Sightseeing

As a first time visitor to Paris, it is obvious that sight seeing is at the top of your list. So that is exactly what my mom, Aunty and I did this entire week!
Notre Dame de Paris:

Notre Dame Cathedral is massive. Its Gothic architecture makes it one of the most truly magnificent churches I've ever seen. It lies along the Seine river, as do most famous Paris attractions and is located in a lively area full of shops and restaurants. The line to go into the Notre Dame was quite long but it moved quickly. Notre Dame is unfortunately one of things that is infested with tourists so while there was a sermon going on, tons of cameras were flashing and there was a lot of noise.

 Along the inside of the cathedral, there are a number of little statues, stained glass windows, and informational posters to see. You can also say a prayer while blowing out one of the many candles that lie along the inner perimeter of the cathedral. Notre Dame is truly beautiful inside and out

                             

Musee de Louvre:
I was REALLY excited to go on see the Louvre museum because of a few of the famous art works it holds. But since we got there pretty late, all of the nintendo DS self audio guides were sold out so we basically walked around trying to guess what all the pieces of art where since all the descriptions were in French. But, it was still fascinating to see the different pieces of art and also overwhelming at the same time. I learned that the Louvre houses around 35,000 pieces of art and it would take you at least a month to be able to see all the different works. They weren't lying when they told us that because in a day I don't think we saw at least a tenth of the works there! But we were able to see the major works including the Mona Lisa (which is so overly crowded) and Venus De Milo's Aphrodite. I did end up really enjoying all of the statues, especially the ones of Greek background.

 

Seine River Tour:
I really love the intimacy of the Seine river. The Seine river runs through all of Paris and most of Paris's major attractions can be found along the river. We took an hour long river tour on a large boat and it was beautiful since we went at sunset. We got to see a lot of Paris from the river, including the Tour Eiffel, Musee de Louvre and the Notre Dame.