Europe: Paris and Notre Dame

This morning Emily had to leave for school so I packed up and decided to head off into the city and do some wandering. First I made way to the local mall and to the mobile phone shop to see about getting a sim card for my phone. All of the "pay as you go" plans don't include data and charge you for it at a rather scary rate, so I didn't end up getting one yet. I still need to research more. After the mall I headed down Rue Beaubourg and snapped a few photos on my way to visit Notre Dame. As I crossed the River Seine I got lucky with a couple of nice shots of the river and the boats it held. The clouds were a bit murky and gave way to a few short spurts of rain but for the most part it was holding up as a nice day for the camera.

After snapping the photos of the Seine I kept on walking until I reached Notre Dame. It's really only about a mile from Emily's apartment, if that, so it's easy. The outside of Notre Dame is absolutely awesome. If you're anywhere near it you really can't take any pictures because it's too big... I needed to walk a good 50 yards back just to get the whole thing into a picture. It really is amazing though when you see it...it's inspiring just taking it all in even.




Awesome isn't it? That would be the front if you will, and it's the shorter side of the rectangular building. The long side is about twice as wide as that haha. It's HUGE. I went inside where a big sign said NO CAMERAS but as I got in and saw hundreds of other people taking photos I said what the hell. It was extremely dark in there but I managed to get a couple good ones.


The inside of the Cathedral is breath-taking. The statues, the stained glass windows, the golden chandeliers and amazing artwork on the walls and architecture...it's awesome. If I had to compare to some of the Italian churches I'd say I like the actual architecture and awesome power of this place a bit more, but Italy wins in the ways of their churches being much more filled with amazing artwork and statues and such. Still though, who cares? All of these places are ridiculous and awesome.

I've got a bunch more pictures of the inside of Notre Dame but they are dark and kind of hard to see what's going on. They'll be on my Flickr eventually. ;) Speaking of, check the link below to see these photos larger and a bunch more.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayonidas/