Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame (Paris Day 2)

For our second day in Paris, we got up early and so we could fit a lot of things in.  We bought a 2-day “Paris Museum Pass” which allowed us to see many of the museums in Paris for a discount included in the cost and we were able to skip the many of the lines with this pass. We started at the Louvre, one of the largest and most visited art museums and historical monuments in the world.  The glass pyramid at the entrance is well known from the movie The Da Vinci Code.  The museum, originally built as a fortress and later became the home of King Louis XIV, is home to many famous pieces of art and actually has one of the biggest collections of art in the world.  The most famous work of art in the Louvre was the Mona Lisa.  You could tell that we had gotten to that room based on how many tourists were in there trying to take pictures of it.  Many travel guides suggest setting a whole day aside for the Louvre since it’s so big and there are so many things to see, but we planned well and got it done in 4 hours. 

  

After the Louvre we went to the Champ de Elysees and ate lunch.  We all ordered the steak and French fries with appetizers, and we were very happy to be eating a good meal after walking through the Louvre for 4 hours.  After lunch, we walked to the Arc de Triumph.  This was a monument that was erected for the soldiers who fought in the French Revolutionary War and also holds the tomb of the "Unknown Soldier".  The Arc is massive and we climbed to the top, 164 feet high.  When we got to the top, you could see a great view of the whole city.  The Arc is located in the center of the city and is the central meeting point of many major streets.  We took some pictures at the top from different angles, especially with seeing the Eiffel Tower in the background.   

After the Arc, we headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral.  We did a tour of the top of the tower.  This was another 400 steps.  At the second level, you could see the bell that Quasimodo rang in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  At the very top of the tower we saw another amazing view.  It was really neat seeing the gargoyles and saint statues at the top of the building up close.  When we got to the bottom we entered the church.  It was during mass so we had to be quiet but they had choir music playing during the service and it was very pretty.  

When we finished with Notre Dame, we went back to our hostel to take a nap; we were so exhausted after all of the walking we did.  We then tried to go to the Pompidou museum but got there too late.  We ate dinner at a little café next to the museum.  After dinner we went to a bar across from our hostel.  We ordered cocktails and they came in these really neat glasses with chewy candy on a stick and a glow stick.