Escalier en colimaçon

So my boss left for Milan and I am playing hooky with my friend Danielle for 3 days. We started out picking up lunch (baguettes, cheese, and fruit) at Rue de Mouffetard and walking over to the Luxembourg Gardens. We sat in the sun and enjoyed our little picnic, then headed up to Shakespeare & Co. so that Danielle could catch the metro to work and I could go back to Notre Dame.

I decided to climb the 360 spiraling steps (escalier en colimaçon) to the top of Notre Dame to see the gargoyles. The climb isn’t too bad because it is broken up into three parts: gift shop; balcony, gargoyles & bell, and tippy tippy top. The spiral staircase is so tiny that they only let a handful of people in at a time and they have to let everyone go up and down before the next group. My favorite level was the second because the gargoyles were so cool and I felt like I was part of the movie when I saw the bell. The descent, however, is not fun! You spiral down 360 stone stairs in this tiny tower. Claustrophobic!

Then I walked through the Marche aux fleurs, flower market aka allergies nightmare, to Saint Chapelle. Even though I have seen my fill of cathedrals, this one is really nice because it is entirely stained glass windows! With the sun shining through, the room lit up and looked amazing. Unfortunately they are fixing the Rose Window, which is the main attraction there, so I didn’t get that. St. Chapelle is in the same courtyard as Palais Justice and the Concierge, so I poked around there a little too.

I looked at my watch and realized that it was 5pm and the last stop I wanted to make was a park nearby that closes at 6pm!! I jumped on the metro and took it over to Jardin des Plantes, a botanical garden in Paris. This was way more than just a botanical garden though; it was like transporting out of Paris entirely. I walked among giant trees, rows of flowers, funky hedges. I discovered a zoo, 3 small natural history, science, and zoology museums, the cutest carousel, and a labyrinth. Check out the pictures, but the reason I titled this blog “Escalier en colimaçon” or spiral staircase is because all day I felt like I was climbing spinning stairs. Even the labyrinth was a spiral sidewalk lined with hedges up to a gazebo. There were a bunch of parents sitting in the gazebo talking as their kids played in the hedges. The hedges are so thick that kids have carved out little tunnels and passageways through the hedges. This is perfect for 5 year old and a nightmare for parents. As a descended, I could hear all of the parents yelling for their little French children to reappear. It was probably like being in Alice and Wonderland (Alice au pays des merveilles) for the kids and a complete horror for the parents.