Diamanche en France

Our second day in Paris was a Sunday and I wanted to attend mass at Notre Dame. A very cool cultural experience and the service was a lovely, dignified affair. Sadly, a raging case of jet lag caused me to keep dozing off. It didn't help that the service was also incredibly long with long periods of standing...and in Latin. Suffice to say, we didn't make it through the whole thing and had to get up and walk around so I'd stay awake.

 Yes, I was that person who took a picture during a religious ceremony. Bad, bad American tourist!

Andy and I returned to the flat and decided to explore the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank with Andy's mom and brother. Here's one of the fresh air markets like you see in many big cities. I could get used to meandering around a city, admiring the alluring produce, and picking up pieces of dinner along the way, couldn't you? 

Not long into our walk, with our guidebooks still in our bags, we happened to turn the corner and see this architectural beauty at the top of the hill. 

 Not knowing what it was, but anxious to explore, we discovered that it was the Pantheon. Patterned after the Roman Pantheon and formerly a church, it's now a shrine to French secular society/history and the burial place of many French luminaries, as well as the home of Focault's pendulum.

 Next door - St. Etienne du Mont. A lovely little church with a purple door (you knew I couldn't resist) that friends said was their favorite in Paris. Sadly, it was closed to tourists on Sunday.

 We continued on past the Sorbonne, down to the gorgeous Luxembourg Gardens. Definitely one of my favorite places in the city. We spent many a happy hour there strolling and people watching. I also went jogging there one morning and felt oh-so-French as I sweated with the locals. Above is the Luxembourg Palace where the French Senate meets.

 Pete and Andy sporting their best goober faces. Classic.

 A grotto in the church St. Sulpice (you might recognize the name from The DaVinci Code). I particularly enjoyed the large murals, specifically the one of Jacob wrestling the angel. A place where the combination of beauty, art, and faith made me stop and ponder.

Back across the Seine to the Ile de la Cité and the Conciergerie, where prisoners were held during the French Revolution to await their appointment with Madame La Guillotine. Its most famous prisoner: Marie Antoinette.

 Funny story: We actually got locked in Marie Antoinette's cell after an active toddler pushed the door shut. We'd been walking behind him the whole time and could tell that his parents were stressed about keeping him contained. They were mortified when this happened, but people were very nice about it and just laughed at the irony. They alerted a worker and you can imagine the key he brought to unlock the door. Yep: A huge old iron one on an enormous keyring, just like they would have used in Marie's time.

 No SUVs here.

 Home again, home again, jiggity jig. The heavy wooden door to our flat at 16 Rue Budé.

 In for the evening. We relaxed and prepared a delicious dinner of omlettes (with meat, tomatoes, and the cheese recommended by the fromager), baguettes, and fruit.

 Andy working his magic in the tiny kitchen. He makes a mean omlette. No joke, the man has skills.

Our first beautiful French pastry. Annette adores raspberries and this one was lovely, but looked better than it tasted. I am happy to report that wasn't the case for pastries in general.

We spent a pleasant evening talking and planning our trip to northern France the next day. Chatting with Andy's family is always fun, no matter where we are. After sifting through multiple French train schedules and travel books/websites, we came up with an itinerary. The consensus: Early bedtime and a 5:30 a.m. wake up call in order to catch the 7:07 a.m. train to Normandy.