The next day we went to visit the Conciergerie, where the prisoners of the French Revolution, including Marie Antoinette, were held prior to being carted off to the guillotine (see the actual blade above). This is on the Isle de la Cité, the small Island in the Seine which is where Paris originated and the seat of power dating from Roman times all the way through the medieval kings of France. Right next door is the beautiful church, Sainte-Chapelle, built by Louis the IX in 1239 to house Christ's crown of thorns which he bought from the emperor of Constantinople for 135,000 livres (the chapel itself cost another 40,000). The stained glass is really breathtaking (see pictures above).
Next we walked to the other end of the Isle de la Cité to see Quasimodo's old stomping grounds, Notre Dame. Here we got a view of the gargoyles, the pipe organ (which was playing scary music while we were there), and the flying buttresses (you can imagine the jokes from Rory and Jasper).
Finally, we made our way to the Arc d'Triomphe, Napolean's monument to his own military genius, and Jasper and I climbed the 284 steps to the top and got our first view of the Eiffel Tower.
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