Day 2 - Paris

Notre-Dame - Latin Quarter - Street markets - Nutella crepes - Paris Opera House - LaFayette - Eiffel Tower at night - Arc de Triumph - Trocaderro - And so much more I'm sure I'm forgetting...agh!
Are you kidding me 3:30am and I'm wide awake! It was still night time, outside the sky was pitch black. But do you think I could fall back to sleep, hell No! I'm in Paris!! What adventures will we have today? All I could do was lay there in bed thinking about the wonderful sights I want to see, things I want to eat, places I want to go, just dying to hear more of the beautiful language and soaking in more of their culture.
I was actually really happy just laying there, the bed was the coziest I had ever slept in. Beautiful white, crisp french linen, a dozen over stuffed pillows and a slight smell of sticky cheese which was not so nice, but reminded me while in the dark of where I was...lol!
Note* We had to put the stinky cheese out in the hallway before bed, as the smell was completely overpowering our room and smelt like dirty socks.

The great thing about jet-lag was waking up at the crack of dawn and getting to make the most of the hours in a day. We got ready and headed down to the hotel restaurant for a yummy hot breakfast, with the most delicious little sausages and petite mushrooms. They also had cereal, croissants, fruits, smoked salmon, meats, pancakes, and cheeses. One of our daily jump-starts to the day, besides a cappuccino, was to down a Berocca so we could hit the streets of Paris running.
Today we jumped aboard the Metro again, yes we braved it after our horrible experience the day before. Luckily today wasn't too bad, I guess we had missed the commuters, thanks god!
Notre-Dame here we come! We jumped off the metro and popped up in the Latin Quarter, such an old part of Paris, with more cobblestone lanes and Parisian buildings. We crossed a bridge over the Seine to reach the Cathedral. This place is huge and so ornate, with its carvings of Saints that greet you at the door and its impressive doors that make you feel so small as you walk through them. We walked around inside admiring the stained glass and the history of the place. After checking it out we then joined the line outside to climb the 380 steps for one of the best views in Paris. Here we go again, more steps...agh! (This was my way of having no guilt when I ate all the yummy French goodness) While waiting in line we chatted with the other tourists and I snapped a pic of the cute cafe next to us....The gates opened and the line finally started moving. Luckily we got there early, we were really close to the front of the line, by the time we entered there were hundreds of tourists waiting behind us. The staircase up was narrow, old and fairly dark. It spiralled continuously until we reached the balcony. Every know and then there would be a small window in the wall to let in some light. The stone steps were worn from hundreds of years of use, they looked like someone fat sat on them and left an imprint, it made for interesting climbing. Just when I thought I was going to die (again, gosh I hate steps!) we finally made it to a small wooden door that lead out to the main balcony between the towers.

The first thing I noticed was the beautiful Gothic stonework and all fun looking gargoyle's, each one had its own character and you could tell who ever carved them must of had fun. I think my fav was the one sticking its tongue out to Paris, so cheeky! We wondered around and took in the view. I actually liked this view more than the Eiffel Tower because the Eiffel tower was in this view. We looked out of the Seine with its romantic bridges, gardens with their perfectly symmetrical layouts and buildings that were again simply stunning. We hung out here for a bit, taking pics and then headed through a small wooden door (even small for me, I had to duck) we climbed a few more wooden stairs, this time we were up inside the bell tower. We got to see the gigantic bell but no Quasimodo. After the bell room we continued up an even smaller, tighter, stone spiral stairwell to the very top of the bell tower...wow!
We had a few mins a the top, this was another happy place! It made me giddy feeling like we were on the top of Paris. We walked around the top of the bell tower and then made our way back down the stairs. Just as we headed in we felt a few drops of rain, man we timed that perfectly.
This is one of my fav pics from the trip, here is Sarah at the tippy top of Notre Dame...cute!
By the time we reached the street level, (so much faster than going up) it was pouring! We popped out and ran across the street to the first undercover place we could find. Haha, a souvenir store, let the tacky buying begin!