Paris! Day 2

On the second day, we as a group had a late start. Don't get me wrong, I still woke up early, but some of the others were hibernating. Thomas McGuire and myself walked along the canal trying to find a place to have breakfast. It took us awhile, but we found a patisserie that we liked. We enjoyed a few French wonders. He had a chocolate croissant and a lemon tart, and I had a chocolate croissant along with an almond pie of some sort. We ate along the canal watching locals row up and down the canal. It didn't fill our American needs, but satisfied us enough.

We eventually woke everyone up and had more to eat. We went to a middle eastern restaurant that served us chicken in a variety of different ways. Afterwards, we took the metro to Notre Dame. When we first arrived we stopped to take some pictures from the outside. We apparently showed up at the wrong time. A huge crowd of gypsy women started yelling and fighting each other. We, as tourists, really did not expect to see such an event. We walked into the cathedral with little worry about the attacks that were happening outside. It was quite an amazing experience. I sat down before doing anything "touristy", and enjoyed some peaceful prayer. Notre Dame is an enormous cathedral, detailed with ornate carvings, frescoes, and gold leaf. It was a marvel to think that humans so long ago had such mastered skills to create Notre Dame. I walked around the entire cathedral with my jaw basically dragging because I was so amazed.

The group then walked down small back streets of Paris to get to the Pantheon. The main level is draped with paintings or frescoes that stood about fifty feet tall. We then went into the crypt and saw the burial grounds of Rousseau, Voltaire, and many other important figures in France's history.

The day quickly went by, and led to some unfortunate events of luck. We walked about forty minutes to the catacombs, but arrived twenty minutes past when it closed. We then took the metro to the Eiffel Tower, and try to climb up the monument. We were met with another closed sign because the stairs close earlier than the elevator. We then stood in line for the elevator for an hour only to find out the top of the tower is not open for a couple more months, go figure?

I ended my day at that point, while the rest of the crew tried to enjoy the nightlife. When I woke up the next morning I found out that they had run into more bad luck trying to get in to a club. I guess Saturday was not our day in Paris...

Pictures From Day 2