We woke up Tuesday morning excited to see the sights of Paris! We had a lot to see this day, and we really packed it in. We wanted to be sure to get everything in that we wanted to see that was covered by our Paris Museum Pass.
Les Invalides - So we started out at Les Invalides, which was just a 5 minute walk from our apartment. Les Invalides is a complex of buildings built in the 1670s that contain museums and monuments all related to the military history of France. It’s also a hospital and retirement home for war veterans, which was the building’s original purpose. Underneath the large dome of the Eglise du Dome Church is Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb. We got there right when it opened at 10:00, so we had the whole place to ourselves. It was awesome!
Napoleon’s tomb is quite a grand sight. It’s HUGE because it’s actually 6 separate coffins inside each other.
The courtyard of Les Invalides. We wandered through the Army Museum there for a little while too.
Rodin Museum - Then we walked across the street to the Musee Rodin. Our Museum Pass let us bypass the huge line to get in – sweet! I was really looking forward to this museum for some reason . . . . I’m not even really sure why, haha. It’s not like I’m some huge Rodin fan or anything, it just looked really interesting when I read about it before the trip. The French sculptor, Auguste Rodin, used this building as his workshop in the early 1900s, and he donated his entire collection of sculptures to the French State on the condition that they turn the building into a museum dedicated to his works.
What’s cool is that many of his sculptures, including his famous The Thinker, are displayed in the museum’s extensive gardens.
Inside there is a smaller version.
And lots of other random statues.
The gardens of the Rodin Museum with the Dome Church in the background.
Île de la Cité - We then took the Metro over to the Île de la Cité. This is one of the two natural islands in the Seine within the city of Paris. This little island is the center of Paris and the location where the medieval city was founded. It’s home to the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Sainte-Chapelle, which is the main reason we went over there. A small tribe known as the Parisii lived on the island as early as 52 BC. We got lunch on the Île de la Cité – pesto chicken panini from a little street bakery.
Notre Dame Cathedral – Ah! I couldn’t believe we were actually at Notre Dame! This is one of the sights I was most excited to see. Really old stuff is just so fascinating, and this place is definitely old. Construction on this Gothic Catholic cathedral began in 1163 and lasted nearly 200 years! Over that time, numerous architects worked on the site, as is evidenced by the differing styles at different heights of the cathedral. 
We walked across a bridge over the Seine River to get a good picture of the cathedral from the back (above) and were amazed to find thousands of locks locked to the chain link fence. Chris and Lisa had to explain to us that this apparently is a popular custom for tourists to do . . . . you lock a padlock with your names or initials on it and throw away your key to symbolize your everlasting love. Dan! How could we have forgotten our lock! I guess we’ll just have to go back!
Île Saint-Louis - We then walked across a bridge, the Pont Saint Louis, to the Île Saint-Louis, the other little natural island in the Seine. Named after, you guessed it, King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis). We walked up the Rue St Louis en l'ile looking for Amarino, a quaint little gelato shop . . . . the first of many gelato stops of the trip:) Dan and I shared a cup . . . . we got a scoop of raspberry and a scoop of lemon. Pretty good, but a little strong. This was such a cool street, with cute little shops everywhere you look.
French Cheese! They sure do love their cheese shops! It looks good from far away, but don’t let it fool you . . . .some of those wedges had mold growing an inch thick! Why is it that the moldier it is, the more expensive the cheese? Just buy a cheap clean piece and let it sit in your pantry for years . . . . then it’s a delicacy! We could have walked around this cool little island much longer, but we had to get back to the Île de la Cité to tour the Sainte Chapelle!
Le Sainte Chapelle - The Holy Chapel. This place was amazing!! I’ll let good old Rick Steves explain: “This triumph of Gothic church architecture is a cathedral of glass like no other. It was built in 1248 for King Louis IX — the only French king who is now a saint — to house the supposed Crown of Thorns (now kept at Notre-Dame and shown only on the first Friday of the month and during Easter). Its architectural harmony is due to the fact that it was completed under the direction of one architect and in only five years — unheard of in Gothic times. Recall that Notre-Dame took over 200 years.”
“The altar was raised up high to better display the relic around which this chapel was built — the Crown of Thorns. Note that there is no high-profile image of Jesus anywhere — this chapel was all about the Crown.”
“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, and 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. . . . . Lay your camera on the ground and shoot the ceiling. Those pure and simple ribs growing out of the slender columns are the essence of Gothic structure.”
“There are 15 separate panels of stained glass (6,500 square feet — two thirds of it 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). Each individual scene is interesting, and the whole effect is overwhelming.” Overwhelming, indeed!
Sacré-Cœur Basilica - We wanted to spend the evening in the Montmartre district, so we took the Metro, and first made our way to the Sacré-Cœur (Sacred Heart) Basilica. This Roman Catholic church was built in the late 1800s and is located at the highest point of the city. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but believe me, it’s quite impressive, like all of them are!
We paid the money to climb up to the dome for some more amazing views of Paris! It was cool winding up through the narrow stairways and passages that lead to the top of the building. 
Sasha poses were attempted back down at the base of the basilica . . . . do we look like tourists or what?
Montmartre - I LOVED walking around the Montmartre district . . . . it’s just so Parisian! Everything you picture Paris to be, including local artists painting at their little street booths. I mean seriously, everywhere we looked there was another picture to take. I was constantly saying to Dan, “Did you get a picture of that? Did you see that cute street? Dan, come take a picture of this door!” Haha. It really was a perfect evening in Paris!
Gelato! For the second time that day:) This time we got our own:) I got amarena (cherry) and it was so good! My new fav! And Dan got Toblerone.
Walking around the backstreets of Montmartre was just so cool. We were away from the tourists and just enjoying the beautiful city. Can I please live here?!
Haha, this picture makes me smile . . . . I think Elisha was trying to sneak a Sasha pose into my picture! Whatever was happening, it sure was funny! Good times:)
And we just loved all the cobblestone streets. It fees so quaint.
My friend from high school, Wendy Hung, lived in the Montmartre district for a few years, and recommended a restaurant to us - Un Zèbre à Montmartre. We went it, looked at the menu, and all ordered the exact same thing. . . . Lyonnaise beef with potatoes and green beans. SO GOOD!!!!! And very French:)
The Metro Scandal - And now for the story that we refer to as The Metro Scandal! haha . . . . We had been riding the Metro for a couple days at this point, and were becoming quite savvy with the transit system. We had read in the guidebook that it was best to discard used Metro tickets after you were finished with them so as not to mix them up with your unused tickets. The tickets are used on the turnstiles to enter the Metro, and not needed again after, so on this trip back from the Montmartre, Chris, Dan and I quickly discarded our tickets soon after passing through the turnstiles (ironically, this was the first time I threw my ticket away before actually exiting the station). Everything was smooth sailing until we exited the train and turned the corner in the tunnel . . . . we were accosted by several uniformed transit authorities (the Metro Nazis!) asking passengers to produce their transit tickets. With no valid tickets in hand, the three of us were pulled aside and instructed that a fine of 25 Euro ($35) each would have to be paid immediately in order to proceed. We protested our ignorance to this rule, in English, to the authorities that clearly spoke very little. Soon they were asking for our passports, which we did not have with us, and threatened us (again, in very broken English) that if the police were involved, the fine would be 75 Euro. Finally, as one of the guys pulled out his walkie talkie to radio the police, we conceded, deciding that fighting 25 Euro was not worth the potential headache of further investigation and interrogation. The hardest part was determining if this was a legitimate fine, or if we were the victims of some elaborate scandal targeting ignorant tourists. Although it left a bad taste in our mouth for the evening and we had to cough up $70 for no apparent reason, we knew that someday we would look back and laugh at all the drama. Still waiting for that day . . . . As it turns out, it was all legitimate, which we would have known if we continued to read the guidebook where it warns tourists to hold on to their tickets until after they leave the station. Thanks Rick Steves . . . .
A night walk along the river . . . . 
A night shot of the Dome Church (where Napoleon is buried) on our way home!
Phew! What a day! Scott brought a pedometer with him on the trip and our walking total for this day was 13.25 miles. (Yesterday’s total was 11.5 miles). We were pretty exhausted by the end, but we sure experienced a lot of Paris!
