We slept well, enjoyed breakfast at the hotel (great coffee), and headed to Île de la Cité. We had a preview of the flower and bird market (Reed’s nightmare) before heading to Notre Dame. We walked around the massive cathedral before going inside. We then entered, checked out the outer perimeter, and settled in for an hour long service, a Gregorian mass, which was special for Lent. We thoroughly enjoyed worshipping in this way.

Next we went to Sainte Chapelle…if you’ve been there, you know what an amazing experience we were in for. Thankfully, the rose window that was behind the scaffolding when we visited in August was visible, though still a bit obscured. We returned to the flower and bird market after soaking in the majesty of the colored glass. Shana got some perfume, I got some soap, and we really enjoyed the beautiful flowers and chirping birds.

We traveled to the Vanves Marche aux Puces (flea market) in the 14th arrondissement. We enjoyed browsing the many stalls of brocantes. I got a napkin and Shana got a lot of handkerchiefs for a good price. It was fun to take in a market that was a bit more manageable in size than Clignancourt. 🙂 

We were quite cold and hungry by this point, so we went to the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area. We ate at Les Deux Magots, which I had wanted to do. I think I sat at Jean-Paul Sartre’s table as we enjoyed our quiche and coffee. And, even more, Ric Ocasek, Paulina Poritzkova, and their son sat right next to us! We respected their privacy and left them alone, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. If you don’t know who these people are, search up The Cars or 1980s models. 🙂

We sojourned on to Saint Sulpice, another pretty cathedral. We went for the Lenten organ recital, which was okay though too much talking. Still, I was happy to visit as I had never been. Next we took the metro to the Pantheon to tour the crypts…we saw Paulina and her son again, though no Ric is time. We even had time to visit Arc de Triomphe before heading back to the hotel! We lucked out with our timing and saw the eternal flame ceremony, complete with bugle and snare drum. 

We took provisions (baguette, cheese, wine) to our room to enjoy for dinner. We are content with everything we did and saw today and should sleep well tonight!