France Day 2: Notre Dame and the Best Cream Puffs in Paris

Hi! 

So, the plan was to do a breakdown of our France trip by day, but on day 2 we did quite a bit and took so many pictures that I can't combine it all in one "France: Day 2" post. What that means is that my France posts are going to drag on for what seems like forever, which is good for me and maybe bad for you. I don't want to leave anything out because I'm wanting to turn this blog into a book one day, so thank you in advance for sticking with me and all of my vacation recaps! 

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Monday, August 18th

This day was one of my favorite days! After a long day in Versailles the day before, we were exhausted. However, we all woke up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to go. We started off our morning with breakfast in the hotel. I wish I had gotten pictures of the breakfast foods that they served! They had cold cuts, cheeses, all kinds of pastries including my new favorite thing- a chocolate croissant, eggs, sausage, bacon, fruit...you get the picture. We feasted like royalty that morning! 

After breakfast we met our tour guide Marian for our walking tour of Paris! I had been looking forward to this day because I was anxious to get out and about in Paris. I have been to Europe before (Italy) and loved it so much and I was curious about how I was going to feel about Paris. I loved it. There is just something about the way you feel while in Europe that can't be explained.

My mama and our hotel.

We walked to the closest metro station (Paris's underground subway system), boarded, and headed to Notre Dame. 

Sweet sisters, Cindy and LeMoyne. And Melinda with her adorable red Kate Spade bag.

The cathedral of Notre Dame!

We didn't tour the inside since we didn't have tickets and the line was outrageous, but we learned about the sculptures on the outside as well as the construction. It was crazy to me that there were dozens of full sized statues on this building, such amazing detail! Construction started on Notre Dame in 1163 and wasn't completely finished until 1345! So, for 182 years, someone was working on this cathedral!

The middle doorway/arch held my favorite depiction. It was a scene of Judgement Day with the angel Michael on the "Heaven" side and Satan on the "Hell" side. 

Michael and Satan are holding the scales to weigh people's lives and decide if they belong in Heaven or Hell. The people chained on the right side are all going to Hell, while the people looking up to God on the left side are going to Heaven. This image goes to show that anyone is capable of going to Hell, even Kings and Queens, as shown by the people with crowns on their heads. Notice the little demon near Satan's legs pulling down on the scales, trying to send more people to Hell. Asshole. 

Can you believe the detail in that sculpture? All for the outside of a cathedral! It really is amazing.

I thought the gargoyles looked really cool. Also, did you know that gargoyles aren't just for looks, but they are there for water runoff? I had no idea!

The third one is my favorite. They look creepy and I love creepy things.

The side view of Notre Dame. There were flowers everywhere in France and everything was so green, it was wonderful!

I have to add that the weather was absolutely perfect while we were in France! High 60's to low 70's almost the entire time! We got really lucky with that.

After Notre Dame we looked in a couple of tourist shops and had the best cream puffs in France! There are little crepe stations like this all around Paris, I'm not complaining!

Our tour guide was so awesome! She asked, "Do you want to try the best cream puffs in town?" Duh! Apparently, Paris has all kinds of food competitions and the chef who owns this little place won the competition for best cream puff in all of Paris.

You guys. That thing was GOOD.

Continuing along with our tour guide. So many things in Paris to see!

So, Notre Dame and cream puffs is where I'm going to stop!

Next post: The Love Bridge!