Canal Cruise and Notre Dame Cathedral.

Got up had breakfast packed our Lunch the usual one and started off.  First we went to the Station nearby and got the 3 day train tickets for Zone 1, 2 and 3.  Here the zones are numbered.  With a little bit of difficulty we did manage to communicate to the ticket clerk about our need and she gave the ticket in a jiffy.
I felt even though we did not know a word of French the Metro was quite user friendly.  We had already booked our tickets for what ever we wanted to do and had  noted down the station and also how to go there.
 We were to go to Canal Cruise today and I did not know what to expect but the reviews in the net was really good.
 we went by train to the starting point of the canal cruise.

Initially the boat sailed  in the Seine river  and we could see many monuments which the guide was pointing out to us.   The Notre Dame Cathedral was excellent seen from the boat.

Slowly the Boat entered the Canal and the experience was out of this world.  Some part of the canal is built underground and like any underground road  the canal is below the road.  When you look up from the underground tunnel on which the boat is moving you can actually see the road and the sky above you.  It is some thing which is really unbelievable.  I was amazed to  know that this was built in 18 Hundreds that is 19th Century.

The underground tunnel and the sunlight from above.

The beauty of this boat ride was that we were travelling from a lower level of the river to the higher level and this is achieved through a system of gates and locks.  Before we entered the canal from the river there is a place for the boat to stop with gates locked from both sides and once inside this place  the boat stops the gate through which we came is closed  and some lever is operated by the boat man and water gushes through the other side into this waiting place (shall I call it waiting room?) and slowly the level of water increases bringing the boat up.  Once it is level with the other side the gate is opened and the boat moves up.    The gates are closed once again. We were to pass through around 10 such gates and lock system and it was fascinating for me to watch every time.

The gate and the gushing water.

Now the water is in level and the open gate.

This was a very new experience to me for being a city bred girl from Bangalore I have had no chance to go on boat rides in canals,  except on holidays on some small lakes.

Now I could understand what the person on the boat ride in Windsor Castle  in England was talking about.  He was saying that due to gate systems the journey to London would take almost 24 hours as the boat has to wait its turn in the gates and locks and showed us a gate which I could not  comprehend.

Later after I came back from the trip and talking about this to Vinayak, he mentioned that big ships are lifted in such methods in Suez  canal to navigate the ship to move to  higher level .   Surely these trips are lessons I  learnt about which I had   no inkling what so ever.

The ride inside the tunnel was for about a Kilometer or so and afterwards it was nice seeing people on both sides of the canal and lovely bridges from which people were looking at these boats and also many (narrow) small bridges which went vertically up one side (unlike tower bridge which opened both sides) like a sore thumb and vehicles waiting on both sides.

The gate system continued even after coming out of the tunnel.

Some bridges  simply turned to one side allowing  the boat to move on and you can see a car waiting at the signal to cross the canal after the boat passes through and the bridge comes to its original position.

I wish I was standing on the bridge watching the boats and other sights.

These leisurely walks I could not afford this time and there were many planned things waiting for us to do.
 In general in Paris,  I noticed many many people lazing around, in parks and public places just like that especially youngsters.  This I had not seen in London where everybody seemed to be very busy.

Our cruise came to an end after about 2 hours plus and we got down and sat in some place  and had our packed lunch which I had brought with me.  We had coffee and proceeded to our next destination the Notre dame Cathedral.

We took the underground metro and reached the Cathedral.  We had to walk quite a bit  to go near the magnificent Cathedral and the building was marvellous and  my hubby clicked numerous pictures as each carving, statues were  asking for our attention and wanting us to record for ourselves that we did see them!

The seating facilities in the Paris underground attracted our attention and these small details are the ones which makes ones trip nice and good.

Ah, Notre Dame you are standing sideways! I can not help it.....

 We went inside and were allowed to take pictures.  There was an exhibition inside the church  where some artifacts of the church were displayed.

again side ways... ah...

In front of the Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral.

I also sat and prayed and lit some candles  also.

Stained glass work inside the Cathedral

 The exhibition was held because  they were celebrating the 850 years of the building of the cathedral.  Oh it  is such a nice building and stands so majestically for such a long time.  I was reminded of our Tanjore Brihadeeswara temple built in 11th century by Raja Raja Chola. Just like our temple this is also a place of worship even today but it is being maintained very well.

                                          this picture is also turned side ways.

This is one of the artifacts in the exhibition made of silver.  There were many and my hubby took lots of pictures. I have just posted this one.

I had taken a flyer in the boat which  gave details about a shopping mall called Lafayette.  The picture looked very nice and the station to go into it was on the way to Notre Dame and so we decided to check it out.
On our way back to our hotel from the Cathedral we went there and it was such a wonderful building with many floors  for shopping.

                                          Many floors of the shopping mall.

                                                    The roof in the central court yard.

We returned to the hotel and freshened up .  We proceeded to Arc De Triomphe.  This is next to Charles de Gaulle Station.  Very nice place.  Lovely to walk around.  This is the monument for the Soldiers and it is one of the most well known places in Paris.  

In front of the Arc de Triomphe

The workmen ship in the roof of the Arc

On the Side walls....

We had bookings for dinner and a show in La Lido. We walked there from the arc de triomphe   As an youngster I had heard so much about it in the 1970s and wanted to see the show.  It was OK.  Food was good and they served Champagne.  The stage settings which are very famous was not bad. This is on the famous road called  Champs-Élysées,  .  The walk on this road is supposed to be very nice but we did not have time for it and we came back to the station after  the show and returned to our hotel.