Paris Day Twelve

Wow, I have one more full day in Paris.  I'll be leaving on Wednesday, technically 15 days after landing in Paris.  I have to tell you the Paris posts will last for a little while longer, I have some French topics and idiosyncrasies that I haven't attacked in my daily "what's going on" posts for everyone to share. 

We set the alarm this morning.  I know - it shocked us also!  First thing, we headed to Angelina's for a french breakfast of croissants, rolls with butter (creamy, rich, salty butter) and fruit spreads, coffee for me and hot chocolate for Kim.  Then well fortified with white flour and sugar we headed to Notre-Dame hoping to beat the lines.

Too late! One hour and 10 minutes later, we were climbing the stairs to the towers of Notre-Dame.  My patience for lines has noticeably diminished over the years.  But then we got to climb 400 stairs so that woke us up again for the views.

Views of both gargoyles and the city!

We learned that the long gargoyles coming out of Notre-Dame are actually cleverly disguised water features, to drain rainwater.  You can see this in the next picture, there is an opening through their mouths.

We got to see "Emmanuel", the cathedral's largest bell.  The bell is only rung on catholic feast days, there are smaller bells that ring many times a day.  It was too big even for a picture!

The doors into the bell tower were small.

Now, one would think that if you paid for the tour and waited in line for the tour, you would see all of Notre-Dame.  No such luck, we only climbed into the towers and back down and then would have had to stand in this line, which we could see from above, to actually see the chapel, and there the patience ended. 

We did not see the chapel, so here is the last picture of Notre-Dame.

After Notre-Dame we wondered the Latin Quarter a bit more and visited the flower market again.  The only year around flower market.  The hydrangeas were just spectacular.  I could have stood there all day.  They seem to have a very wide growing ability here.  I see trees and flowers that were very common in North Carolina, along with what we can grow in Wyoming.  Plus, I've seen flowers that I found in Hawaii also. 

The other thing we did today was go on a boat tour of the Seine river.  It was an hour tour and was an enjoyable way to see the buildings along the bank and enjoy the day.

Today we had a low energy day and are having an enjoyable snack dinner and wine at home while blogging evening, with an early bedtime so we can have lots of energy for tomorrow.  Last chance for historic sites, chocolate stores, patisseries, gathering gifts for home, and eating my way through Paris!