Paris' Greatest Hits

Yesterday, we hit the big tourist sights -- Ile de la Cité and the Eiffel Tower.

Ile de la Cité is one of two islands in the middle of Paris and home to Notre Dame Cathedral so you can imagine the hordes of tourists.  Before checking out this iconic church, we decided to visit Sainte-Chappelle.  This chapel is famous its stained glass, but has special meaning to us because across the street from our flat in Glasgow is a church that was modeled after Sainte-Chappelle.  The two buildings have very similar exteriors, but our church does not have windows like these.

The windows in this chapel tell Biblical stories in intricate detail, beginning with Genesis.  The one below tells of the Passion of Christ.

This window was above the niche where the Queen Mother would sit and told the story of Judith who protected her people just as the Queen Mother protected the throne for her son, King Louis IX.  Between panels about Judith were depictions of castles near her home in Castile.

Ready for some lunch, we crossed over to Ile St-Louis for lunch in this cute café.

escargots

After wandering along the main street of this island, window shopping in the fun stores, we re-traced our steps to check out the exterior of Notre-Dame.  The gargoyles do not disappoint!  Since the line to get inside was interminable, we decided the outside was enough for us.

Then, the most famous of all -- the Eiffel Tour.  We arrived at sunset, so we saw the tower by day

and by night.

We opted to take the stairs up -- no line and a bargain!  The views surpassed our expectations -- what a great tourist attraction!!

Although being there at night this time of year meant returning to our apartment after midnight, it was worth it.  Iconic Paris -- amazing!