My Adventures in Spain: Paris!! Day 2

On Monday I went with Camille to her university while she had class in the morning. After school, we went to lunch with two of her girlfriends. I had an absolutely delicious smoked salmon baguette with iced tea and macaroons for dessert. The French almost always have dessert and coffee after lunch, a tradition that I really love!!

Then we headed off to go sight seeing! I really wanted to see Sainte-Chapelle, which was the royal chapel during the Middle Ages. However the line was 3 hours long!! Luckily a man working there told Camille that if we went to The Conciergerie, we could buy tickets for both and not have to wait in line!!

So we headed off next door to the Conciergerie! The history of this building was very interesting, it was first erected as the royal palace during the Middle Ages, but later became a prison during the French Revolution. Over 2,500 prisoners were beheaded at the guillotine during this time. Proper trials were not held, and one was not allowed defend oneself or have any sort of a proper trial. There were only two sentencing options... Innocence or death, and since no one could defend themselves, and innocence could not be proven due to a lack of a trail, death was almost always the outcome.

Although the main room of the building was very beautiful!

Even Queen Marie Antoinette was murdered here. This is a replica of her prison chambers.

Next we went to Sainte-Chapelle!

There are two floors to this stunning cathedral. Here is the first level!

And here is the stunning second level. The blue stained glass reached so high. All of the walls were completely comprised of stained glass, it was absolutely magnificent!!

This former royal chapel has one of the largest collections of 13th century stained glass. The predominant color used was blue, so when the sun shines through the pains a radiant blue light illuminates the room. The hues of color were absolutely stunning and formed pictures that depicted the story of Christ.

This Saint is holding the Key to Heaven.

Next we went to go see the Notre Dame Cathedral!!!! This Roman Catholic Gothic Cathedral was originally constructed between 1143-1240 and was one of the first churches to have flying buttress architecture.

Here's a little replica of the Cathedral and it's architecture.

The inside of the cathedral is extremely beautiful. The lighting was fairly dim which gave a very calming and holy feel to the place, while incense delicately drifted in the air. There was even several rooms reserved for confession in many different languages. If I was Catholic I definitely would have had confession in the Notre Dame Cathedral, how amazing would that be!!! The church was absolutely huge with so many different statues and pictures of saints.

Mary & Jesus

The church also housed some beautiful stained glass pieces

This one is of Adam & Eve

This next picture is a little dark, so it's kind of hard to tell what it is of. There were many places where you could light a candle and say a prayer. Usually these places were in front of a Saint, however this one was just in front of a cross. So I lit a little tea light for my mother. I often get so sad thinking about her and how she and I will never be able to travel together, or experience my adulthood together. So I sat here for a while a little overcome with emotion and thought about what a truly remarkable mother I had and how lucky I was to have her at all.

There was also a Treasure Room where the church's jewels were held. I really liked this statue of Mary & Jesus.

Inside this vile is supposed to be a piece of the nail from the Crucifixion.

After touring the Notre Dame Cathedral, Camille & I went on a riverboat cruise down the Sine River!!! It lasted for about an hour and the sun was lowering itself into the sky, casting an orange glow on on the sky. It was so much fun to really get a great view of all the famous buildings from the water! It was a little cold, but the sky was beautiful and I had so much fun!!