Notre Dame and Latin Quarter.

After yesterday's bout of homesickness and over 14 hours of rest (extremely jet lagged), my group began the morning by taking the metro.. which smells terrible by the way, to st. michel-notre dame stop and walked to the Notre Dame cathedral to meet our tour guide. Along the way we stopped at a fountain and Paul, a bakery with amazing breakfast! The pictures show some of the choices.
At the cathedral, our tour guide taught us the stories of what each doorway to the cathedral meant, one meaning the life of christ, one meaning the virgin mary and son and one meaning... something else? As we went inside the church, it was absolutely breathtaking. There were stain glass windows in each square of pillars which are actually not as old as the rest of the cathedral. When we reached the front we learned about the church and how they used minerals to create the stain glass windows that are the oldest and only had five colors- blue, purple, green, yellow, and red. Then we continued around the front of the church to see the stories sculpted in to wood that beautifully described Jesus' life. Around the whole cathedral were candles you could buy and light for someone or to take home with you. There was also a prayer box in which you could enter your wishes for the world, for others or for yourself. Because this was the cheaper option, I chose to write a note with my prayers for others and a few words to my dad.
Today is also the day in the Catholic faith that the 3 saints came and visited baby Jesus so there was a special display to honor that as well.
After Notre Dame, we visited the Latin Quarter, stopping at Saint Severin Church (my favorite), another church, the Pantheon, and a museum that featured the oldest monument in Paris- a Roman bath.
From there we had lunch and our group went our separate ways. While Sharie, Sam, and Olivia went back to climb the steps of Notre Dame to see the bell, Darcy, Amy and I went to the biggest bookstore I've ever seen!  Gilbert Joseph had 7 stories of books in one building and 3 stories of pens, paper, and such supplies in another. There was so much to see and I ended up purchasing a book. It's half in English and half in French.
  Mom I think you'll like it ;)
 We also walked along the Seine River checking out the green boxes filled with books and postcards. I found a good french book that I took a photo of as well. Wyatt will enjoy this one. :)

Now I am back in my dorm to rest for a few hours before supper and then tomorrow I am off to Belgium for chocolates, waffles, and beeeerrrr!:) It's fun being legal even though I have only had 2 glasses of wine so far. Will post photos from today later tonight with labels !