paris, part three

Christmas day!

We got up, had breakfast (more cheese, more bread, and more jam, which I could never get tired of) and distributed presents. Then it was time to get dressed and head out for sightseeing, with the Arc de Triomphe first on the list. The Arc is a monument for those who died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It is massive, solid, and screams at you to photograph it. The weather that day was the kind you dream of for outdoor photographs: clear and sunny with a piercing blue sky and occasional thick fluffy clouds that reflect sunlight artfully in backgrounds.

I couldn't stop clicking my camera. I abused the panorama function to no end. I zoomed in on everything, took pictures of everything at five different angles, and even when we left I wasn't tired of taking pictures of it.

Away from the Arc and toward the Louvre is the Champs-Elysees, one of the most famous streets in Paris. It's lined with cafes, designer clothing outlets, and apartment buildings with gorgeous architecture. We stopped for lunch in a cafe (more delicious Western food!) and then continued until we arrived at the outskirts of the Louvre, which featured a ferris wheel and an Egyptian monument placed on the site where people used to be beheaded. (Good times, France.)

We did walk onward to the Louvre, and stopped for several photos, but we didn't go in that day.

We moved onward toward the river, and Notre Dame, stopping only to look at a famous bridge covered in locks. People write the names of themselves and/or the people they love on locks and then put the locks on the bridge. I believe there are other bridges around the world that are like this, as well.

Notre Dame was really cool, though annoyingly big, as it was almost impossible to get a full shot of it in its entirety. We also weren't able to go inside, as the line was tremendously long and we had other plans (namely food). What bummed me the most was that the catacombs were closed. (I am creepy and like to see the final resting places of the dearly departed. The cemetery on my college's campus was one of my favorite things about the place.)

Soon after, it began to rain, so we went back to the apartment and had dinner.

My mother and sisters wanted to go on a bus tour of the city at night, but when we went back we couldn't find the stop to get on the bus, so we ended up walking home. We got some lovely night pictures of the Pyramid at the Louvre.