Paris: Day One

Today was our first full day in Paris! We arrived yesterday after a long day of travel (a 4:00am wake-up to make a 9am flight. Ouch.) -- but we didn't have any problems with the flight and were able to find Seungyeon's apartment easily. This morning we caught up a bit on our sleep and then hit the city for a self-guided tour of historic Paris. We are depending almost entirely on our Rick Steves' guidebook, which has kept all its promises and has been an excellent guide so far. So, Day One, Historic Walk:

Start of walk: Notre Dame. It was teeming with tourists, and we arrived in time to catch the end of Christmas Day mass! Donna imagined she could see Quasimodo hidingup in the high balconies.

Our first view of Notre Dame
All the people gathered for Christmas mass at Notre Dame

After Notre Dame: Deportation Memorial, Left Bank Booksellers, and a stop for lunch (at a cafe, of course!) Then we went on to the Shakespeare & Co. English bookstore:

Then we went to Saint Severin, the Latin Quarter (which is really more like the Greek quarter with all the gyro restaurants!), and Place Saint Michele.

We tried to go to Saint Chapelle and the Conciergerie, but they were closed on Xmas day! We walked through Place Dauphine to Pont Neuf where we caught an evening sightseeing cruise on the Seine. Afterwards, a lovely Italian dinner, and crashing at home.

See ALL the photos at Donna's Flickr photo website!!