Monday morning dawned cloudy and early as we left our apartment at 7 am. It is so easy to get up and go places when you don't have any small kiddos with you. We essentially only had to get ourselves ready. We hit the bakery after we headed out the door and indulged in croissants and pain au chocolate for breakfast. Wow, those pastries are a completely different product than what they make in the states. Like really. It is not the same thing, even at a so called French bakery here. I don't know how or why but I am sure it involves butter and it being freshly baked. It is amazing, and it is a good thing I don't live there so I can't indulge in those very often.
Up first was seeing the Notre Dame. This was lucky because there was a fire on April 15, 2019 and the cathedral just barely opened again almost 6 years later. It wasn't even open for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It opened in Dec of 2024. We felt lucky that we were able to go in. The renovations sure made it seem bright and clean in there.
Here is some info about Notre Dame from the Rick Steve's Paris guidebook:
NOTRE DAME
About 2,300 years ago, there was virtually nothing here at all. This was the humble island where the Parisii tribe lived, caught fish, and sold their catch at the place where the east-west river crossed a north-south road. When the Romans conquered the Parisii, they built their Temple of Jupiter where Notre-Dame stands today (52 BC). When Rome fell, the Germanic Franks sealed their victory by replacing the temple with the Christian church of St. Etienne. Around the year 800, the Frankish King Charlemagne (his big equestrian statue is to the right of the church) established the first glimmers of modern "France."
By the year 1200, visitors standing here would have seen a construction zone. The old Frankish church was being torn down and replaced with a more glorious structure renamed "Notre-Dame." Soon it was topped with a pointy spire atop the roof and two never completed steeples in front (the two stubby bell towers we see today).
By 1800, if you were still standing here, you'd be exhausted, but you'd also see a crumbling church weathered by the ages and neglect. The central spire had been removed (for fear it would fall over), and there were virtually no statues on the facade (having been damaged during the Revolution). The square in front was a tangle of ram-shackled medieval buildings, with Notre-Dame's bell towers rising above, inspiring Victor Hugo's story of a deformed bell-ringer who could look down on all of Paris. (The instant success of that book helped rally public interest in saving the building.)
In 1844, a 30-year-old architect named Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc began a massive renovation in the Neo-Gothic style. He put a new 300-foot spire atop the roof (echoing the origi-nal), and added more statues, including the fanciful gargoyles. After 800 years of work, Notre-Dame had become a truly glorious structure, the most famous Gothic church in the world. That was the church that stood here in 2019 when it caught fire...and Paris began writing yet another chapter in its story.
For centuries, the main figure in the Christian pantheon has been Mary, the mother of Jesus. Catholics petition her in times of trouble to gain comfort, and to ask her to convince God to be compassionate with them. This church is dedicated to "Our Lady" (Notre Dame), and there she is, cradling God, right in the heart of the facade, surrounded by the halo of the rose window. Though the church is massive and imposing, it has always stood for the grace and compassion of Mary, the "mother of God."
Imagine the faith of the people who built this cathedral. They broke ground in 1163 with the hope that someday their great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren might attend the dedication Mass, which finally took place two centuries later, in 1345. Look up the 200-foot-tall bell towers and imagine a tiny medieval com-munity mustering the money and energy for construction. Master masons supervised, but the people did much of the grunt work themselves for free--hauling the huge stones from distant quarries, digging a 30-foot-deep trench to lay the foundation, and treading like rats on a wheel designed to lift the stones up, one by one. This kind of backbreaking, arduous manual labor created the real hunchbacks of Notre-Dame.
This is a picture I found online of the fire in 2019. So so sad.
Love getting there early before the crowds.
So bright and clean!
The rose windows are always amazing
Love holding hands with my girl
The copper rooster that crowned Notre-Dame de Paris's spire, at a height of 96 meters, was believed to have been lost during the fire, but was found the next day in the rubble on one of the upper sections of the cathedral.
Although damaged by its fall, it became a symbol of Notre Dame de Paris's resilience.
It's easier to see the stained glass if you are further back. But still sad you can't see it that well
Those door ways are kinda creepy
Charlemagne
The poor gargoyle that looks so bored with all of us tourists
St. Denis
St. Denis Flanking the left doorway is a man with a misplaced head-that's St. Denis, the city's first bishop and patron saint. He stands among statues of other early Chris-tians who helped turn pagan Paris into Christian Paris. Sometime in the third century, Denis came here from Italy to convert the Parisii. He settled here on the Ile de la Cité, back when there was a Roman temple on this spot and Christianity was suspect. Denis proved so successful at winning converts that the Romans' pagan priests beheaded him as a warning to those forsaking the Roman gods. But those early Christians were hard to keep down. The man who would become St. Denis got up, tucked his head under his arm, headed north, paused at a fountain to wash it off, and continued until he found just the right place to meet his maker: Montmartre. The Parisians were convinced by this miracle, Christianity gained ground, and a church soon replaced the pagan temple.
The Kings of Judah In the days of the French Revolution (1789-1799), these biblical kings were mistaken for the hated French kings, and Notre-Dame represented the oppressive Catholic hierarchy. The citizens stormed the church, crying, "Off with their heads!" Plop--they lopped off the crowned heads of these kings with glee, creating a row of St. Denises that weren't repaired for decades.
But the story doesn't end there. A schoolteacher who lived nearby collected the heads and buried them in his backyard for safekeeping. There they slept until 1977, when they were accidentally unearthed. Today, you can stare into the eyes of the original kings in the Cluny Museum, a few blocks away.
The oldest feature inside the church is the blue-and-purple rose-shaped window in the north transept-still with its original medieval glass, though not viewable.
You couldn't see the main alter all that well, but I took the picture through the grate
I like the pipe organ even if it is covering the stained glass
Walked down to the Seine
Next was Sainte Chapelle. Here is some info from the guidebook. Sainte-Chapelle
This triumph of Gothic church architecture is a cathedral of glass like no other. It was speedily built between 1242 and 1248 for King Louis IX-the only French king who is now a saint to house the supposed Crown of Thorns (later moved to Notre-Dame's treasury and now in safekeeping since the fire). Its architectural harmony is due to the fact that it was completed under the direction of one architect and in only six years--unheard of in Gothic times. Notre-Dame took more than 200 years. Though the inside is beautiful, the exterior is basically functional. The muscular buttresses hold up the stone roof, so the walls are essentially there to display stained glass. The lacy spire is Neo-Gothic-added in the 19th century. Inside, the layout clearly shows an ancient régime approach to worship. The low-ceilinged basement was for staff and other common folks-worshipping under a sky filled with painted fleurs-de-lis, a symbol of the king. Royal Christians worshipped upstairs. The paint job, a 19th-century restoration, helps you imagine how grand this small, painted, jeweled chapel was. (Imagine Notre-Dame painted like this...) Each capital is playfully carved with a different plant's leaves.
Fiar lux. "Let there be light." From the first page of the Bible, it's clear: Light is divine. Light shines through stained glass like God's grace shining down to earth. Gothic architects used their new technology to turn dark stone buildings into lanterns of light. The glory of Gothic shines brighter here than in any other church. There are 15 separate panels of stained glass (6,500 square feet--two-thirds of its 13th-century original), with more than 1,100 different scenes, mostly from the Bible. These cover the entire Christian history of the world, from the Creation in Genesis (first window on the left, as you face the altar), to the coming of Christ (over the altar), to the end of the world (the round "rose"-shaped window at the rear of the church).
Instructions for stained glass making from a pamphlet in Sainte Chapelle:
Stained Glass Supreme Craftsmen made glass-which is, essentially, melted sand using this recipe: Melt one part sand with two parts wood ash. Mix in rusty metals to get different colors-iron makes red, cobalt makes blue, copper, green, manganese, purple, cadmium, yellow. Blow glass into a cylinder shape, cut lengthwise, and lay flat to cool
Cut into pieces with an iron tool, or by heating and cooling a select spot to make it crack.
Fit pieces together to form a figure, using strips of lead to hold them in place.
Place masterpiece so high on a wall that no one can read it.
It does seem so sad that so much of this art can't really be seen. It is very impressive though.
Altar The altar was raised up high to better display the Crown of Thorns, the relic around which this chapel was built. Notice the staircase: Access was limited to the priest and the king, who wore the keys to the shrine around his neck. Also note that there is no high-profile image of Jesus anywhere-this chapel was all about the Crown. King Louis IX, convinced he'd found the real McCoy, spent roughly the equivalent of €500 million for the Crown, €370 million for the gem-studded shrine to display it in (later destroyed in the French Revolution), and a mere €150 million to build Sainte-Chapelle to house it.
Is this St. Denis?
It is startling to me that 2/3rds of this is original to the 13th century.
Apparently there was a mistranslation that made it so Moses had golden horns or something. So we had to look for the horns everywhere.
Towards the back of the chapel
Is the king the church? Probably hard to tell from the sculptures.
So much smaller than Notre Dame but stunning, it is hard to get a view of the building from the outside, so I was glad to see this photo of it, so we could see what we were seeing so to speak.
This is the Palais de Justice complex, which is a working courthouse complex. It had quite a bit of security to get inside and even to be around. In this complex there is the Concierge, which is a historic building that was the former royal residence and later a prison during the French Revolution. It is my understanding that this is where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were held before their beheading.
After Sainte Chapelle, we headed over to a famous street for some souvenir shopping--Rue d'Arcole. We got some nice scarves for ourselves. It seemed like everyone in Paris had these thick, plaid warm scarves, so we got some for us and also for Miriam for taking our kids so long. We also got some fun things for our other kiddos. I hope they loved them. Of course when we came across a crepe maker, we had to get a sweet and two savory ones. They were amazing, and we even got to sit down while we ate them. Truly I feel inspired to make crepes even thinking about them.
Hôtel de Ville (City Hall)
We took a couple of months of French in Duolingo to prepare for this trip, which was great because then I really learned the words for cat, dog, and horse. I was so excited when I actually came across an ad with two words that I knew!
Next was the Musée de l'Armée (Army Museum), located in the Hôtel des Invalides. This was a massive museum that we didn't even really scratch the surface. When our friends the Jacobsons went to Paris a few months after us, they skipped the Louvre and spent an entire day here. I can't even imagine doing that, but I can see wanting to spend way more time than we did here. It was really impressive of what we did see of it.
This place is massive. We went to one place and was told we had to go to the opposite end to get official tickets. It was a bit of a walk.
Finally got a decent photo of the French flag
The golden dome is Napoleon's tomb.
The first exhibit we saw was WWI. The old time machine guns and cannons are really something.
This WWI coat was never washed and that is the actual mud from the trenches.
The two level rifle so that they could fire without exposing their heads out of the trenches.
The first tanks
WWII invasions, so terrifying to see how much of Europe Hitler conquered.
There was a fascinating video about WWII. It was hard to pull ourselves away from it.
Welbike folding motorcycle in its parachute drop container. I can't even imagine. I am going to jump from a plane and go find the motorcycle that we also dropped from the plane.
Reading about the destruction of the nuclear bombs. There were photos I had never seen before about this.
And there was even a dress up section to dress up like various conflicts' soldiers.
Napoleon's tomb. I can't help but think about how the French seem to think of Napoleon as this great leader, and the rest of the world seems to think badly of him. He was an invader.
NAPOLEON'S TOMB
Enter the church, gaze up at the dome, then lean over the railing and bow to the emperor lying inside the scrolled, red porphyry tomb. If the lid were opened, you'd find an oak coffin inside, holding another ebony coffin, housing two lead ones.. then mahogany, then tinplate.... until finally, you'd find Napo-leon himself, staring up, with his head closest to the door. When his body was exhumed from the original grave and transported here (1840), it was still perfectly preserved, even after 19 years in the ground.
Napoleon's red tomb on its green base stands 15 feet high in the center of a marble floor, circled by a mosaic crown of laurels and exalted by a glorious dome above.
Now, panning around the chapel, you'll find tombs of Napoleon's family. Despots are quick to make loyal family members part of their inner circle.
Circling the tomb on the crypt walls are relief panels showing Napoleon's constructive side. Dressed in toga and laurel leaves, he dispenses justice, charity, and pork-barrel projects to an awed populace.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
Born to Italian parents on the French-ruled isle of Corsica, Napoleon attended French schools, although he spoke the language with an Italian accent to the end of his days. He graduated from Paris' Ecole Militaire, where he trained in the latest high-tech artillery. His military career took an unexpected turn when the Revolution erupted (1789), and he chose to return to Corsica to fight royalist oppression.
In 1793, as commander of artillery, Napoleon besieged Toulon, forcing the royalists to surrender and earning his first great victory. He later defended the Revolutionary government from royalist mobs in Paris by firing a "whiff of grape-shot" into the crowd (1795). Such daring military exploits and personal charisma earned him promotions and the nickname "the Little Corporal"-not for his height (he was an average 5'7") but as a term of endearment from the rank and file. When he married the classy socialite Josephine Beauharnais, Napoleon became a true celebrity. In 1798, having conquered Italy and Egypt, Napoleon returned to Paris, where the weak government declared him First Consul--ostensibly as the champion of democracy, but in fact he was a virtual dictator over much of Europe. He was 29 years old.
During the next 15 years, Napoleon solidified his reign with military victories over Europe's kings--now allied against France. Under his rule, France sealed the Louisiana Purchase with America, and legal scholars drew up the Code of Napoleon, a system of laws still used by many European governments today. In 1804, his power peaked when he crowned himself emperor in a ceremony in Notre-Dame blessed by the pope. The Revolutionary general was now, paradoxically, part of Europe's royalty. Needing an heir to the throne, he divorced barren Josephine and married an Austrian duchess, Marie Louise, who bore him the boy known to historians as the "King of Rome."
In 1812. Napoleon decided to invade Russia, and the horrendous losses from that failed venture drained his power. Napoleon invaded Russia with 600,000 men and returned to Paris with 60,000 frostbitten survivors. Many of Europe's conquered nations saw their chance to pig-pile on France, toppling Napoleon and sending him to exile on the isle of Elba (1814). Napoleon escaped long enough to raise an army for a final hundred-day campaign before finally being defeated by British and Prussian forces at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). Guilty of war crimes, he was sentenced to exile on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he talked to his dog. studied a little English, penned his memoirs, spoke his final word-"Josephine"-and died. When Napoleon died, he was initially buried in a simple grave. The epitaph was never finished because the French and British wrangled over what to call the hero/tyrant. The stone simply read, "Here lies..."
The quartzite chosen by Louis Visconti for the sarcophagus is reminiscent of the red porphyry of Egypt, traditionally associated with ancient Roman emperors The sarcophagus contains five coffins: one made of tin, one in mahogany wood, two of lead, one in ebony wood, itted into each other around the body of Napoleon I (1769-1821).
Twelve monumental, winged women, the Victories sculpted by James Pradier, watch over the tomb. On the ground, the enamel foliage highlights the names of eight major victories of Napoleon I.
The chamber of relics, the cella, originally housed precious and personal objects belonging to Napoleon I, such as the hat of Eylau, the sword of Austerlitz or the collar of the Legion of Honour.
The golden marble statue of Napoleon I in great imperial costume, sculpted by Simart, is inspired by ivory and gold antique effigies.
The coffin of the Eaglet, son of Napoleon I and Marie-Louise of Austria, is beneath the ground. Napoleon II (1811-1832), separated from his father after his abdication in 1815, was brought up in Austria as Duke of Reichstadt. His body was transferred to the Invalides in 1940. He has been resting in the cella since 1969.
Next on our agenda for the day was some botanical gardens! Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil. The Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil, in the Bois de Boulogne, is one of the four centers of the City of Paris botanical garden. It was created in 1761, during the reign of the monarch Louis XV. Today, the elegant garden is organized around a vast French parterre. The five main glasshouses, with their late 19th-century architecture, overlook this central space. The garden houses collections of rare plants and remarkable trees, a palmarium, a beautiful aviary and reconstructions of ecosystems from every continent... to the delight of botany and horticulture enthusiasts (this describes us!). We didn't know that the gardens closed at 4 pm, which was just after we got there. We were still able to look around for a bit, but being garden people we could have spent a lot more time there.
It was a huge complex of greenhouses. I loved it!
I don't know what this flower is, but it's cool.
The birds in this enclosure were very fun to watch
There were so many artists around. They were mainly sketching.
Baby bananas
These greenhouses were massive. I loved the one dedicated to palms. We found a sign in English:
Palms According to Continent-A Geography of the World
Palm trees evoke the exotic. More than 2,400 species inhabit tropical or warm-temperate zones. They have adapted to the Amazon forest, to oases, to the savannahs of Africa and the beaches of the Pacific. This range of habitats is reflected in a diversity of styles. Palm trees are by definition woody but they can be large or small, tall or vine-like. The arrangement in this greenhouse is designed to illustrate the geography of palms.
We have a plant like that at home! I wonder if that purple flower is its bloom or many it just fell on it?
We snuck into this one. They were trying to close. :)
That is a large crown of thorns. Looking at all these plants is reminding me that I need to water my houseplants.
This looks like the same kind of succulent that we got from my mom!
I am sure that the outside gardens would have been lovely at a different time of year.
We found another greenhouse open!
Dinner that night was at a local place next to our metro station - Maison Sauvage on Victor Hugo circle. It was yummy, but I think it was a bit overpriced, especially considering some of the other meals we enjoyed on that trip. I do think I had the fanciest Caesar salad I have ever had though.
We tried some actual French macaroons after this. They were yummy than I expected. So many fun flavors.
Good ol' Victor Hugo circle. Felt like home.
Walking to our Seine boat tour.
It was chilly but gorgeous!
Palais Bourbon in Paris, France, the meeting place of the French National Assembly.
Louvre Palace at night
Louvre
Can still see some construction cranes at Notre Dame
Where the boat turned around at the Île de la Cité.
Paris is just so pretty
The image shows the Pont Saint-Michel bridge over the River Seine in Paris, France, at night. The bridge connects the Place Saint-Michel on the left bank of the Seine to the Île de la Cité. The current stone bridge was built in 1857 during the reign of Napoleon III and features the imperial insignia, the letter "N", on its arches.
Musee d'Orsay
The Eiffel Tower all lit up with the colors of France!
After Sainte Chapelle, we headed over to a famous street for some souvenir shopping--Rue d'Arcole. We got some nice scarves for ourselves. It seemed like everyone in Paris had these thick, plaid warm scarves, so we got some for us and also for Miriam for taking our kids so long. We also got some fun things for our other kiddos. I hope they loved them. Of course when we came across a crepe maker, we had to get a sweet and two savory ones. They were amazing, and we even got to sit down while we ate them. Truly I feel inspired to make crepes even thinking about them. 
Next was the Musée de l'Armée (Army Museum), located in the Hôtel des Invalides. This was a massive museum that we didn't even really scratch the surface. When our friends the Jacobsons went to Paris a few months after us, they skipped the Louvre and spent an entire day here. I can't even imagine doing that, but I can see wanting to spend way more time than we did here. It was really impressive of what we did see of it. 
