Prepare yourself for a very long post...yesterday was a very busy day on very few hours of sleep. We got in at 6 am, and by the time we got our luggage, took the metro, and dragged our luggage 3 blocks to the hostel it was 8:30. But after we successfully unloaded the baggage, Rebecca and I set off for Isle de France, where Notre Dame is located.
It is so beautiful. I have learned all about Notre Dame, studied its plans, and its window elevations, know all about the tri-partite divisions of its façade and its flying buttresses, but it was NOTHING like I imagined. It was so beautiful inside. 
Just outside the cathedral doors is point zero- literally the center of all of Paris. Which is kind of crazy to think about.
We explored the area and saw a lot of cool things- the conciergerie, pont neuf, palais de justice, and we found this really amazing chuch called st. severnin. It was absolutely beautiful. Its about a fraction of the size of notre dame, but apparently it took longer to build. After all that excitement we were dead tired, so we headed back to our hostel in the Montmartre area and explored until we could check in.
I love our neighborhood. Parts of it are a little sketchier than the touristy areas, but its so lively. We spent about 2 hours exploring the side streets. There seems to be a sort of fabric district nearby- there are so many shops. And 3 blocks up the hill is Sacre Coeur basilica. Its this giant white domed church on a hill that overlooks all of Paris. We visited that after we checked in… and I took a two hour nap. Some guy tried pulling the “friendship bracelet” scam on me- where he does a demonstration of making a bracelet on my wrist that I can’t take off, then forces me to pay for it in front of a crowd of onlookers. Good thing I read about it in my guidebook beforehand. I had a banana-nutella crepe for dinner as I was instructed to do. I must say, it was pretty good. After visiting the basilica, we started to explore the village of Montmartre a little more. 
There is a vineyard in the middle of it that nuns and abbots have been making wine from for centuries. Now it can only be bought at a charity auction just after harvest.
We also saw a house that was designed by adolf loos (he was a Viennese modernist that really pushed the style in a different direction. Its not very impressive looking from the street, but then again that is kind of the point of Loos’ designs- very stark exterior, with very warm, livable interiors that are open to the private garden behind the house. We tried looking for Renoir’s studio and Picasso’s house, which are also supposed to be in the neighborhood, but we couldn’t seem to find them. In all likelihood we walked right past and didn’t even notice. After that excursion we called it an early night because between the jet-lag and sightseeing, we were exhausted. 
This morning we went to Champs-Elysees, the main shopping avenue in Paris. It’s a beautiful tree-lined avenue. We started off at Arch du Triomphe. I was so impressed by it. It exceeded my expectations by far. Napoleon built it as a monument after one of his battles… of Waterloo maybe? Anyways we then started making our way to the other end at Place de Concord, but took a detour when we saw these beautiful buildings.
One was the Grande Palais, another building we learned about. It was the first glass and steel construction ever, and was built for the world expo circa 1900. It was so shocking at the time that they were forced to wrap the building with a neo-classical façade. Rebecca and I didn’t even recognize it until we were far enough away to see the glass roof.
Right across from it is the Petit Palais. It had such beautiful gold doors! And some very pretty frescos inside. 
Then we got distracted by this bridge with 4 gold statues of angels at its corners (the Pont de Alexandre III) leading to Place des Infants (the Army Museum) which houses Napolean’s tomb.
Which, by the way, is taller than the entire building, and is topped with a dome that is covered in 27 pounds of gold.
Then we finished out our walk at Place de Concorde. That is where the French set up their guillotine during the revolution and beheaded thousands of people. Now all they have to show for it is two fountains and an obelisk imported directly from the temple at luxor. But hey, its still a pretty cool place. Afterwards it started to rain, and we were tired so we headed back to the hostel to take a break.
When we had enough energy to get going again, we went to Rue Cler, a market street, and the Eiffel Tower. It was a pretty relaxing evening. We went shopping on Rue Cler and bought wine, cheese, and a baguette and had a picnic in the Champs de Mars (the park at the base of the tower).
We chickened out on going to the top though when we saw how tall it was. We are both afraid of heights… Rebecca more so than me. But we had a nice evening hanging out in the park, taking pictures, and having our picnic. All in all it was une jour tres belle.
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