After a long sleep, we headed to a cafe just outside our hotel and had amazing croissants for breakfast. Then we headed out for the day to the Ile de la Cite area - the two large islands in the Siene in the heart of old Paris. They are very walkable and absolutely picturesque with narrow streets, stone buildings with boldly painted giant doors and wrought iron balconies with wisteria climbing up the side. We walked by Notre Dame which has a lot of scaffolding in place and even a crane set up to repair the cathedral that suffered a lot of damage from a massive 2019 fire. We went into Sainte-Chapelle, a “jewel box” of a chapel built by Louis XII (Saint Louis) to house the Crown of Thorns relic. It was built in the 13th century in the gothic style and has incredibly high ceilings painted navy blue with gold stars and stained glass panels and a large rose window. The stained glass panels each tell a different story from the Bible or the life of Louis XII. Right next door is the Palais de Justice (similar to the Supreme Court) which proclaims the values of the French Revolution: Liberty, Egalite, Fraternity. We wandered the streets of the smaller island - Ile St Louis and finally stopped at a sidewalk cafe for a traditional French meal: French Onion soup for me and Escargot and Foie Gras for James. For the early evening, we joined Parisiennes along the Seine at the end of the Ile de la Cite to watch sunset. We took a blanket, sandwiches and a bottle of wine and watched the boats pass by. At dusk, we walked over to the courtyard of the Louvre and halfway down the Champs Elysees. To finish the night, we got dressed up and went out on the town to sample the Paris nightlife.
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