Paris- Episode 2: Champs-Élysées-Notre Dame

We took a day to wander down the Champs-Élysées, an avenue in Paris lined with fancy shops and cafes.  It runs from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde.  While we were there I couldn't get this song out of my head thanks to my high school French teacher.  We stopped for lunch and I had a delicious salted caramel crepe for dessert.  We kept meaning to go back to the Arc de Triomphe to climb up the stairs, but we were always so tired from walking everywhere that we just didn't get to it.  The Champs-Élysées was very crowded as was all of Europe during our trip.  In Paris, they had these little "potty pods" as I call them.  Almost like porta potties, but they flush and some of them are self cleaning!  Some however, are very, very dirty.  If you ever go to Paris, make sure to bring hand sanitizer and some T.P. with you everywhere!  As gross as they could be, they were definitely a lifesaver while we were out exploring!

Sleepy, sleepy!

We meandered down to the Tuileries Gardens, which was one of my favorite places in Paris.  Its a public garden full of statues and fountains.  There are hundreds of green chairs that people just sit in, read in, make out in and sleep in.  In fact, we parked it in front of this statue and took a nap.

We nicknamed her "The Goddess of Fertility."

For the rest of our trip, we stayed in a flat in the 3rd arrondissement.  Our first night there we took a stroll down to Notre Dame.  It started raining and we only had one umbrella between the two of us, so we were getting pretty wet.  We stopped in the cathedral right before closing and they were having Mass.  It amazed me that the tourists were allowed to just wander the halls while Mass was going on.  It was kind of neat to experience that.  Next year, Notre Dame will be 850 years old.  Can you imagine how many people have worshiped there in that time?  It blows my mind!

  We stopped at a "Mexican" joint near the Sorbonne for burritos before walking back.  On our way home, we escaped the rain again for a bit in a really nice cafe for more crepes and hot chocolate.  In attempts to try as many different types of crepes as I could, I ordered a Creme de Marron (Chestnut Cream.)  A poor decision.  I was hoping it would be similar to hazelnut, but it was pretty gross.  Oh well, you live and learn!

Obviously, I haven't tasted it yet.