Day 3 in Paris, our 20th wedding Anniversary. So another early start today up at 3am local time getting ready for the day. So our plans were, to renew our wedding vows, cruise along the La Seine & have dinner on the cruise. Well our plans changed as the day went on, but still very special. Reliving and reminiscing over the last 20 years with lots of giggles and smiles along the way.
Today we went back to the Louvre to get some extra photos missed from the prior day. We were there too early to go into the museum, so we will go back again as we need to see the Mona Lisa. We then jumped back on the Metro, & headed off to see the Pantheon. When we got there, the sheer size of this building and detail is mind blowing!! When you go inside your head pops off! The scale and beauty of the artwork and statues is just amazing. We saw Foucaults pendulum swinging from the highest point of the roof to the centre of the building, demonstrating the earths rotation, this actually tells the time! The Pantheon was originally built in 512 AD and redesigned and completed in the year 1790. We went down stairs into the crypts and viewed all the Saints tombs.
Directly behind this building is yes another Church (Saint Etienne-du-Mont). As we venture into another church you might think once you've seen one you've seen them all. How wrong you would be, they all have different personalities and a different look in each of them. We actually stood on the same ground in there as Pope John Paul II when he visited there for a mass in 1997. The gold tomb of St Genevieve is here too. The pipe organs were enormous, and again the art work, buildings fixtures and fittings have so much detail. It has to be seen to be appreciated.
We then took another long walk to find Notre Dame, another church in this beautiful city. Well let me tell you I thought the Pantheon blew our heads off. This place takes the cake, look at the detail on the outside. When you get inside, all you hear is "wow" "ooooh" "argh" it's just sooo big and again the artwork and statues are truly just beautiful.
After this we decided to find our "hop on and off bus stop" to go to the Arc de Triomphe, well we walked for an hour, tempers and 'tantie's' all the way!! Paul finds the original stop where we first purchased the tickets from the day prior. We jump on and get off at the Arc de Triomphe. It's enormous and the carvings are amazing. A perpetual flame burns in memory of the unnamed soldier buried underneath it. Ok now it's dinner time, the plan is let's get back on the bus and get off at the Eiffel Tower, go down to the La Seine and take a dinner cruise for our anniversary. As we approach the tower, Paul hits the stop button for the next stop. The lady driver chatting on her mobile just keeps on driving, ce la vie. I told Paul don't worry lets go back to the Arc de Triomphe to take pics at night & it was getting very cold now. As we continued the bus trip we saw Riot Police barricading off streets as there was a protest of some kind happening. I'm glad we weren't walking! We are now about 10 stops from returning to Arc de Triomphe and we are stopping in the city and the driver gets off her mobile and says hello everybody get off the trip is over today, thank you! Lol.
As night fell it was so cold here, the coldest so far 2 degrees with a wind chill factor of freezing. As I froze in the streets of Paris I knew my plans had to change very quickly. So we ended up in a little Italian restaurant in Paris. You might be wondering why a Italian restaurant in France, well it couldn't have been more fitting. As Paul proposed to me on a gondola and that day was just perfect and romantic. Now it was just as romantic. So being in the most romantic city in the world and recreating that special day. Adding the Italian element to the day couldn't have been more perfect.
A special thank you to my dearest friend Lee, with out her Paul and I would have never been, so thank you for setting us up, as the last 20 years have the best.
