An Historic Walk through Paris

After a horrible travel experience, we finally got a good night's rest and woke up ready to take in Paris on our first full day there. We had breakfast at our hotel, which was the standard European breakfast of bread, butter, croissants, fruit, and coffee and then set out for the day. I used the Rick Steves' France 2012 guide book and had already planned out the sights we needed to see. We decided to start with his self-guided historic Paris walk.

 Crossing over the Siene to the Ile de la Cite

 Our first stop was Notre-Dame Cathedral. This 700 year old cathedral has so much history and the building was amazing. It really was a breathtaking sight. 

 Here is Mary, front and center, cradling God, right in the middle of the facade and surrounded by the halo of the rose window. Adam is on the left and Eve is on the right.

 Notre-Dame has the typical basilica floor plan that so many of the Catholic churches have, a long central nave lined with columns and flanked by side aisles. The church can hold up to 10,000 people.

 The man with his head in his hands is St. Denis. Back when there was a Roman temple on this spot, Christianity began converting people. He was beheaded as a warning to those who were forsaking the Roman gods. But the early Christians were not having that and the man who would become St. Denis got up, picked up his head and headed north apparently. The Parisians saw this miracle, Christianity gained ground and the church replaced the pagan temple.

 This 300 foot spire is a product of the 1860 reconstruction of the old church. You can see the green men around its base who are apostles and evangelists as well as the architect in charge of the work.

 The apostles look outward blessing the city.

 These are the flying buttresses - they helped hold up the structure.

 The gardens were beautiful around the cathedral.

 Eric is getting artsy here.

 Next we headed to the Deportation Memorial (Memorial de la Deportation). This is the memorial to the 200,000 French victims of the Nazi concentration camps from 1940-1945. 

 The round plaque reads "They went to the end of the earth and did not return."

 The hallway ahead is lined with 200,000 lighted crystals, one for each French citizen who died. Below the flowers is the tomb of the unknown deportee. While it was a simple (and free) site, we enjoyed visiting and spending a moment remembering these innocent victims.

 This is the Ile St. Louis. It was once a swampy mess and has been developed to be one of Paris' most exclusive neighborhoods. We walked across the bridge, Pont St. Louis and walked around the streets with neat shops and restaurants.

 Our tour then lead us to the Latin Quarter, which is an artsy, bohemian area. The two main streets St. Michele and St. Germain are lined with cafes. At this point it started to rain and we bought an umbrella from a little "tabac" shop. Luckily we had packed rain panchos as well. We didn't let the rain stop us from getting our sights in! This fountain above is in place St. Michele and the core of the Left Bank's artsy, liberal hippie district.

 From the Latin Quarter, we walked to Sainte-Chapelle which was built between 1242 and 1248 for King Louis IX to house the supposed Crown of Thorns. 

 The stained glass was beautiful.

 Right next door to Sainte-Chapelle is the Palais de Justice. The most exciting thing that happened here is I got to sit down because by this time my feet were killing me! This is a huge complex of government buildings that have housed the local government since ancient Roman Times and it is now home to the French Supreme Court.

 The Conciergerie was our next stop. This is a former prison that was the last stop for 2,780 victims of the guillotine, including Marie-Antoinette.

And that concludes your tour of historic Paris! We did miss a couple of the stops including the Cite Metro stop which is the oldest subway stop signs still around, Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris and the Paris Beaches, where they bring in sand every summer for the Parisians to soak up some sun on. It definitely was a good experience to walk around the city, follow the map, and get a feel for the history of Paris. I also really reccommend Rick Steve's books. They are easy to read and understand and he gives honest opinions on what is worth it to do.

Here is another tip: buy the Paris Museum Pass. You pay one price for however number of days you want to use it and you get access to most of the sights you will want to visit, so the savings adds up quickly. You always get to skip the ticket line (which can be very long) and sometimes the security line. It was very nice! You can buy them any of the museums/sights or in Tabac shops.