Hi everyone! Ann Taylor here. We split this trip’s blogging responsibilities in half, so it’s up to me to take you through the second half of our trip. I’ll apologize in advance for not being quite as detailed as Dan. 🙂
On Wednesday morning, we got up bright and early to head to Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame for a 9am tour of Gothic Paris. Dan mentioned Context Tours earlier this week, and today we had a private tour of Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, and the Conciergerie, given by an art history professor from the American University in Paris. The tour of Notre Dame was extremely detailed and interesting, and we learned lots of neat facts about the decor, sculptures, and history of the cathedral. We have never had a private tour of something before, so it was really nice to have that personalized attention. I particularly admired the famous rose windows of Notre Dame and was definitely looking forward to seeing more lovely stained glass at Sainte-Chapelle later on.
Our tour of Notre Dame did not involve a climb to the top, but we came back for that later. With our guide, we moved along to Sainte-Chapelle, a lovely little two-story chapel commissioned by Louis IX around 1240 to house his relics of the Passion of Christ — a collection of items including pieces of Christ’s cross and his crown of thorns. (Apparently the crown of thorns is still houses in Notre Dame today and is brought out for adoration on the first Friday of each month and Good Friday.) Sainte-Chapelle is definitely a grand exhibit of Gothic architecture and art, and the famous stained glass windows alone are worth the visit. I was really impressed to find out that they are all pretty much original to the chapel. Thirteenth century stained glass is not something we see every day in New York. After Sainte-Chapelle, we swung through the Conciergerie, formerly part of a royal palace but best known as a prison during the time of the French Revolution. Some 2800 prisoners, including Marie Antoinette, were held there pending trial and execution by La Guillotine. While we admired the Gothic architecture, we also saw recreations of what the place would have looked like as a prison, the various types of rooms that prisoners could have had depending on their ability to pay for extra comforts like beds, blankets, and writing desks, and a special room recreating Marie Antoinette’s stay there. It was fascinating and creepy, all at the same time.
After our tour, it was time for lunch at Au Bourgnat, a lovely little bistrot on Ile de la Cite. The food was excellent, and I continued to help Dan avoid death by nuts, although most of the time I have no idea what waiters are saying to us. My high school French has come in pretty handy thus far, and as long as I keep repeating “pas de noix!” I think we’ll be all set. Fortified by lunch, we returned to Notre Dame. Our morning tour did not include a visit up to the top, but seriously…if I came all this way, I’m definitely climbing to the top to see the gargoyles. Four hundred twenty-two steps later, we emerged at the very top of the South Tower and had stunning panoramic views of Paris. The rain held off (thankfully — more on that later) and we had fun picking out landmarks and admiring the view.
After that, we starting walking north and ended outside the Louvre, where we took a quick “we were here” photo and then moved on towards Montmartre in the northern part of Paris. It was quite a hike, and we took a few wrong side streets here and there, but part of the fun of being in Paris is just wandering in different neighborhoods to see what you can see. On our way, we stumbled across a car on fire in the Place de la Concorde and waited around while the firetruck arrived and saved the day. We finally made it up to Montmartre and got to visit Basilica de Sacre Coeur, which is a stunning white basilica on top of a hill. The guidebooks all liken it to the Spanish Steps in Rome, where you can get stunning views of the city. Far off in the distance, we saw Notre Dame, where we had been just a bit earlier. At this point, I was wishing for a FitBit or something to figure out how far we had walked! Daily Mass was being said at Sacre Coeur, so we didn’t intrude for long, but it was well worth the visit.
From there, we had dinner reservations at Sacree Fleur, a delicious steak-focused place just a few streets away. The owner/waiter was super nice, and incredibly patient with my amateur French. He refused to speak English with me and taught me some new French phrases. Dan and I started with an assorted cheese plate, since we realized we had been in Paris for more than 24 hours without having any delicious French cheeses, and then had beef filets with frites and salad for main courses. Everything was absolutely amazing. The filets came with a trip of three sauces and I think we both agreed that the shallot sauce was by far the best.
Dessert was a molten lava cake for Dan and an apple tart en flambé for me. I had seen the table next to me order a desert that the waiter set on fire, so of course I had to order that as well. It was quite yummy, and from what I saw, Dan was pretty pleased with his chocolate cake as well.
After that, we just headed back to our hotel to get some good rest before our day at the French Open on Thursday. Our dinners in Paris have been lovely and memorable, but we’ve had to get used to European dinners that take 3+ hours. We’ve definitely been up later than normal this week and had some very full days, but it’s all so worth it. I did underdress for this trip in terms of warmth though, since it has been much colder than I expected and I only brought a couple of blazers. Thankfully I packed several scarves, which seems to be the accessoire de ce moment here in Paris, so I fit right in. I do not know how French and British ladies straighten their hair, though. It has been so dreary and rainy that my hair has been a big frizz ball every day. Oh well. I think the weather will be a bit warmer in the next day or two, and hopefully we’ll see the sun. Tomorrow we are off to Roland-Garros for Round Two of the French Open, and we should be able to see Rafael Nadal. A demain!