The City of Love

I have found Paris to be a wonderful city! It is so beautiful, lively and so very friendly (yes, we were rather surprised about that too—but it is true!)! I absolutely have fallen in love with everything here! It definitely does not have the incredible historic feel Rome has that I adore, but everything about Paris just feels so magical!

The first day in Paris we headed straight to Notre Dame! However before we made it to Notre Dame, we made a quick stop at La Sante-Chapelle. It was a beautiful small chapel with magnificent stained glass windows! They were the largest that I have ever seen and so beautiful!

After the chapel we finally found Notre Dame and what a sight it was! I was so excited to finally see it because I had been waiting for Notre Dame since the beginning of the trip and there it finally was! Her beautiful towers and flying buttresses seemed to be absolutely perfect!

Notre Dame from the side...so beautiful!

Me infront of Notre Dame

To get an even closer look at the beautiful church and a magnificent view of the city below, we climbed to the top of the towers! It was 470 steps on small spiraling staircases, but it was definitely worth it! At the top we got close-up views of the crazy gargoyles! One of them is called the “bored” gargoyle and he definitely was my favorite. I also think I saw another gargoyle who looked like one of the characters in Disney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

My favorite Gargoyle..."The Bored Gargoyle"

And the city was so beautiful! From the top of Notre Dame we also got our first glimse of the Eiffel Tower and many of the other buildings and beautiful churches! We even got to go to the bell tower and see the bell! It was pretty incredible and definitely reminded me of the “Hunchback of Notre Dame.” I really enjoyed the cathedral because of all the character it displayed. Even one of their statues looked as if they were ready to fall over and were trying to catch their balance…it was funny!

View of Paris from the top of Notre Dame

Me infront of the Bell in the bell tower

After getting down from the tower, we immediately got in line to enter the cathedral. Inside Notre Dame was so beautiful. It was so different than those in Italy because the decoration was plainer and instead of covering it with paint, they let the building’s structure be the beauty. Additionally, the stained glass windows were incredible, but of course I would expect nothing else.Inside Notre Dame

Again...Inside Notre Dame