Part 8 London and Paris 10 Day Getaway - Saint Chapelle, Notre Dame, Berthillon and Angelina's in the park.

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Another wonderful breakfast at the hotel of meats, cheeses, rolls, croissants, butter and jams all washed down with tea and fresh juice. The best way to start a day. I swear, I think it is the breakfasts that I look most forward to when I travel to Europe! The day was bright and sunny with white, puffy clouds. What a great day! We filled our bellies and headed out the door. This whole trip we never once bothered taking any public transportation in Paris besides getting from the Eurostar to the hotel. We were able to walk everywhere. I think yesterday was the longest we will have to walk though. When planning a trip to Paris, you have to make a decision when picking your hotel. The Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe are quite far away from things like the Louvre and the D'Orsay. I always choose to stay in the 5th, 6th or 7th Arrondissement. I find that these are much closer to most of the things. Today we are walking the short trip to Notre Dame.

The people's chapel at Saint Chapelle

Our first stop was Saint Chapelle. Saint Chapelle is pretty cheap to get into and it had relatively short lines. You get two chapels for one ticket. It is a two story building. The bottom chapel was made for the people. It had some stained glass, ornate ceilings and some nice statues. Very cute. Then you go up stairs to the second chapel that was only for the king to enjoy.

Close up of the altar.

Looking up from the ornate floors. You can see where the rose window is supposed to be on the left.

This one was much more ornate. All the walls were composed of stained glass. The entire bible is represented in the glass and on the walls. It was so colorful and intricate. We stayed here a long time just looking, staring. There were seats and benches to just sit and enjoy the sight.

More detail of Saint Chapelle's windows.

There is normally a beautiful rose window of stained glass on one side but it was being repaired. Boo! We had plenty to look at though so no complaints. After the Saint Chapelle, we crossed the street to visit Notre Dame.

Happy to be in Paris. Happy to be visiting Notre Dame as you can see it in the background.

We walked around the outside of the church then went inside. We were trying to figure out how to get to the top. I know that I saw people at the top of the towers and I wanted to be one of those people. Turns out you go around the outside to the left of the front of the building. It was a long line and we started to get hungry and antsy. I did a little shopping then bought a big tub of fries. We munched a little in line then I had to hide it in my purse for the tour. Up and up we went around circular stairs until we came out right between the two towers. Looking down I felt like I was secretly spying on the city.

It was quite difficult picking out just a few pictures to share.

I, being the goofball I am, did not see the sign saying it was a one way tour and I ran ahead only to have to shove my way back to the start to find the bf. A little embarrassing but you gotta do what you gotta do. We took loads of great pictures and had tons of great views. My favorite photos are of the layout of the city with the gargoyles looking over it. I was up there for so long I felt like I was becoming one of the "grotesques" myself! This was a highlight of the trip for SURE.

More great views. Last night we had views at night and today we have all the day time views we could ever want!

After we looked out between the two towers we had the choice to go up one of the towers and of course, we took that chance. We got even more views of other parts of the city from up there. We stuck around while a couple tours came and went before we went back down. I felt like Quasimodo! We were so hungry that at one point we just stepped back, pulled out our fries that were sitting in my purse and ate them all. That was probably the best picnic spot in all of Paris!

A look back at where we were.

We climbed back down all the stairs and exited Notre Dame. We walked behind the building trying to get off the island that Notre Dame is located on and found a darling park. We let our inner child out when we found the swings and other things to play on. We were like little kids the way we played.

Having a bit of fun.

After getting that out of our system we crossed a bridge off the Ile de la Cite. We followed all the ice cream eaters to Berthillon which is probably the most famous ice cream shop in Paris. Along the way there were many shops that boasted serving Berthillon ice cream but you really gotta get it from the source. It was a short line and a long list of flavors. I got fig flavored.

Eating both my figgy ice cream and the bf's under the Berthillon sign.

We took a nice stroll with our treats. We had planned on going to the Louvre today but this afternoon was too lovely to spend indoors. So we passed back across Notre Dame and headed back to the shopping street, Rue de Rivoli. We went to Angelina's, another famous cafe that sells great treats. We forewent the African Queen Hot Chocolate which they are best known for to buy some cakes to go. We took the desserts to the Jardain des Tuileries which is in the shadow of the Louvre. We grabbed an open set of chairs and took a break.

Our booty while we enjoyed people and flower watching in the jardain.

We may not have gotten the hot chocolate but we did get the Mont Blanc which is another thing you are supposed to get at Angelina's. It is a dessert of pureed chestnuts. The original recipe is from somewhere in the late 1400's. We also got a raspberry pistachio tart and a strawberry eclair. I was LOVING sitting in the reclining chairs. I was pretty darn tired from all the walking of the past few days. My feet were beginning to swell. We took an extra chair to put our feet up.

This was the second highlight of the trip of the day! That is the Louvre on the left there.