Paris: le deuxième jour- Notre Dame, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower

Wow, we did so much walking and saw so many sights in Paris today! This morning, we took the Metro/RER into the city, and we were immediately in front of Notre Dame. This cathedral is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.

The beautiful Seine River!

Notre Dame!

Nate and I

I tried to fit all of us in.

Statue outside of the cathedral

Didn't realize that I ended up taking a picture of a random guy in front of it. Didn't know he was there. Oops.

The sun shining between the towers was gorgeous.

The inside of Notre Dame was unbelievable. The stained glass and architecture were just amazing.

This was an original light fixture

Notre Dame was built in 1164!

Notre Dame is so beautiful!

Brooke with her chocolate-banana crepe

Our first view of the Eiffel Tower!!

Nate thinks that the Louvre is huge!

Brooke in front of one of the sides of the Louvre!

The Palais du Louvre was built as a fortress in the 12th century, and over time it was built into the palace that exists today. The royal family moved out when Louis XIV decided to build Versailles, but the palace was kept as a governmental house. Currently, the Louvre holds 35,000 works of art!

Waiting in line!

The first room we saw once we were inside of the Louvre... gorgeous sculptures!

Code of Hammurabi- a Babylonian law code from 1700BC. It states 282 Babylonian laws and the punishments for breaking them. So fascinating!

Egyptian antiquities

Ancient Greek jewelry.

Even the ceilings and walls were gorgeous.

French crown jewels

The Winged Victory of Samothrace

A fresco by Botticelli: Venus et les Trois Graces

The heart of the Louvre: da Vinci's Mona Lisa

Us with the Mona Lisa in the background

The Wedding Feast at Cana by Veronese

A piece by Raphael

Captive (The Dying Slave), by Michelangelo

Psyche and Cupid, by A. Canova

Another beautiful ceiling

Aphrodite, known as Venus de Milo

Remnants of the Louvre as a fortress.

A model of what the Louvre looked like as a fortress.

L'Hôtel des Invalides: famous in part because a mob stole thousands of rifles in 1789 before storming the Bastille, starting the French Revolution

Here it is!

View from the middle viewing platform! Pretty high up... but an amazing view of the city! Being on the Eiffel Tower at sunset was so beautiful.

Nervous about going all the way to the top! Eek...

Suddenly, the Tower lit up!

Then the sparkly lights came on and started flashing! So pretty. It only lasted a few minutes, though.

Taking the elevator up from the second viewing platform to the top! Glass elevator... so scary!

So high up! 896 feet down from the third viewing platform... almost 83 stories!

What a fantastic day! We did so much... Paris is amazing! I know this post has a ton of pictures in it, and I'm sorry that it took forever to get through them, but I just couldn't resist! There's so much history, and considering that we toured three major sites in Paris today, I took tons of pictures. Tomorrow we're going to the air show out at le Bourget airport... should be a blast! That post should be up soon!

Bon soir!
Annie