Paris: Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter

My Mom and I liked our first self-guided walk that was based on “The Da Vinci Code” and so we decided to do more of the same. I had bad luck with the “City Walks” app so I downloaded a ton of new iPhone apps including one called “Rick Steves’ Paris Walk.” He’s that geeky travel guy that everyone loves or hates. The app includes a lot of decent spots to check out including nice toilettes. My Mom studied cathedrals and there was some info on Notre Dame in the app so we opted for that as our destination for the day.

We got to the Notre Dame Cathedral and read the app which highlighted various parts of the facade. It was actually pretty interesting and something I never took the time to learn about my previous two times visiting. We decided to choose another day to actually go into the building and spent a long time walking around the entire thing. In fact we ended up walking around it twice. My Mom was all full of science about the building and was surprisingly informative – I learned something! I was also pleasantly surprised when we discovered a park at the back of the cathedral with benches shaded by trees. It was a great spot for me to nurse Ripley and eat our picnic. I also recommend the toilettes as there is an attendant that keeps them clean.

We found the center point of Paris- Point Zero – at the front of Notre Dame. All distance in Paris is measured from this spot. I’m not sure why there are coins in it. I don’t feel like Googling it right now.

After Notre Dame we walked across one of the tiny bridges that takes you over the Seine River to the Left Bank and the Latin Quarter. It was extremely busy but my Mum hadn’t been there before so we pushed our way through the crowds. We found the Shakespeare Book Company and the narrowest street in Paris – Rue du Chat-qui-Pêche (Street of the Fishing Cat).

Here is some street art by Nemo on that same street Rue du Chat-qui-Pêche. Usually Sean takes these kinds of pics but he is gone for 2 weeks so I am doing it on his behalf plus I miss him. I actually really like street art but Sean is more of an expert than me.

We also came upon one of my favorite churches, Saint-Severin. I’m not sure why I like it so much, I think because it’s so black with soot that it seems almost evil.

After another 7 hour day, our walking adventure came to an end at Place Saint-Michel with the Fontaine Saint-Michel. It’s a pretty nice looking fountain built in 1858 as part of the reconstruction of Paris.

Before I sign off, I wanted to mention some logistics around hauling Ripley around all day. For this trip I carried him on the RER/Metro in a sling and my Mom folded up the stroller and carried it separately. I liked that better because I felt like it was too hard getting the stroller on the trains when it was busy, finding a gate big enough to get through, hating going on the escalator with it, and keeping control of it on the train with abrupt stops. My Mom hated it though because when it was folded the wheels got her pants all dirty. I say it serves her right for wearing white pants!