I got up early this morning and went for a walk trying to get my bearings in the neighborhood. The streets are like a spider web made out of cobblestones and very twisting and narrow. My apartment is in the Marais (4th arrondissement) about halfway between the Bastille and Notre Dame. Courtney and I decided to visit Notre Dame.
I lit my usual candle to St Teresa. A lot of the statues aren't behind any special guard rail so you can get fairly close for a picture. But the real purpose of our trip to Notre Dame was to see the presentation of the relics. On the first Friday of every month they have a special viewing of the Crown of Thorns. I have to say it was absolutely awe-inspiring.
We got there an hour early and got a really good seat close to the front on the center aisle. The priests held a service very similar to a mass (a little hard to tell since everything was in French). Then they let everyone come up and kiss the crown. It took forever, because the church was pretty full, but really amazing. The crown was in a glass and gold case, so you could see it, but not actually touch it.
Courtney and I also tried our hand at food shopping. Most Parisians buy their food at an outdoor market or a specialty shop (no Super Walmarts that I can see). We got cheese, sausages, and strawberries here, and then stopped off at a patisserie for a baguette. It had just come from the oven, so we went back to the apartment for a snack - a little warmer than the ice cream we had at the gelato shop.
