Paris has eclipsed HSU as the "hills and stairs" capitol of the world

We got back to our room late last night, and it has been so hot here that I didn't feel like firing up the computer for a blog post. I know, I know- you were all waiting so patiently, right?
Anyway, here's a summary of what we've been doing for the past few days. I'm afraid I can't post any more photos until we get to our next hotel. For some reason, the internet access works here for everything except uploading photos to the blog. I even went all the way down (and back up) the 108 steps between the lobby and our room just now to check if the wireless signal would be stronger down there and allow me to post photos, but it didn't work.
Yesterday we started our day taking a quick tour through the small Musee National du Moyen Age-Thermes de Cluny (Museum of the middle ages, and Cluny baths- from the Roman times), which is just two blocks from our hotel. It was our first stop because it is an uncrowded location to purchase our four-day Museum Pass, which will gain us free admission into over 60 museums in and around Paris. For me, the only lure to actually go into the Cluny was to see the Lady and Unicorn tapestries. A few years ago I read The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier, which is a historical fiction novel about the making of the tapestries. After reading that, I couldn't miss the chance to see them for myself.
After visiting the Cluny, we took the metro to the Louvre and spent most of the day there. It was quite an experience- way more art than anyone could possibly take a meaningful look at in one day. Even just to walk through all of the rooms without stopping to look at anything would take the majority of a day. It's an amazingly huge building and, like most of the museums in London and Paris, the building itself would be an interesting museum even if there was nothing in it. We saw all of the big ticket items: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, etc. Of course, there was a huge crowd of people pushing and shoving to get a close look at Mona Lisa. They really don't allow anyone to get much closer than 10 or 15 feet, and it's behind a huge thick pane of glass. After it being stolen and vandalized several times, they're not taking any chances.
Our feet were really sore after all of our walking in the Louvre. We went back to our hotel for a simple dinner of salad, cheese and a baguette before venturing out again to visit the Arc de Triomphe. The views were great from the top- once we had climbed the 234 steps to get there. We just kept climbing and climbing and climbing! The most interesting thing to watch at the top was the traffic below. The biggest round-about I've even seen goes around the Arc de Triomphe, and it's amazing to watch the cars jockeying for position, with tons of little motor-scooters darting in and out beween the cars.
After getting back to our room late last night, we slept in a bit this morning. After breakfast we headed to Notre Dame, where we toured inside the church (free to everyone). We were going to head up to the bell tower directly after, but the line was huge! They only allow a certain number of people up at one time, since there is only one stairway, and there is a long wait between when each group is allowed up. We decided to come back later, and instead visited the Paris Archeological Crypt next, which is in the same plaza. It was really interesting to see the remains of the original Roman city that existed before modern Paris. After that we walked a few more blocks to visit Sainte-Chapelle, which is a church with gorgeous stained-glass windows. We had to wait quite a while in line to enter, since Sainte-Chapelle is located in a courtyard in the middle of the Palais de Justice (French judicial headquarters). This means high security, and we had to put our bags through an x-ray machine.
After our visit to Sainte-Chapelle we were hungry. So we took the metro to the Marais neighborhood and got take-out from L'As du Fallafel. It was SO good! And very reasonably priced for Paris. I got their signature dish- the vegetarian falafel special- and Logan got the schwarma (I think it was lamb.) We wandered around while we ate and then took the metro back to try again to enter the Notre Dame tower. This time the line was shorter (although it still took us over 30 minutes to move about 30 feet in line), and we finally made it up to the top (387 steps- thus the title of this post). Logan made friends with a nice young Australian guy in line, so that made the wait more enjoyable. There are lots of Australians here on holiday right now, and they're all wilting from the heat since it's winter in Australia right now!
Our finaly sight-seeing stop for the day was the Pantheon, where we spent an hour looking at the crypt (where Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, and Louis Braille are buried, among others), admiring the wonderful statues, and watching Foccoult's pendulum swing. It's close to our hotel, so we walked back- past the Paris University- when we were done looking.
Our next stop was the hotel again, for dinner and a rest. I went to the market and tried to get a vegetable quiche for us, but the one I bought ended up containing scallops- they looked like pearl onions on the box! Now I know- always take my menu translator book to the market. So Logan enjoyed the scallop quiche and I had a large salad and cheese. I wasn't upset about not having something more substantial for dinner, because we were going out to the small island of Ile St-Louis after dinner to get some ice cream. We found ourselves on a street lined with ice cream shops, and decided to go to one that I had seen recommended by Rick Steves: Amorino Italian Gelato (sorry, the site doesn't translate into English, but if you click on "nos boutiques" you can see the one we went to- 47 rue Saint Louis). I used my limited French to order two medium ice cream cones- coffee and dark chocolate for me, and pistachio and dark chocolate for Logan. It was so wonderful and creamy. We walked down to the Seine to watch the boats go by while we ate. Then we took the metro back to our hotel, trudged up our last 108 steps for the day, and showered before collapsing onto the beds to relax.
Tomorrow, we're off to Versailles and then a nice dinner out on the Ile St-Louis.