Notre Dame de Paris

There were already storms of people waiting in line to go up the Eiffel Tower. Both girls were not bothered about making the climb up the tower.

What fascinated us most was the street sellers making their dominant presence at selling the replicas of the tower. Abe befriended one of these young enterprising chaps and later walked away happily with a few replicas of the tower as souvenirs. (ye lah kan...orang hari-hari dok eat, sleep, study, love, tengok tower...kena lah bawak pulang bagi kat kawan-kawan)

Us girls, we went around taking pictures while he haggled for the best deal he could get for his purchase.

Once done, we hurdled back to HOHO stop.

Our next stop was a Gothic masterpiece located on the Île de la Cité, a small island in the heart of Paris.

Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe.

Seen from the exterior, the building appears to be High Gothic. Notable features include the profusion of colonnettes and tracery screens, the horizontal and vertical ordering of the facades

The Portal of Saint Anne is the portal on the west façade on the right. Its tympanum is an earlier Romanesque work, taken from the former St. Stephen's Cathedral and dating from about 1150.

In its centre, there is a magnificent Virgin with Child in the Romanesque style, with all of the elegant and serene characteristics of majestic Virgins.

A painting in the Notre Dame.

The South Rose Window was a gift from the king Saint Louis. It was designed by Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil.

It would days, just to view all the windows and learn what they are illustrating. Each window is divided into panels, which are usually read from left to right, bottom to top (earth to heaven). The number of figures or abstract shapes used is symbolic; three stands for the Church, squares and the number four symbolize the material world of the four elements, circles for eternal life.

Silence...prayers in session.

Statue of St. Joan of Arc inside Notre Dame

We followed the flow of crowd making one full round in the cathedral. Upon our exit, we saw the dark skies looming over the area. And we were hungry again by then.

Coffee and food aroma from the sidewalk cafes got us walking across the street. We found a seller on the corner selling crêpe!!

Break time.....and we had our own choice crêpe (a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour. Abe said...macam lempeng lah) with different fillings. In the end, we all agreed that the best crêpe was the one with Nutella, banana and coconut filling. Yummmmssssss......

As we strolled around the Notre Dame area, we spotted these power machines..........

And Mommy obviously had to do damage here.......