Paris Travel Guide: Parisian History

Bon soir Bloggy Friends,

Before I could even do my morning stretches, Sugar had already scurried to the supermarche across the street to pick up breakfast: museli, yogurt and fresh strawberries. We've decided to start our day eating in to save money and to utilize the private time to sketch out our daily itinerary. With the windows open, Edith Piaf blaring from my computer and two cafe cremes from our in-house espresso maker, we have created our own little Parisian cafe experience. C'est bon!

On our first full day in the city we decided to school ourselves on some history. From our hotel we walked west along La Seine to one of Paris' most visited sites, Notre Dame. Inside, we snuck around the outer sector of the sanctuary at the same time mass was being held. It limited our view of the center, but it was impressive to hear the choir singing as beams of light shone through the famous stained glass windows onto the kneeling congregation. It was truly awe-inspiring. The enormity and architectural detail of these old churches is fascinating. It boggles my mind to comprehend that this cathedral took two decades to be constructed before finally being completed in 1345. Talk about dedication.

From there we strolled to the nearby Memorial de la Deportation, an underground honorarium that pays homage to the 200,000 French Jews held captive in Nazi concentration camps. Though minimally designed, the short stroll inside the cold concrete structure touched us beyond words. I'm glad we decided to see it.

After a leisurely lunch at a nearby cafe, we had to pick up our pace to see things before they closed. We took a quick jaunt through the artsy Left Bank where we skimmed some pages in the Shakespeare & Company Bookstore and kept our holy going in the St. Severin church. We then crossed back over onto the Right Bank to see the statue of horny Henry IV and fell in love all over again on the romantic Pont Neuf as the Eifel Tower shimmered brilliantly behind us.

I hope you have a great night. I'll chat with you soon.

Je t'aime,

Josh