48 Hours in Paris - Saint Chappelle

On Sunday we went to the Louvre and then walked around more of Paris ... saw the Arch of Triumph which was just a big arch in the middle of a big rotary filled with cars. But one of the last things we did was visit Saint Chappelle. The church has a downstairs where the regular people worshipped and then an upstairs where the royalty worshipped. The upstairs had walls that were filled with stained glass windows. Very detailed and intricate stained glass. There are 15 stained glass windows/walls in Saint Chappelle and each pane represents a scene from the bible. The very first tile shows God creating Earth and then a few tiles later you see Adam and Eve, etc. Each window has a different pattern to it ... diamonds, circles, squares, etc.

Some of the pictures are blurry but I'm putting them in anyway so you can get an idea of the scope of the stained glass. Here is what is called the rose wall, it's in the back of the chapel, and it depicts the apocalypse (so it's supposed to be the last wall of stained glass and therefore the end of the bible):

























Then it was 2:30 and we were starving so we found some Greek gyros where they put french frieds RIGHT INTO THE WRAP WITH THE MEAT. Awesome. Though Martin and I both prefer the Turkish version, döner kebabs.



I ate mine the fastest. :) But Martin ate his and half of Esther's and then had to have a good long sit while he digested.

48 Hours in Paris - The Eiffel Tower

Saturday afternoon our train back from Versailles went right past the Eiffel Tower so we hopped off to see it. I couldn't go to Paris and not have seen the Eiffel Tower! Of course once we got there Martin decided that we needed to climb it - to the second level which is 720 steps. My calves are still sore from it. And I work out!



I think this is at the halfway point of the climb. Nice and sweaty:



The building where Napoleon is buried:





Sacre Coeur:



We made it to the top!





After the Eiffel Tower we did some walking, some shopping, and then some more walking, then we had to refuel at a cafe with some booze (below) before heading to dinner at this great little Moroccan place a short walk from Conrad's apartment.



And that was the end of Saturday. Phew.

48 Hours in Paris - Gardens at Versailles

The Gardens at Versailles were absolutely enormous. And filled with fountains and immaculately-manicured shrubs.



I call this one the vomiting lion fountain:







This fountain depicts Jupiter's battle with the sky, or something like that. Looks like Jupiter is losing. This was my favorite fountain because it's kind of scary.



Lots of really long, perfectly straight paths with perfectly flattened trees/shrubs on either side:





Martin took a little nap break after lunch. The Palace of Versailles is in the background.



After lunch they had turned the fountains off. :(



Elaborate:

48 Hours in Paris - Palace of Versailles

Saturday morning we got up and, after eating the most buttery and delicious croissants of my life from Esther's favorite bakery in Paris, we headed to Versailles. First we toured the gardens, but here I'm posting the palace pictures because I found the palace extremely over the top and I think people will agree with me.

The front gates:



Us by the gates:



The sparkly gold palace:



Check out the ceiling in the chapel in the palace:





And *this* is a fireplace:



Some gold doors:



And these are the *ceilings*:







The hall of mirrors, complete with a million tourists:





And its ceiling:



I thought the ceilings were amazing.

48 Hours in Paris - Notre Dame

Upon arriving in Paris on Friday evening, we headed out for a walk to Notre Dame. It was quite impressive - enormous on the inside with beautiful stained glass. There was mass going on while we were there so I didn't take very many pictures.

Notre Dame from the side:



and from the front:





And on the inside:



Some stained glass:



These are blurry but it gives you an idea of how large and detailed the stained glass windows were:



Imagine these windows down both sides of the church:



It turns out I am a pretty poor photographer of stained glass from a distance. Which is a shame because it was really pretty.