The City of Love - Paris, Day 1

In the middle of four very busy weeks of school, I was in need of some much needed love. I was excited to take a break and feel the love of home. My parents and sister met Olivia and me in Paris for a quick three day weekend. We arrived in Paris on Thursday night and it was great to see Mom, Dad, and Rhonda, along with the Eiffel Tower from our apartment. After catching up we went to bed early knowing that we had a lot to see on Friday.

The view

Friday was the day of churches and views. We started off with Notre Dame de Paris. The church from the outside looks imposing but once you get up closer, the detail of the carvings is beautiful. The inside is just as stunning as the outside and holds so much history.

Croissant breakfast to start the day.

Next up was Sainte-Chapelle. The chapel was built by King Louis IX and consecrated in 1248 to house Christ’s Crown of Thorns. Part of the chapel was under construction but the stained glass windows are still a beautiful site.

After Sainte-Chapelle we took a trip to the Louvre. The perks of the offseason and that it was Friday meant that the line to get in and get a ticket was short. Knowing we had a lot to see around Paris, we tried to rush and only saw a few selected items. That still took us over 3 hours. Some of the paintings are so large that it’s hard to imagine how they were done and how long it would have taken the artist. We made it to the Mona Lisa and it wasn’t very crowded thankfully. We also saw the Venus de Milo statue and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Due to time we almost didn’t go into the Louvre but I’m so glad that we ended up going inside.

After eating a nice lunch we headed out to Montmartre to La Basilique du Sacré Coeur. The basilica began construction in 1875 and was finished in 1914. However it wasn’t consecrated until 1919 because of WWI. The inside of the church was very large and holds one of the largest church mosaics in the world. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside. The inside wasn’t the only beautiful part of the church. The view from the outside was also amazing. We ventured up the 300 stairs to the top of the dome for some absolutely stunning views of Paris. We were about to come down and right before we left the Eiffel Tower was illuminated for the night.

The night finished up with a trip to see the Eiffel Tower at night, a nice dinner, and watching the Missouri Tigers become SEC East Champions for the second year in a row!!!

You can see day 2 and 3 here.