Passport to Paris: Day 6

We woke up super early this morning to get into the city. Our first stop was Sainte-Chapelle. It is a beautiful church known for its stainglass windows. While on the train I was reading my rick steves guidebook and trying to learn the history of some of the places we were going to be visiting. I read that this chapel was originally build to house the alleged crown of thorns! Yes, the crown of thorns that Christ wore. Of course one can not be absolutely certain that it is thee crown of thorns but after doing a little research it seems pretty possible. They have documentation of this relic that dates back to 406 A.D. If you are interested Wikipedia has some info on it. I thought it was pretty interesting. Anyways the crown is now kept in vaults at Norte Dame and is brought out on Good Friday and at 3pm on the first Friday of every month for public viewing. Guess what today happened to be? The first Friday of the month. I was pretty excited at the possibility of seeing the crown of thorns. Anyways we headed to Sainte-Chapelle, it took us a while to get in because you had to go through tight security since it also happens to be in the same area as the government buildings. It was worth it, although the church was small the windows were really a sight to see. The sun was shinning through them illumination them even more. I loved it!

After that we walked a few blocks over to the Notre Dame. I was hoping to go up on the roof... that didn't happen. It had only been open for under a hour and the line was really long. People estimated it was a three hour line. At first I didn't believe it, it didn't look that long. So we waited a good thirty minutes and moves a who thirty inches. I decided it was not worth it, we heard someone say they came an hour before it opened and they still had to wait over an hour to go to the top. Maybe I'll do it on my next trip to Paris :) I was able to find "point zero" though. Apparently it is center of the city of Paris and I believe use to be the center of France as well? 

 After the Notre Dame we went to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed the stairs up to the top (much easier climb than St Peter's Basilica but still pretty exhausting, those French pastries are getting to me.) The view from the top we gorgeous! I was really impressed with how much green there is in Paris. When you go to the Top of the Rock in NYC all you see is buildings and streets except for Central Park. But here you could see a lot of green areas that are public parks. I loved that. I wish I could have visited them all! I also liked seeing the star that the roads make leading up to the Arch. 6 street all diverging into one large round about around the Arch. Cool to see, not so fun to drive I bet.

After the Arch we walked to the Opera De Paris - Palais Garnier. It houses the Paris Opera but I was more interested in seeing it because it's the Opera house that inspired the Phantom of the Opera! I wish I could have gone in and seen the grand staircase, but they weren't allowing tours. Another thing to do when I go back next summer ;-)

After the Opera we headed to the Louvre. I enjoy seeing paintings that I recognize from humanities and such and I appreciate are but I am not a huge art buff. Maybe one day, but that day is not today. And so for that reason, and the fact that we had my 5 year old cousin I decided we would only see 2 piece of art. It would be an in and out mission today. By the way, the Lourve is not air conditioned and there are a lot of people, a lot of warm, sweaty, smelly people... I do not recommend spending a whole day there in the summer.

First stop was the sculpture venus de milo

 Then of course the Mono Lisa. Even after seeing her I would still love to know what about her makes her so famous. The painting itself is pretty small, but she sure had a lot of people wanting to see her. It was nuts!! I was separated from my Aunt while I went to take a picture up close. After that I couldn't find her for 10 minutes. I had no cell phone to call her and I was unsure of how to proceed. I was actually comfortable enough that I could have left and went on to my next destination alone, then back home and I would have been fine. However, I didn't want her to spend all night searching the Louvre for me. Luckily after about 10 minutes of standing still in one place, she found me. I was ready to go, but surprisingly my little cousin was pretty interested in all the art. So we took our time finding the way out. Next time I go back I will spend more time there, probably do the Rick Steve's guide. It was amazing how many familiar art pieces I saw just walkig through. I'll be anxious to go back and spend a little more time there, but only when it is cool and not so crowded.

After the Louvre we strolled though a park to get to the metro. I stopped at a Paul's kiosk and got my favorite treat, pain au chocolat. Which is like crescent bread with chocolate in the middle. Sooo tasty!

 

 (Just a pretty view of Paris)

We made the trek back to the Notre Dame so I could try to see the crown of thorns. When I walked in I was a little confused. There was a service going on. It seemed to be a mass with the priests leading but it was all in French so I couldn't understand. Then I went and asked someone where the crown of thorns could be seen. They said it was part of the service. I was still confused. I finally went and asked a priest if I had to be catholic to see the crown. He said "you wish to venerate?" What the heck does that mean? I just assumed I would say yes and see what happened. So once I told him I wanted to venerate he lead me to a seat and told me I would be called up when it was my rows turn. I later found out the venerate means to hold something in high esteem, so that conversation now makes sense. When my row was called to wait in the line I started getting concerned over what I was suppose to do when I got to the alter. Was I suppose to touch it, do the catholic hand prayer? I had no idea, I really just wanted to look. As I got closer I noticed everyone was kissing it (it was inside a plastic like casing.) I didn't want to kiss it, to many germs, and kind of weird to me. After each person kissed it the priest had a cloth that he would then wipe the "germs" away with. In this moment I was wishing I was catholic or had studying Catholicism so I knew what would be appropriate. I finally got up and leaned my head into the crown but didn't put my lips on it. Haha. It was just one of those moments in life. I have a friend from high school and college (Laurissa) who loves watching people have awkward/chaotic moments. I usually do too, until I am in one of those moments. This was for sure one of them. But despite all of the awkward confusion it was still a pretty neat experience.

When I got out of the Notre Dame it got a little stormy. We took cover in a littler neighborhood that reminded me a lot of Rome. I got a panini and we ate our dinner in the rain and people watched. It was a lot more fun that it sounds I guess. Then we headed back to Creitel. On the way home we stopped for a crepe to end the day on a high note... oh how I miss the food in France....