Day 8: Paris

Our second day is Paris was much like our first...low key. I will pat ourselves on the back for not overextending ourselves on the vacation. Very unlike us...and by us I mean me. We didn't plan much just Notre Dame and then our wine tasting at O'Chateau. We woke up around eight...okay nine and headed to the church.

The church was beautiful and although the line was long it was continually moving so we hoped in line and headed on in.

Me in line

Some outside shots

I was amazed at the beauty of this church. I was not amazed at the quality of photography I took but it just felt wrong flashing my camera in a place so...well holy for lack of better words.

This picture does not do this window justice.

Scenes of Jesus from throughout the bible were carved out along the alter area.

A mini replica of the church. Even the model is amazing



I am not a very religious person to say the least. And Michael is less into to church than me, but this experience was moving. As we were leaving I told Michael "we are in this beautiful church, on an amazing trip, I really think we should pray." And we did. I admit I haven't really prayed a whole lot recently. But it felt good to do it. I have never really been a consistent prayer at that. Like most people I turn to it in time of need or sorrow. But it was nice to pray and say thank you for all I have. For a wonderful family, friends that love us, a daughter that thinks I hung the moon, and a husband that somehow loves me enough to tolerate my presence for long periods of time even though most times I don't deserve him. It was emotional. I admit I cried. Although honestly that is not much of a shocker. I am kind of a crier but it was a happy cry. A cry of thankfulness. So remember if something good happens to you in the next few weeks it was because I prayed for you...in Notre Dame. haha!

Just as pretty was the outside grounds. I am seeing a trend of this. All I have seen beautiful in Europe has been surrounded by beautiful landscaping. It is very serene.

The side and back are actually prettier than the front in my opinion.



Sunglasses to hide poofy eyes :)

So after Notre Dame we did some souvenir shopping. Most of my shopping was for other people. We had a lot of people that really made this trip happen for us. A quick little shout out

Michael's Mom (Gail): Watched our babygirl for ten days! She got some grandbaby love in. She also kept Chuck our small dog.
Michael's Sister Shannon: I think pretty much did 50/50 split with Grandma on baby duty. It takes two people with her! Shannon let Chuck sleep with her every night to get some lovins. The dog probably got more attention there than at home! Poor Chuck!
Michael Sister Tanya: Kept Cleo our medium dog. She really hates the sound of claws on her floors so I know this was difficult.
Our Niece Morgan: Provided all toys and entertainment for Lilybug.
Glen: Our Saviour kept Cesna our huge lab that everyone hates dogsitting because he is a small pony
Hamilton: Our adorable neighbor kid kept my plants alive better than I ever could!

So we had to buy all these people great gifts to show them how much we loved them and to thank them. But honestly these places have so much tourist crap it is a chore to find something not crappy. But hopefully we succeeded and they liked the small gifts of thanks we gave them. It was wonderful to know that all our most precious things were in good hands.

After hours of shopping we headed to our wine tasting. Well we actually stopped on the way and had some wine at a cafe and then went to our wine tasting. O'Chateau was amazing! The location of O'Chataeau was creepy. You go down a dark alley, down a scary staircase where you are convinced you are walking to your death, and then down into a wine cellar.

We were greeted by and American guy from, of all places, Chapel Hill, NC. He was there on a summer internship. What lucky guy do you know that gets to do a summer internship in Paris at a wine cellar?! Wow. I am jealous. He said it was an amazing summer of learning about wine, drinking wine, and teaching people about it. They guy that actually did our "class" was french (and really really hot) but he was the assistant.

They immediately started pouring champagne one after another. It was awesome. We then proceeded to try five more wines. It was a great class and anyone going to Paris should do one. We could barely walk when we left....so the following pictures are dedicated to O'Chateau.


A kiss for my adorable husband!



The first one Michael is trying to figure out how the heck to get home and the second one I have no explanation for other than I think I remember giggling about thinking it said Horse Piss? Yeah I don't know.


Loved the wine tasting and hopefully learned something I will remember someday. Michael did use his knowledge to buy two bottles of wine for us the next morning. Glen got one...but that story comes later!