Day 10: Paris: Notre Dame, Luxembourg Gardens

Notre Dame, Paris

We took the metro to the Notre Dame station and came up the steps to see this high, lofty cathedral and were just spellbounded to see this huge masterpiece. We crossed the bridge and came up to the church entrance. We read about it in Rick Steve's guide and would you also be awed if you came to know that this building was started in the 1100's by the townpeople, many of whom did free labor to help construct, creating the true hunchbacks of Notre Dame. Those people knew they would never in their lifetime be able to pray in the church but knew that one day their descendants will come here.

The stained glass windows, the statues, arches, are worth a long see. 

We stood in the line outside to enter the church after a security check and the line moves pretty quickly. 

Notre Dame, Paris

If you would like to climb the tower, then the line is atleast 1 1/2 hour long, I know because I asked this nice lady who was waiting in line and she was still about 50 people or so behind and was already waiting for an hour. There is no fee to see the church.

After visiting the church, we had lunch at one of the cafes across the church - French Onion soup and Roast Chicken - which were in my humble opinion, not a good example of the fancy French cuisine everyone raves about. :)

We turned back towards the bridge and walked down St. Michel's Blvd towards Luxembourg Gardens.

Luxembourg Gardens, Paris

It took about 20 minutes. We walked on to the pond area and rented a sailboat for 3 Euro for half hour and our daughter had fun playing with it in the pond. They have ample green metal chairs for you to relax in. There is not much shade around the pond, and I retreated back into a small shady spot I got and maneuvered my chair into the shaded spot from the palm tree nearby. :). It was 6pm but a sunny day and the heat felt scorching onto bare skin.
We then moved on towards the tennis courts, and encountered pony rides which had just closed (7pm), so we missed that, and then they have a play structure area for the kids towards the entrance of the garden near rue de fleurs.