How can I like Notre Dame?

Hi again,

Well I have seen the majority of the major sites here in Paris and I have to say wow. I still have to fully explore them, but I have seen them. Here are some of my impressions:

1) The Eiffel Tower is shorter than I thought it would be.
2) The Arc de Triomphe is bigger and in my opinion more impressive.
3) I love Gothic cathedrals, even if that does include the Notre Dame

Yesterday I went to see the Eiffel Tower and then walked to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysees. The Champs Elysees is a huge boulevard that has many shops along either side and goes from the Arc to the Concord Plaza. It is really a beautiful walk and about halfway down are the Grand and Petite Palaces. As I was walking down the sidewalk I came upon the Disney store. Now for those of you who don't know I have this thing for Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Of course I had to go into the store and see if they had anything dopey in there. Of course they did and do you know what they call him here? SIMPELET...I think that is brilliant and I know what I am buying myself for Christmas. I have a Dopey from Italy and soon one from France, I think that will be what I collect. My mom collects dolls from different countries, I will collect Dopeys.

After leaving the store I walked through a park and went to see the Louvre. The building is absolutely huge, unfortunately it is closed on Tuesdays so I could only see the outside. I can see why people say you could stay in there for months and still not see everything. I will have to see if they have a pass that I can get so that I can go and try to see everything. I am very excited about that. I am more excited to see the art than I was to see the Eiffel Tower, but that is just me. An the Louvre is only one of many museums here for me to see. I may need longer than 3 months!

After walking around for almost 5 hours yesterday I went home and fell asleep and missed going out for Halloween. Very sad if you ask me.

Today I got up and went to see the Notre Dame. I love Gothic cathedrals, they are so beautiful and interesting. I went in and it cot to see all of the different chapels and stained glass (See my photo album for pictures). Unlike the cathedral in Prague, which was not being actively used, the Notre Dame was warm. The only sad thing was that I did not see Quasi. I did not go up the towers maybe next time. It is 422 steps up, I will have to work up to that before I tackle it.

So back to my title, while the cathedral is beautiful I think that it is a shame that a school, especially a rival school, had to steal the name...and then have the nerve to call themselves the fighting Irish. Just goes to show how smart they are. Well since the cathedral was here first I am okay with it. It is just a good thing that there is no ucla here otherwise I would have to boycott it!

I will be uploading more pictures soon so look for them.

Have a great day and I will talk to you soon.

Au Revoir

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