After arriving and checking into the hostel we set out on bikes for Notre Dame Cathedral. Paris has the same biking system as London, so it was very convenient to find them and drop them off.
Notre Dame was incredible. All I could think about was all of the movies that I have seen it in. The lineup was a little intimidating, but it moved very fast. As usual I will include lots of photos for those who don't want to read my ramblings.
After going inside we walked down to this bridge I heard of with lots of locks attached to the sides. Apparently the added weight of the locks has made the bridge unstable, but whatever.
Right across the bridge was the Louvre. I love how all the old things are close together =) The Louvre is absolutely massive! I never imagined it being that big. You could probably spend days in there and still not see everything.
Again all I could think about was the movies that I had seen it in, and the Mona Lisa. The lineup again was pretty big, but it took no time at all. The first thing that I wanted to see was the Mona Lisa. After that I really didn't care. We walked right over to the section that had it, and I noticed a very big crowd taking pictures from behind a barricade. I went around it and there it was. I couldn't believe that I was actually looking at the Mona Lisa.
After walking around the Louvre a little more we decided to ride our bikes through the park and down the street to the Arc de Triomphe. This was never a landmark that I was very crazy about, but it's were Charles de Gaulle marched into Paris during the liberation. The one thing I loved the most about it was the grave of the Unknown Soldier. I had only seen one of these before, and it was in Westminster Abbey. Apparently there is also one in Canada. I hope to see them all.
It was still early in the afternoon, and we had accomplished more than I thought we would in one day, so we took a quick water break and hopped back on the bikes to ride to the Eiffel Tower. Upon arriving I was pretty amazed at just how big it is. I was also amazed at the ugly brown colour it was painted in. All the models I have seen were silver or almost golden. Again, the line was pretty big, but it was the last sight for that day, and the line went by very quickly. After climbing up what seemed like an impossible amount of stairs we finally made it to the top for a photo sesh.
We were done sightseeing for the day, and Charles had some friends in town. We decided to spend the night with them and grab some dinner. Thus started the most boring and frustrating night of my existence. The French girl we met up with spoke hardly any English, and the other guy was Belgian. They decided that they would speak French with each other for the WHOLE night. The highlight was that I was able to try Escargot, and took some nice night photos of Notre Dame.
The really frustrating part was when they asked me to "try and understand" what they were saying. My response was "I don't f*%^ing speak French!"
On the way back I noticed this giant monument in the middle of a traffic circle. It turned out to be the Bastillie! So much history happened right in this square, and I just stumbled upon it!
We ended up going to bed late that night. I wasn't to concerned about waking up early because there was only one more thing left on my list, the Catacombs.
We made our way by bike one more time, which sucked because we had to go up a huge hill. When we reached the square it was on we saw an enormous lineup. We had great luck before, but luck had run out. The line was about a two hour wait from when we arrived. I didn't care much though, because I didn't have anything planned after. I should mention that Paris is the number one most visited place on the planet, and the Catacombs is a very popular attraction. The ticket booth was complete ghetto and had one grumpy old lady working it, and they were out of audio tapes. French people.
After walking down the spiral staircases for about a quarter of a mile we came to the tunnels. It is probably one of the most creepy, but morbidly fascinating places I have ever gone to.
At one point there was a miniature city carved into the tunnel. A worker was imprisoned somewhere and looked at this building everyday. From memory he carved it into the stone, and while digging a staircase he died in a cave-in.
After leaving the Catacombs I totally felt like eating. Before our train left we decided to bike around a bit more and saw the expensive shops with weird wood art, the opera house, and the museum of modern art.
I beat you Paris. You thought you were too big for Gabe to find out your deep hidden intimate secrets?No city is too big, no one hides from Gabe!
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