We spent yesterday (Thursday) getting our bearings around Paris via the tourist bus, and making reservations for our remaining train journeys, and also for the lifts to the top of the Eiffel tower - Tuesday lunchtime, so let's hope for good weather!
Today was overcast and showery, a bit of a relief after the heat from the south. We woke to find a neighbourhood market was being set up below our window, so had to check out the fresh produce there, before strolling along the Seine to the Eiffel tower, and catching the bus from there to the Notre Dame cathedral, where we spent the rest of the day. First the cathedral itself, which is enormous and beautifully gothic. Then down to the crypt to see an archeology display of some of the Roman ruins below the cathedral. After lunch at a little brasserie across the road, it was time to queue for entry to the tower and belfry. We spent half an hour in the queue before Ann realized that there were 400 steps and no lift access, so she decided to shop for gifts while Debbi braved the climb up - and it was completely worth it!! Not just for the views over Paris (amazing as they were), but for the close up views of the gothic chimeras (each one different) and especially the climb up inside the wooden belfry to get close and personal with the great bell. You could easily imagine a hunchback bell ringer hiding behind the beams just ahead....
Just enough time to call into a Parisian patchwork shop, and a coffee at our local pub before the footsore travelers collapsed, exhausted but very happy:)
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