Paris, day two

Katie and I woke up early Saturday morning, and basically spent the whole day wandering around the city. Paris is amazing, in both the sense that it is easy to get lost and that anyone lucky enough to be wandering around there must frequently stop and say "wow."

After a quick breakfast of croissants, we made our way down to the Ile de la Cite, to see the Notre Dame Cathedral and Sainte-Chappele. Notre Dame is magnificent. It is absolutely massive, and covered w/ (on the outside) intricate stonework and (on the inside) fabulous paintings and icons.

Sainte-Chappele wasn't open yet, which was fortunate. We decided to strike out south, and see what was there. We saw the Place St. Michel, the Luxembourg Gardens, and the Pantheon, all of which were well worth the trip, to put it mildly. We did eventually get back up to the church, which had the most incredible stained glass windows that I've ever seen. Each one tells a story from the Bible, from the Creation up to the Apocalypse.

We wandered around the island a bit more, before working our way up along the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomph. The monument itself is spectacular, and so is the view from the top. From there, we went to the Grand et Petite Palais, and the Hotel de Invalides. We stopped to see the Ecole Militaire and the Champ de Mars on our way to the Eiffel Tower. We waited until dark to go up, which was a good decision. Paris at night is breathtaking.
We decided to go back to our hotel by way of the Moulin Rouge. It was pretty cool, but I think at that point both Katie and myself were too worn out to really appreciate anything but a good night's sleep.