Bonsoir, (see we are learning French!)

It was another rainy day today and we had our Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame tours. We were pretty wet by the time we got to the tour meetup point, and unfortunately we ended up having to stay out in the rain quite a bit. 

Sainte Chapelle was excellent. The tour was pretty light on information compared to our other two tours because the guide couldn't speak in the actual church area. Also this was our biggest tour group by far with 18 or so people, so we got to wear little earpieces. We started in the basement which is where the common people would pray... and then you head up a small stone spiral staircase to the upper area where the king would have his services. As soon as you reach the top you are greeted by wall to wall of color from the stained glass windows. It's just like in the photos and it was great.

We then had to walk a few blocks in the rain to Notre Dame. There was a bit of a line out front, and since it's an active church there is no skip the line pass. So we had to wait outside in the rain in the cold wind :(

I didn't know what the inside looked like, so I didn't really have any expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. It's not on the scale of St. Paul's, however it is still massive. I was able to take pictures here so I will attach some on this email. The inside reminded me of something out of Lord of the Rings.

After an hour inside we got to climb the towers (and try to find Quasimodo). It was a few hundred stone steps in yet another spiral staircase. Also the steps got quite small and were very wet and slippery, so we had to really take our time going up. You first exit out onto the first level which is pretty high off the ground. It was still raining here and you only have like two feet of space to walk around the tower. From here we got to go up into the tower and see the big bells. Thankfully they only ring the other side during the day because those bells are huge.

Another set of slippery stairs later we were at the very top of one of the towers. From here you are at the exact center of Paris, and you get a full 360 view the city. After we got up there the rain suddenly stopped. You are only supposed to spend 5 minutes up there, but we ended up getting probably 15 and we went around the top and the guide pointed out various things. The trip down took much longer than going up as everyone walked very deliberately to not slip.

After our tour we walked a block or two away and had lunch at a cafe. Amanda ordered us huge expressos (which were basically a bowl of coffee :D) along with our food. She's also been eating things here that would normally hurt her at home, and hasn't had any huge problems. I think she is food happy. Tomorrow we have our free day. It isn't supposed to rain, so we are planning on going to the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, and the Sacre Coeur. We have to leave Paris super early Wednesday, so we will probably come back to the hotel early to get ready.