Mardi=Tuesday

Notre-DameDay Two – Mardi (Tuesday)

Stephen knows how to pack it in – here are the highlights of yesterday…he also has been good at intermixing languages. He keeps people guessing with his mixed languages, English, Spanish, Korean, and he even said hello to a little boy in Chinese. He has been able to communicate using his Spanish when English doesn’t work! It is kind of comical at times.

First stop – Pantheon
The great and the good of France are buried here including Voltaire and Victor Hugo. Also Louis Braille. There were some cool modern art statues around as well.

Second up – Notre Dame
This great Gothic Cathedral was completed in 1334 (took 170 years to build). It represents the geographical heart of France. The details were amazing.

Stopped by a street vender for lunch and enjoyed a crepe.

Next – We tried to go to the Centre George Pompidou (home to the Paris Museum of Modern Art) but it is closed on Tuesday. We had fun admiring the exterior- the architects of the building startled everyone by turning the building “inside out”. The pipes are color coded and run along the outside of the museum: bright green for water, yellow for electricity, and blue for air conditioning. There is a cool fountain called the Stranvinsky Fountain located next to this Museum. It was inspired by composer Stravinsky’s ballet, The fire bird. The bird spins and sprays water. Our kids would have loved it – so we took lots of pictures!

The Louvre – We should have done a little more research, because we made the trek to the Louvre and found out it is closed on Tuesdays as well. We are planning on going there today.

We enjoyed a beautiful Fall walk along the Sein River on our way to see the outside of a few buildings. The Musee de Orsay (another art museum) and Hotel des Invalides (the building built to house the wounded solidiers of the 17th century – Napoleon Bonaparte’s body rests in a crypt directly below the golden dome).

We tried to go to a Jazz club for dinner and some Jazz music. When we found it, we saw that is was no longer in business. We eventually stopped in a McDonalds – because of our lack of French speaking we aren’t quite sure what we are getting into, so we opted for something we know. We aren’t that adventurous when it comes to food. Although McDonalds can be an adventure – I got the Paris salad.

We walked past the Saint-Chapelle on our way home. Something was going on with this building because there were three police with machine guns located at every door and two huge police vans loaded with police. This chapelle is called “a gateway to heaven”. It was built to house relics collected by St Louis on his many crusades. It is considered the most beautiful church in Paris because of the beautiful stained glass and domed roof.

Here we go for another day in beautiful Paris!

again with the metro music – it is really quite amazing how talented these people are.	Centre Georges Pompidou	Sein River Walk – the leaves on the ground are enormous!
Hotel des Invalides	Inside the Dome Church where Napoleon is burried.	Mini car
Stephen really wanted to go see “the Thinking Man”, but the Musee de Rodin was also closed!	Where we get our pan de chocolats by our hotel.	Saint Chapelle
Lots of stairs to get to the Metro, and I was worried about getting my exercise in!	Pan de Chocolat – good thing we are walking alot and going up and down stairs!	Stravinsky Fountain
Music on the Metro.	Pantheon	more details
Serious details on the building of Notre-Dame.	beautiful stained glass in Notre-Dame	Look at that chandelier!
First view of Notre-Dame inside. The ceilings are amazing with their Gothic design!	More detail on the door!	Crepes are good here!
Metro – our mode of transport!	more metro music – Jodi’s favorite!