Notre Dame's Towers and a Shopping Spree!

Today I only had one class, but unfortunately that didn't mean sleeping in.  I had to get up at 8am once again because we had to be at Notre Dame by 10am and I needed time to eat breakfast.  After only a little bit of struggle, we navigated the RER (part of France's underground mass transit, not to be confused with the métro) and arrived at L'Île de la Cité and and from there it was only a short walk to Notre Dame.

We met our French History professor in the Parvis (courtyard in front of the cathedral) and headed as a group to the Crypte archéologique du parvis Notre Dame.  The crypt isn't actually a crypt with dead people.  Instead it's actually some of the old ruins that were found beneath the ground on the island.  See, years ago (as in 2000 years ago) the romans built on the island.  The old roman city was complete with baths, a forum, amphitheaters, shops, houses, and plenty of other buildings.  As time passed, eventually these buildings were torn down and new buildings were built on top of the old ones foundations.  This means that over the years the ground has become progressively higher and higher.  When we visited the crypt, we were actually visiting the old roman and gallo-romain ruins beneath the ground.

After our tour here we went back above ground and went on a special tour of the Towers of Notre Dame.  I have to say that I have never been more terrified in my life than I was climbing those narrow, winding, worn smooth, spiral stairs up from the ground to the tip top of the Bell Tower.  

I thought for sure that I'd slip and fall to my death in there.  However when we finally arrived, it was worth it.  It was also great because they divided the trip in half.  Our first stop was at a balcony above the center of the cathedral between the two tower.

After taking a huge number of pictures we went inside to look at the big bell located in the bell tower.  As an American I've always been proud of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, but this bell, known as the Bourdon Bell made it look like a child's toy.  Also, our bell is cracked.  And their's is a couple hundred years older and in mint condition.

Finally, we made the last climb to the tip top of the bell tower.  The view was absolutely breathtaking and once again I took a crazy number of pictures.

The walk down was absurdly harrowing.  I was once again convinced that my life would be ending with one tiny slip of my foot.  Finally however, I successfully arrived on solid ground.  As a group, we went to go get lunch, then after lunch we took a small test for our French Civilization class.  After class, we went shopping.  I'm not going to say that I bought everything because I'm trying to be at least somewhat selective, but I definitely had a wonderful time spending all that blood money I made waitressing.  I'm not going to detail my 
purchases for you (mainly because it could send my dad into cardiac arrest), but I will definitely be well dressed at school next year!!


After dinner (of yet another delicious crêpe) we relaxed in our room for awhile then a large group of us went out for the night.  I was under the impression that we were either going someplace close, or taking the metro.  Unfortunately we ended up walking.  A lot.  Something like 20 or 30 blocks.  By the time we eventually settled into a bar along the Seine, my feet were killing me in a pair of brand new high heels I couldn't wait to wear.  The bar was a lot of fun, but very pricy, so I only had a few drinks then called it quits.  Eventually we started to head home to go to bed since there's a lot we wanted to do Saturday.