Day 46: South of the Seine

Yesterday all the places I went to were on the north side of the Seine river, so today I decided to hit the south side. Before that, I had to go to the train station to reserve some upcoming rides. Everything should be booked up and ready to go until Venice, although there will be at least one early morning in there to avoid another reservation.

Once all that was taken care of, I hopped on the subway and headed to the Eiffel Tower. One of the lifts up to the third level was broken, and they charge even to go up the first two levels by stairs, so I passed on going up and just wandered through the park and enjoyed the view. It was the hottest day of my trip so far, 29C, and I was carrying around my messenger bag because I had things in it for the train reservations and didn't want to make another trip back to the hostel. I emptied out much of the weight in the morning, but with the heat it did cause some extra effort. On the positive side, I also had my water bottle clipped to it (thanks Jessica!) so I kept filling it up at fountains through the day.

After a bit of research following the anonymous tip on vertical gardens (I can't really see anybody other than my mother or sister knowing about them and knowing I'd be interested in them) on stuck around near the tower to hunt down the vertical garden at the Musee du Quai Branly. This is one of the older ones in Paris, but it still looks amazing. I might try to hunt down a few more of them, but this one was easy since it was close to my route.

I headed east along the river a good while until I reached Île de la Cité, which is an island in the Seine. It has a couple of things I wanted to check out. First I went to Sainte-Chapelle, which has my favourite interior of any gothic structure. I doubt most people even have a favourite gothic interior, but most people didn't have to memorize long lists of gothic architecture and the features of each place for art history. Sainte-Chapelle is basically a cage of light, and it was lucky that it was sunny out today. Unfortunately 3 of the windows were boarded up for renovations, so I didn't get the full effect, but still not too shabby.

The other stop was to the more famous gothic structure, Notre Dame de Paris. Apparently Thursday and Saturdays are free admission, so I wandered around the inside of the catherdral (ground floor only). The real highlight of Notre Dame is the exterior though, with all its gothic features like flying buttresses and the rose window. Also, it has gargoyles. Lots and lots of gargoyles.

Finally, here is some random other tower that was nearby. No idea what it is, but lots more gargoyles!

Anyway, since it's very hot in here right now I'm going to go get a beer and head outside where hopefully there is a breeze and relax a bit. Don't have a plan for tomorrow yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.