Guess where we went the morning of our second day in Paris? We went to Notre Dame! Only, this time, we climbed to the top. Well, half of us climbed to the top. The other half got claustrophobic in the VERY NARROW stairwell where there should most definitely be a weight/body width limit and decided to fore go climbing to the very top. Here we have the space where the giant bells are lowered if need be.
Paris from the stairwell
Baby birds from the stairwell
That dude just wouldn't get out of the way! Picture hog...
The City Overseers
The Seine from above
After climbing to the top of Notre Dame, we decided to take one of the walks given to Andy by Melissa and Joe for his graduation present! This one took us down by the river, past a sculpture garden, and elsewhere... Here I am posing by a sculpture by the Seine. What you don't see, and neither did Andy, was the very creepy man skulking underneath the walkway directly across from me. He was creepy and I got out of there as quickly as possible.
There is much question in my mind as to what exactly is going on in this sculpture. You can come up with your own conclusions...
The walk took us away from the river and on to the Botanical Gardens/Zoo/Natural History Museum area. It was so beautiful there, but unfortunately, my feet were suffering from massive blisters at this point and I was unable to a. walk and b. fully enjoy our visit to this area. 
We left the Botanical Garden area and went directly to a pharmacy for some band aids. Those were fairly ineffective, but helped, so the walk continued on to this place, a really old coliseum which used to hold up to 10,000 people!! Now, it's a playground sort of place. 
Later that afternoon, after a rest and a change of shoes into a pair that wouldn't tear my feet to shreds, Andy and I headed off to do some cemetery cruising. Pere-Lachaise is a HUGE beautiful cemetery where lots of famous people through history are buried. Andy had a few in mind he specifically wanted to visit.
To the Crematorium, Batman!
These guys peaked my interest.
First, we visited Marcel Proust, a French novelist, essayist and critic.
Then, we went to the Crematorium to visit Richard Wright, an author Andy studies a lot.
The next dead person of note was Oscar Wilde. I don't understand why people are compelled to write all over this grave, but there you have it. I think it's totally disrespectful. There were all kinds of kids making lots of noise there at Oscar Wilde's grave site, while an actual funeral was going on very nearby. It was sad.
Further along the way, we visited Chopin...
And Eloise and Abelard....
Finally, we left the cemetery and went back to the apartment for another rest before date night. Andy took me to a nice restaurant in the square where Victor Hugo lived! So we went to his apartment, of course. It was a very literary afternoon and evening!! 
