Day 3!
Day 3 for us was another trip to Notre Dame, followed by Saint Chappelle and a special Birthday Dinner for my birthday at a very nice restaurant!
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The day started with us navigating the metro and going to Île de la Cité, the city in the center of the Seine river in Paris.
We once again returned to Notre Dame after independently visiting the cathedral before our tour started, something my husband and I were happy to do. I feel like when you visit a place like this you always notice new things the second or third time. Plus the exterior looked so much prettier in the morning sun then it did in the cold overcast of the previous day.
Our tour guide, Rolinka, let us know more about the spire that was rebuilt after the great fire that burned Notre Dame. We learned that there had been a lot of people bidding to replace the spire with all sorts of unique pitches, one included rebuilding it out of crystal.
I'm glad the government decided to replace it with a more traditional spire. I feel like it looks pretty incredible as is.
One of the highlights of the tour was the absolutely spectacular stained glass of Sainte Chapelle.
Rick Steve's writes that this chapel has some of the most spectacular stained glass in all of Europe. I totally believe him when he says this, especially after seeing it for myself!.
In particular, the brilliant blue glass in the windows is like nothing else. I've never seen stained glass with such a brilliant blue before.
This was one of the artistic things I've seen in my life that left me feeling awestruck at the incredible craftsmanship involved in building something like this.
It was absolutely a trip highlight for me!
Once we were done with our adventure on the "Island of the City", we went back to our hotel to rest for a while.
Then, we went to a restaurant we'd booked in advance, since this day was my birthday and I wanted a special birthday dinner.
We were off to Le Christine, which is named for the street it's on, Rue Christine!
Everything was delicious and flavorful. We got their tasting menu.
The "amuse bouche" that we started with was very herbal and crunchy. I'm not entirely sure what was in it, but it was great.
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The next dish was 'onion soup' in two parts;
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The first part was a bite sized onion petal with caramelized onions and broth on the inside, and roasted cheese on top. You were to eat the whole thing in one bite. It was excellent; sort of a 'bite' of onion soup.
Next was onion broth poured over onions, with black truffles grated on top. Also excellent.
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We were then on to the meat courses. The first one was a delicious white fish topped with caviar; this was my first time having caviar and it was really good.
The second dish was also a fish, served with a tangy soy glaze. If memory serves correctly I believe it was an Icelandic cod.
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One of the last courses was a sweetbreads course.
The sweetbreads are pituitary glands from the inside of a calf's brain.
I'd never had sweetbreads before, but I told myself I was in Paris and I was going to try new foods!
Did I like it...? Not as much as I had hoped. It was very chewy. But hey, I tired it, and it wasn't bad. I just don't know if I would order it again.
It was time to wash it down with some Armagnac after that. The Armagnac was quite good.
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And of course because this was my birthday the restaurant put a candle in my desert! Dessert was a delicious popcorn ice cream, something I've never seen before, but man was it good!