Viva La France
After the insane past two days, we slept great all through the night. We got a little later start than normal because our first stop was Saint Chapelle and it doesn't open until 9am. I got up at around 7:30am and did most of the blog post from the day before. Eventually, Lacey woke up too and we left the apartment at around 8:30am. We went to a patisserie just a few minutes from our place and got our first PASTRIES! YES! These were the things both of us were probably looking forward to most food-wise. I got a pain au chocolat and Lacey got a croissant. Both were so so so good.
We made our way to the subway and took it a few stops to the same area we started in yesterday (like in the middle by the mall). Our first stop was Saint Chapelle. It's a church very close to Notre Dame built around 1200 AD. It's most famous for its huge stained glass windows. The bottom level is only about 10 feet tall and unassuming. Then you climb a small spiral staircase and it explodes open to a church about 60 feet tall with stained glass windows from floor to ceiling and chandeliers and it's gorgeous. We spent some time just soaking it in and looking at all the stained glass panels.
Our next stop was walking along the Seine River to the Musee D'Orsay. To grind my grears, Lacey likes to call it "Orsay Dorsay". This museum holds a lot of paintings from the early 1800s to the early 1900s. We wanted to go here to see the impressionist style paintings. I really liked the paintings and Lacey liked seeing the sculptures. The museum used to be a train station so it was cool to walk around and see how they converted it. We were feeling a little tired and low on energy at the end of the museum so we went to the cafe there and got a cappuccino and orange juice. Having the cappuccino made Lacey feel very French haha.
After that energy boost, we walked across the river on the "love lock" bridge. Couples bring locks here and lock them on the bridge and throw the key into the river. This symbolizes that their love can't be broken I guess. We didn't bring a lock haha.
Across that bridge is a huge garden called the Tuileries. We loved walking through the park and hanging out in comfy chairs by the pond. Next, we walked over to Place de la Concorde. This is a giant square with an Egyptian obelisk in it. We grabbed some crepes from here because we were getting hungry. I asked for a banana and Nutella crepe but they forgot the banana. Lacey got a savory ham and cheese crepe that kind of tasted burned. Sort of a lunch fail.
We walked alllll the way down the Champs Elysees after that. It's the famous road with shops and parks and cafes and lots of cars. Lacey had us stop in the Louis Vuitton flagship store. At the end of the Champs Elysees is the Arc de Triomphe. It was beautiful! We hung out at the foot of the arch and watched the world go by.
On the way to our final stop of the daytime (the Eiffel Tower), we made a pit stop at a market and got some more pastries for an after lunch snack. These were much better than our crepes earlier. We ate our pastries while sitting at the Trocadero which overlooks the Eiffel Tower from the North. It was a little annoying because there were some cranes in the way of our view but c'est la vie. We took some pictures and walked over the Bir-Hakeim bridge to get a different view of the Tower. There were some wedding photos happening over there which were kind of fun to watch.
We took the subway home and got a much, much-needed nap. Seeing how this post is already super duper long, I'll post about the night time of Friday separately. Friday during the day was absolutely totally fantastic though. We saw soooo many different things and had a blast together.
We made our way to the subway and took it a few stops to the same area we started in yesterday (like in the middle by the mall). Our first stop was Saint Chapelle. It's a church very close to Notre Dame built around 1200 AD. It's most famous for its huge stained glass windows. The bottom level is only about 10 feet tall and unassuming. Then you climb a small spiral staircase and it explodes open to a church about 60 feet tall with stained glass windows from floor to ceiling and chandeliers and it's gorgeous. We spent some time just soaking it in and looking at all the stained glass panels.
Our next stop was walking along the Seine River to the Musee D'Orsay. To grind my grears, Lacey likes to call it "Orsay Dorsay". This museum holds a lot of paintings from the early 1800s to the early 1900s. We wanted to go here to see the impressionist style paintings. I really liked the paintings and Lacey liked seeing the sculptures. The museum used to be a train station so it was cool to walk around and see how they converted it. We were feeling a little tired and low on energy at the end of the museum so we went to the cafe there and got a cappuccino and orange juice. Having the cappuccino made Lacey feel very French haha.
After that energy boost, we walked across the river on the "love lock" bridge. Couples bring locks here and lock them on the bridge and throw the key into the river. This symbolizes that their love can't be broken I guess. We didn't bring a lock haha.
We walked alllll the way down the Champs Elysees after that. It's the famous road with shops and parks and cafes and lots of cars. Lacey had us stop in the Louis Vuitton flagship store. At the end of the Champs Elysees is the Arc de Triomphe. It was beautiful! We hung out at the foot of the arch and watched the world go by.
On the way to our final stop of the daytime (the Eiffel Tower), we made a pit stop at a market and got some more pastries for an after lunch snack. These were much better than our crepes earlier. We ate our pastries while sitting at the Trocadero which overlooks the Eiffel Tower from the North. It was a little annoying because there were some cranes in the way of our view but c'est la vie. We took some pictures and walked over the Bir-Hakeim bridge to get a different view of the Tower. There were some wedding photos happening over there which were kind of fun to watch.
We took the subway home and got a much, much-needed nap. Seeing how this post is already super duper long, I'll post about the night time of Friday separately. Friday during the day was absolutely totally fantastic though. We saw soooo many different things and had a blast together.
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