Notre Dame and Sites on Ile de Citie, Paris!

Dave and I in front of Notre Dame! (and no...it is NOT pronounced the way mid-westerners here in USA say it which is No-ter Dame with a long a....shudder.....!!)

Seriously, this amazing cathedral is just breathtaking.  The inside is just gorgeous....when the organ started playing for the service (only Catholics are encouraged to actually enter this roped off area close to the alter to do Mass)and we saw various people marching in with their white robes, etc., I had goosebumps!  I am not Catholic but I really appreciated the way the entire cathedral became quiet once that organ sounded out its first notes.  We   toured around on the inside for quite awhile and then toured the gardens near the Cathedral.  We came back later that day to stand in line for close to 2 hours to climb 400 stairs to the top.....200 up and 200 down.....where we took some amazing photos.  The museum pass we purchased for Dave and I allowed us to go in to the cathedral stairs (there is a fee for climbing to the top) but we still had to wait in line.....the girls were free at every thing in Paris except for the Eiffel Tower.  Our first full day in Paris, Monday, the day after Easter, was a sunny but chilly day...temps were in the low 50's and sometimes the sun would hide behind clouds.  We took the Metro (subway) to the Ile de Citie which is the island in the middle of the Seine.....it is considered the "historic" section of Paris.  We toured Notre Dame in mid-morning and then made our way around by walking through a garden area, over the Seine and then down along the Seine and along some of the Left Bank.  Here are more pictures of Notre Dame and the surrounding area:

Inside Notre Dame

One of many statues/sculptures

inside Notre Dame

One side of Notre Dame

Another section of the outside of Notre Dame

We stood looking down from a garden 

onto the Seine where a tour boat was going by.

We much preferred touring Paris on our own.....

Easter week is considered one of the busiest weeks

for tourism in Paris.  We met people from Germany, England,

Asia, India and of course a few Americans.

The French were extremely polite and helpful.

They loved that we were actually willing to speak French with them.

They do learn English at a young age in school but they much prefer

that Americans speak French with them...or at least try!

We did not run into any rude people at all although

we did experience some rude tourists.

We tried to be very polite and considerate of their customs, etc.

The girls loved their first trip to a major Cathedral!

I will post more pictures again in another day or two.

It is Friday evening and I am just exhausted. Work with a certain student (he has autism) has been quite challenging this week.  The good news is that our basement is finally dry and my wonderful husband put the new sump pump in!

Tonite it is just Dave and I and our teen....the tween is at a sleepover birthday party and the rest of us are exhausted from our first week back at work/school.

Tomorrow Courtney and I start the hunt for the "perfect prom gown"!!!  I just cannot believe how quickly time flies...so hard to believe she will be 17 in just a few short months!

Hope you have a blessed weekend.....and...coming after some more pictures:  French bread and Jesus....what do they have in common????