tiny!!! We aren't munchkins (Wizard of Oz!)

To the bell tower! I bet Quasimodo climbed these exact stairs!!!

Without further adieu... the famous Quasimodo bell! The bell is called Emmanuel which weighs a dang 13 tons! What the kwan??

The ringer weighs 500 kilos!

I liked the view up because it just fit the old classic setting...

This bell is only rung on major Catholic feast days... But when it is I bet Quasimodo is there in spirit! Haha :)

Tiny little corridors... Glad I wasn't especially large...

These things are so creepy! I don't see how they show "highly sophisticated architecture and decoration"! That one's got a lizard tongue! ("I ain't no lizard! I don't do that tongue thing!" My mind is kinda on Disney movies at the moment) And the other one is eating grapes! Monsieur Viollet-le-Duc... I don't understand you!!!

And then the creepy protruding spine! It's like Golem (Lord of the Rings!)!

Eiffel Tower! Oh how I adore you!!

The square in front of a church is called a parvis.

So after this we climbed some more stairs to the tippy top!!! Almost 70 meters :) It had some pretty views... Okay I didn't know what I was looking at most of the time... So same for you! Just take in the beauty!

Do you remember who I told you that chimeras are not gargoyles? This is why... Chimeras are just creepy sculptures but gargoyles are protruding figures designed for draining rain water! Boom!

This is a hospital just next to the cathedral...

The Sacre Coeur over there a ways...

Okay if you look really really closely you can see the Arc de Triomphe! It was hard to find in person but if you want the challenge go for it!

Answer: Look at the clump of skyscrapers towards the back... The Arc is just below the second one from the right! See it???

That's the Louvre! It's enormous! It's in the middle of the pic going along the river

So after this is was just a straight shot to the bottom! Nicolas hit his head right about then! It was hilarious!!! So as we were going down, the girls were taking it slow... The boys wanted to go as fast as they could...

Because the girls were too slow, they would wait until the girls said it was okay to go! And then they would bolt down!

Niolas is so fast he is just a blur! Or maybe it's my camera... Nah! I think it's just his speed!

I was trying to keep up with them while trying to take pictures at the same time! Haha it was so much fun!

You know that indent in thestairs that I was talking about earlier??? Well it's easier to see in these pics! Lots of people walking on these stairs

Yupp all of that!!! Okay now I was just thinking of Spider Man...

We wanted to go inside but heck freakin no we would not wait in that line that was all the way across the parvis (I was quite happy with my newly found vocabulary)!

So we headed off for lunch! I was a tad confused because I thought the ice cream was my lunch!

Okay right about here I had a very proud moment! This girl came up to me and starting asking for directions in French. I just told her I don't speak French and she just kinda went "Ohh" and got a surprised look n her face because I'm pretty sure she was surprised that me, who did not look touristy but in fact looked French as I did blend in very well, couldn't speak French! Haha :-)

These guys were walking around everywhere looking all menacing! Like protectors of the cathedral!

So we went to lunch! And there were these ladies next to us who were speaking English. And everyone else was like "Are they American?" because they were... well large... I took a secret picture for documenting purposes ;-) They were so obnoxious! You know people who just think they own the place and they are the most important people ever! That was them! Demanding and rude!

And then we all had a good laugh about Nicolas hitting his head! Haha

So for lunch we had a French speciality! Cheese fondue! I had never really had it before so it was fun for me !

You get some crusty bread and you stick it on the stick and you dip it in the cheese! Not especially complicated! But I do know a few blondes who aren't the brightest crayons in the box *Ashlee* who would need the instructions...

It was hott though...

... so blowing on it was usually required unless you wanted to burn the heck out of your mouth!

It was pretty good :-) But then again it is pretty difficult to mess up melted cheese and crusty bread!

So Jeremy ordered this thing called a... RACLETTE... Anywho... They didn't know how to explain so I just had to wait until they brought it out. But then they started setting up extension cords and I was just thinking "Oh man... This is hard core"

So they started setting it up and I was even more confused! Just this slice of cheese stuck there... What do you do???

And then they turned it on and it all made sense!!! It melts the cheese!!! I tried some and it was good

It was such a fun lunch!

I love how Mailys is eating in this one! Kids get so impatient... :)

By the end the cheese looked pretty odd...

Getting kinda burnt!

Oh and notice the lovely view... Haha

To get the last of the cheese, we asked for an egg and you crack it and then it kinda becomes like really cheesy scrambled eggs!

So when they came to drop Marine off, they were like saying the name of the city, Gilbert, like "Jill-Ber" cuz that is the French way... So we always laugh about that! And this little sugar had the same name! And it has a crown because Gilbert is awesome!

The pollution makes the buildings kinda a nasty black color...

So we went to this other little cathedral and they were kinda doing some construction on it... Notice the 2 towers (Haha Lord of the Rings again!)

New renovated one..

The old not so nice one... It bothered me because it felt really uneven!

And when doesn't France need a fountain of random guys statues??

The interior

We enjoyed getting to sit after walking all day... But I had trouble finding a seat...

This made me laugh becuse it is kinda like they are pawning off religion... A candle costs 2 euros/ $2.80! I think God would be giving um out free!

Secret trapped door where thy keep the orphans! I HATE ALL THE ORPHANS!

Down this street there was a sign for some lawyers or something and the name was "Merlin and Associates"! Seriously, I'm telling you! Disney movies all day!

This is the Senate...

The roads were all blocked off because there was gonna be a manifestation that day

S.W.A.T. teams at the ready!

And then we walked some more...

Just a quick (Haha quick... and then like the restuarant Quick) side note... Quick is terrible

McDonalds rocks France's socks!

Now back to the show...

Haha this is the first really ghetto car I've seen in France... I love how you have the pretty background of all the nice buildings and then this clunker!

Mopeds/ scooters are kinda a big deal cuz they can weave in and out of traffi and easier to find parking places for...

Smart Cars are also pretty efficient... "Smart Fart!" Kinda like slug bug but with Smart cars!

Haha this place was so junky and crappy so it was kinda a funny break from all the pretty things we had seen!

So these next pictures are mostly of just the area of the University and I don't know what everything is so I don't have a lot of commentary except that I just like the look of all of it!

This place was like a mini castle...

Complete with gating...

... and gargoyles! I know it's not a chimera because I can see the hole where the water drains out! Boom!

Police getting ready to take on the strikers!

And then back to Notre Dame!

Notre Dame was pretty cool! But I think it will always stay more magical in the movie :) Oh and I know it's fiction! I don't really think Quasimodo was actually there! Just by the way...

That was where we had walked up all the way earlier that day... It's all gated in

So seeing that the line had dissipated... We went inside!

My camera really didn't like the lighting in here so all the pictures are terrible but better than nothing... Right?

They all stood up for some reason...

It made me laugh seeing a TV in a really really old cathedral!

It made me laugh even more to see that they had a ton of them!

That's Jesus!

I would not want to be the person who had to carve all that!

Quasimodo!!! Haha I'm such a kid... I wanna watch the movie now :-)

Goodbye my gargoyle friends!

So I thought it was funny how they took the "Walt Disney" logo and turned it into "Paris Forever"! That kind of writing belongs to Walt and Walt only!

And of course the accordion player!

Then we just spent a little time wandering around this street...

Found a little mask shop...

Nicolas looks pretty creepy in this one...

Mailys is a cute little kitty! She was so begging to get this but it was way too expensive for something she will use once, leave on a shelf, and let it collect dust after that...

Cheese anybody???

The dumb car window lines kinda ruined this one but the Eiffel Tower at night is about the most beautiful thing I could imagine!

So after we went to Nicolas's brother's place to have dinner... More Lebanese food! :) Next we were headed to a friend of Pascaline's house where we would be staying for the rest of the week. Pascaline was driving and she wouldn't let Nicolas in and then she drove off but reversed it and he was just sitting on a stump waiting! Haha it was hilarious! It took a while for me to get my camera out but here is him finally getting to come in... Haha :)

We got a little lost trying to find the house but we eventually made it! We got there and we ended up sitting down and talking with the people for awhile. I was struggling to keep my eyes open but eventually I made it to bed. Mailys and I shared a room :)