Taking in some culture and a lot of history in the Latin Quarter.

Today was dedicated to Le Quartier Latin, which normally is another destination that can be completely teeming with tourists, but this time of year and with these kinds of temperatures, it's actually quite pleasant!  

In order to reach the Latin Quarter, we passed through two beautiful areas of Paris.  

La Bastille, which I told you about in an earlier post

and Canal Saint Martin.  Here you'll find boats lined up on both sides of the canal for miles and miles.  The boat featured below was my favorite! 

There can also be found some very strange street art.

This one is a drinking fountain...yikes...

Look!  Another invador!  You can expect to see more of him, since he's everywhere!

Today, we also went to our first museum of the trip.  Le Musee du Cluny, which feature art and architecture from the 1st century up to about the 13th, give our take.  The best part about this museum is where it's located.  The collection is housed in a 1st century Roman Bath House!  Yeah!

Here are some cool exterior photos:

Here are some cool interior photos of the actual part that housed the bath house:

Amazingly, they the museums here in Paris allow pictures, as long you don't use a flash.  So here are my favorite examples of the art on display, that could turn out without a flash:

Serious Bling!!

After taking in a lot of history we made our to another spot that oozes with important artifacts and cultural significance, Notre Dame de Paris.

 Although photos are allowed, it just seemed wrong, so I took one picture of one panel of stained glass and kept my photo taking to the exterior.

If you look closely at this gargoyle, you'll see that it's an old woman with a cane.  How cool is that!?

This bird was just chillin, taking in the view with us!

All the culturing of the day left us completely worn out.  We went back to our nice, toasty apartment.  Picked out where we wanted to go for dinner and then promptly all fell asleep...one after another, sitting up on the coach, which was hilarious!  So, instead of going out, we all went to bed.  Unfortunately for Mom and Dad, that meant walking home the three blocks through the 20 degree weather to their own toasty little apartment.

Another successful day here in Paris!

On the agenda for tomorrow?  Versailles!  (You'll be happy to know that I got a charger for my iPhone, so I can upload some more food photos!  Woo!)  

A demain mes amis!