Notre Dame

For class on Wednesday we took our Cultural Outing to the Notre Dame Cathedral. We took the metro to an area near the Cathedral, but walked around quite a while before actually going in. Claude showed us the Latin Quarter, where there is some amazing history and shopping. Here we saw Shakespeare and Company and a cafe where many intellectuals spent a lot of their time writing and holding discussions.

We spent a little time in a park right across from the Notre Dame. This park holds Paris's oldest tree (according to Claude), it was planted in the early 1600s and is still standing (though it is partially filled with cement to keep it up). Here there were also some beautiful plants, some of the best smelling roses I have ever come across.

Before heading into Notre Dame, Claude took us down to the Crypte, which is a little museum that holds the ruins of the beginning of Paris. They had a bunch of examples of what Paris looked like before, what the ruins previously looked like, and it was pretty incredible what they could build with such little technology.

When we finally entered the Cathedral, I lost my breath for a second. It is so beautiful, I cannot even fully explain. The Cathedral took 200 years to build, but seems to be worth every second of labor. It is so intricate and stunning, I could have sat in there for the entire day. The stained glass work was by far my favorite part, the light it brings in is so wonderful. Though we were not supposed to take pictures, I did sneak a few of the stained glass work. I also saw a nun taking pictures, so I didn't feel too bad about it. The Cathedral also holds a bunch of tombs in it, I'm not sure if they are past Cardinals or what, but even the caskets were incredibly intricate.

After Notre Dame a few of us decided to stay in the Latin Quarter and walk around and shop before heading back home. We spent some time in little touristy shops before taking the Metro to a random stop. We got off to walk the rest of the way home, not realizing how far we actually were from home. About 10 minutes after getting above ground it started to rain. Luckily I had brought my umbrella, but David stole it quite quickly. He meant to hold it and share with me, but his legs are far longer than mine and he was continually leaving me in the dust. We decided to take shelter under a small roofed area until the rain let up. When it finally did we continued walking along the same street, which has some wonderful shopping. We saw Chanel and the Louis Vitton headquarters (so we only did some window shopping).

When we were almost home we all decided that we were quite hungry, so we decided to stop at a pizzeria that we pass every day on our way to the metro. We got a 4-cheese pizza and it was so insanely good. I wish that America used as many cheeses as they do here, they really strike my fancy! We've decide that the pizzeria will become our hang out for the remainder of our time here.