Paris- Day 3 and Last Day

 Last full day in Paris. How can the days fly by so quickly here? 

I knew what was in store today, and I was pretty excited. 

Ever since the boat tour on day 1, I was SUPER excited to see Notre Dame up close and personal! I knew there was going to be a lot of walking again, we decided to ride the hop on hop off bus all the way around to Notre Dame. Which because of traffic, ended up being the wrong idea! It took SO long to get there! This next picture was a last minute picture, but wanted to remember the laugh I got. Everywhere there was construction on buildings they would put up a fake facade so that it wouldn't ruin the ambience of the touristy area!  

Along our bus ride we drove past Church of the Madeleine

 We also went by  the Opera Garnier. Which WILL be a stopping point next visit. I wish we had more time to go inside! STUNNING!!!! This is a very famous opera house, mainly because this is where the setting of Phantom of the Opera takes place.  

 We finally arrived at Notre Dame!!!!! 

I was so impressed by the tiniest details EVERYWHERE on this building. I could have taken a close up of every part of this building! 

 The main doors(that aren't used anymore). 

 Inside didn't disappoint. First off we were super excited to see that the ginormous line actually moved really quickly, and secondly we were also excited to find out that it was FREE to see the inside of this amazing building! Like most cathedrals, it was pretty dark inside, but it made the stained glass illuminate even more brilliantly! 

 I LOVED the stained glass throughout!

 One of the long hallways along side the main nave. 

Along the ambulatory.  

It really wasn't that light, but I took the picture this way to show the beautiful arches!

 Us with the main nave behind us!

 Things that I learned and was amazed at while walking though:

1-it is still a very active church

2- it is over 800 years old

3-construction was started in 1160 AD and took over 100 years to "complete". 

4- the completed state of the cathedral is a compilation of many different buildings that were added onto the original. So it actually wasn't "done" until the 19th century!

I was excited to stand in a not-so-fast moving line and PAY to go to the top of Notre Dame.  There conveniently was a crepe stand right across the road from the long line. We couldn't resist! 

It was finally our turn to head up the tight spiral staircase!

This next picture shows where we were when taking the next group of pictures!

We were able to walk along the whole front of the cathedral! 

A close up of the first viewing area

The view from the top looking down into the square below!

 A few of the gargoyles along the top. It was interesting to see some that were human-like and others were a mix of beasts and creatures! 

 This is one of the reasons we didn't go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. This is the type of picture you want. With the river and the tower in the background! :)

 We were able to go inside one of the bell towers where the biggest of the bells are hung.

 This beast of a bell was built 300 years ago, and weighs 13 tons. The tongue (the part that strikes the outer part weighs over 1000 lbs. It only rings on major holidays. The other tower(not open to visitors) houses  4 other bells that ring on the hour!

 I loved looking out onto Paris. I am very use to seeing the iconic red roofs of old towns in Eastern Europe. So to see such a monochromatic landscape was a different view for me!

 This is one of my favorite pictures I took from Notre Dame!

We then made our way up an even more tight spiral staircase to the top of the south tower!

A close up of the viewing area on the south tower!

This is looking towards the north tower.

 We were able to walk all the way around the top square of the tower!

It was such a great view of the building. 

You could totally see the different sections that were added on!

 Notre Dame was one of the first buildings in the world to use flying buttresses! 

 Jared and I also LOVED the rounded corners of the beautiful buildings! 

 Checking out the city below the south tower!

 After coming down 400 spiral steps I MADE IT!!!!! 

Thanks to Push It Gym for keeping me strong even at 27 weeks pregnant! 

Coming down I had to stop a few times only because I was getting dizzy! :)

 I was really happy with our tour of Notre Dame!

 Jared had read an advertisment in one of the hotel magazines of a little store that sells a huge variety of eclairs. No one at the hotel could give us exact directions, but gave us a general idea of the whereabouts of this store. This was one place Jared really wanted to try to find. So after Notre Dame we set out not knowing where we were going. 

We walked and walked, and passed some more beautiful buidlings...

...and WALKED until we actually found the tiny little store! 

Jared was in heaven!!!!!! Check out the choices!

 $8 later we walked out with 2 eclairs(ouch). 

Jared's was a passion fruit one, and mine was a caramel!

We then headed back towards a hop on hop off bus stop.  

And found some really cool pedestrian only streets.

 And a random water fountain!

After all the walking I just needed to ride for a bit! So we decided to take a different loop around to see different parts of Paris

This was one of the things we saw

Jared actually got REALLY excited about this next photo.

It really just looks like a boring picture of the side of a street, but to Jared he got giddy! 

He told me "thats the exact spot where Jason Bourne(from the Bourne Identity) was sitting in his car while in Paris!" Only my husband would recognize that! :)

Then after a long day we headed back to our hotel for our last night! While at the hotel I decided to pull out the pamphlet to read a little more history of Notre Dame. I had a good laugh when I got to the back and read this:

"this visit is not recommend for pregnant women" ... I showed you!!!!!

The next morning we were up bright and early and were the first in the restaurant for a quick breakfast before we headed to the airport.  We decided that even though it was expensive, it would be a lot easier to just take a taxi to the airport. 

This was our taxi...fitting right?

 At the airport waiting to see if we make it on the flight!

 We made it and actually were in the middle seats that are next to each other! 

I was pretty tired, and used my sleeping mask early and took a nap!

 Jared waited until the lights were off and fell right asleep!

 Here is a screenshot of the areas we visited in Paris. 

You can see our 2nd hotel was in a GREAT location!

Click to see it larger!

Things we learned in Paris:

1-The thought of how the French aren't very friendly to those who don't speak French is very false. The people we came in contact with were VERY friendly and did their best to help me with what I needed! Most the shop owners were actually VERY concerned that I was SO pregnant and on vacation! :)

2-Jared thought most of Paris was going to be like the area around the Moulin Rouge. Not so! 

3- Parisian drivers are CRAZY!!!! That was one thing I like about riding the Hop On Hop Off bus was sitting on the top watching the insane drivers. I would just sit and laugh at how there should be more accidents! Even the places they would park made me laugh! 

4- Paris was never on the top of our "Must See" list, but we were both SUPER surprised at how much we loved the city! We've even said things like "when we go back, we should..." 

For not having any real plans, our trip was perfect for us! I still can't believe that I have been to Paris! It was so quick, but all of it was amazing, even all the walking! 

Happy Early 10 Year Anniversary Babe!!!!!!

Thanks for the AMAZING trip!

Both to Paris and the last 10 years!!!!