Day 5: La Queue to Nowhere

Today we visited Sainte Chapelle which is an 800 year old church across the street from our apartment. It is renowned for having some of the biggest and most beautiful stained glass windows in the world. After that we went inside Notre Dame Cathedral which has so much history over it's 850 years. It's here that Napoleon crowned himself Emperor.

We then decided to go to Centre du Pompidou, the modern art museum. Nancy wanted to go on top of Notre Dame so she waited in line while Katie and I got a head start for Pompidou. However, the Notre Dame line never moved so Nancy eventually bailed after 15 minutes. Katie and I reached Pompidou and stood in an incredibly long and slow moving line too. After waiting about 30 minutes, we reached a sign that said it was the line for the museum's biblioteque (library). The woman behind me didn't speak English so I managed to speak enough French to verify that I was in the wrong line. This seemed to be the day for us to stand in lines that went nowhere.

We eventually found the correct line, met up with Nancy, and viewed the sometimes confusing, sometimes disturbing, but always unique works of Picasso and all those other people (can you tell I'm not the art history major in the family?). Katie fell asleep about half way through. Afterwards, we went to the oldest bridge in Paris, Pont Neuf (built in 1607, the same year Jamestown was founded) and watched the Eiffel Tower light show. It was a pretty neat display of the tower lit up in different ways (blinking lights, lines moving up and down, etc...). Here's a YouTube video from someone showing the light show.

We then had a very hearty and enjoyable meal at a nearby brasserie. The waiter loved Katie. But the hour was late (10pm) and we were tired so we trudged home by way of a short detour through the bustling and lively Latin Quarter. The narrow cobblestone streets were jam-packed with young party people and clubs were blasting music that will probably last until dawn.

Tomorrow our plan is to take a train to the Palace at Versailles.

The photos from today's adventures are uploading now and I'm not sure if they'll finish before I fall asleep. So if you don't see any photos, then rest assured that I'll put them up as soon as I can.

The photos are here.

Bon soir!



La tres belle Cathedral du Notre Dame.


Les tres belle femmes.


Katie is ready for the Paris rain.


The beautiful stained glass windows in Sainte Chapelle.


More windows in Sainte Chapelle.


The wonderfully funky Centre du Pompidou.


Centre du Pompidou.


Les travellers.


A mime attracts a large crowd and keeps them laughing.


Katie and Nancy admire one of Calder's mobiles.


Katie found this Jackson Pollack work to be very soothing and peaceful.


Watching the Eiffel Tower light show from Pont Neuf.


On Pont Neuf.


Cuddling for warmth.