Paris, France

My next trip was to Paris, France!  I went for a three day weekend and really enjoyed my time there.  I ate lots of French food and pastries and saw most, if not all, the biggest attractions.  My pronunciation of French words was a little lacking, but made for a unique and challenging experience.

 

 

This is the famous Louvre Museum.  The well-known glass pyramid is the main entrance.  While in the museum I had the great opportunity to see the Mona Lisa, which was much smaller than what I imagined.

 

I ventured back to the Louvre at night to see it all lit up.

Myself in front of the Eiffel Tower!

A close up

This is the Arc de Triomphe.  It is located at the end of the The Champs-Elysées, which is a famous shopping street in Paris.  It is in the center of a roundabout that is very busy.  The only way to gain access to it, is to walk through a tunnel under the street.

This is the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.  In addition, the Tower has sparkling lights that light up at the top of every hour for five minutes.  I was lucky enough to see it sparkling as I walked up to it that night, as well as when I finally made it all the way to the top of the tower.

 

This was my view from the top of the Eiffel Tower.  I guess this is why Paris is called the city of lights!

This was one of the many crepes I consumed while in Paris.  They were so delicious and cheap!  This one has two flavors of gelato inside.  I also particularly liked the nutella-filled crepes.

 

This is the Notre Dame Cathedral, from Lover's Bridge.  I was able to walk inside the Cathedral, which was very nice!  I then walked around it and stumbled upon this bridge.  The bridge is a well-known location, where it is said that love is locked forever.

 

This is a picture of the skulls from the Catacombs of Paris, which I toured.  The Catacombs are a tunnel system underneath the city.  It was originally a stone quarry, but would later become an ossuary.  Many of the Paris cemeteries had become extremely overcrowded and expensive to get barried in.  As a result, the parishes began moving bones and burrying people in the consecrated areas of the underground tunnel system.  The bones were arranged in a very artistic way, with rows of skulls and stacked bones.

This is one of the Port-Mahon sculptures that I saw in the tunnels.  They were sculpted by memory by one of the first quarry inspection workers.  The sculptures are of the Port-Mahon Palace, which was opposite the prison in which this worker was held for a long time.  Ironically he was killed by a cave-in, while trying to build an access stairway at this location.

This is the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, or the Sacred Heart Basilica, located on Montmartre.  Montmartre is  the highest point in the city.  I walked around the little villiage up on the hill and I really liked this area.  There were lots of pastry shops, restaurants, and even a busy painter's square.