I knew it was gonna be a good day when we were standing in the metro waiting for our train and one of the street performers started playing Ave Maria on the accordion. I was standing there and I was like I know this song and I turned to Sarah and we looked at each other and she was like Is this? and I was like YES!
We took the metro to St. Michael, the stop for Notre Dame! So we get off the metro and we don't see the Cathedral. And we're like what the heck it shouldn't be hard to find. And then I poked my head around the corner and there it was! And I was like "I found it!"
Oh my gosh Notre Dame is incredible! I absolutely loved it! My favorite part was actually when we got toward the front and you look straight up at the ceiling and right over the altar is a little circle with an image of Our Lady. Which is perfect cuz Notre Dame is french for Our Lady so it's literally Our Lady's Cathedral! And the windows are incredible! So gorgeous! And - God is so good - there was a statue of St. Joan of Arc! So even though I didn't get to go to her hometown I still got to spend a little time with her! So yeah basically Notre Dame is even more incredible than it sounds. I would go back there in a heartbeat.
Oh and as we exited the Cathedral there were all the statues of the saints and there's one of John the Baptist and he's holding his head in his hands. Which is because he was beheaded but it was just so weird and kind of hilarious. 
We were then heading in the general direction of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal but it didn't open till later so we had plenty of time and we kept seeing all these churches so we just stopped in. The first Church we stopped in was St. Germain which was the same style as Notre Dame but much smaller. We also stopped by St. Thomas Aquinas.
We then found the Chapel but it wasn't open yet so we wandered around looking for a cheap parisian cafe. We finally found one and had a lovely lunch. We discussed our philosophy paper which we are quite excited about. We have to take a response to a situation and explain whether the response is appropriate or inappropriate to the situation. So our situation is taken from the movie Up - the situation is Carl Frederickson's being told he has to enter a nursing home and the response is his tying a billion balloons to his house and flying away. We decided this response was inappropriate and our papers are gonna be AMAZING!!!!! And it was so cool cuz we were discussing philosophy over coffee and hot chocolate in a Parisian cafe! That is just so epic!
After lunch we went back to the Chapel. The reason I was so set on visiting the Chapel is because last year my mommy had given me a novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. I kept wanting to pray this novena but it kept not happening. And then I realized that the place where the apparitions of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal took place was in Paris. And I knew I was gonna be in Paris over ten-day and a novena lasts for nine days so I decided to say the novena over ten-day and make a pilgrimage to the Chapel where the apparitions took place!
Oh my gosh it was so beautiful! When I went on the Chapel's website to get directions it was described as a "grotto in the heart of Paris" and that is the perfect description! You walk through the entrance and you just leave all the crazy city-ness of Paris behind and enter this beautiful peaceful place! We actually stopped in the gift shop first and I got this postcard with a picture of the chapel explaining the significance of different places in the chapel. Above the altar is a statue of Mary in the exact place where St. Catherince Laboure had a vision of Our Lady resplendent - as "the woman clothed with the sun." There's another statue of Our Lady right next to the altar in the exact place where Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Laboure and showed her the image of the Miraculous Medal and instructed her to "have a medal struck in this image." At one of the side altars is the body of St. Catherine Laboure and on the wall above the altar is a painting of the first apparition. It is absolutely incredible! 
I also got a pamphlet in the gift shop which explains the apparitions. I almost burst into tears when I read this pamphlet because it said that the tabernacle which is in the Chapel to this day is the same tabernacle which was in the Chapel at the time of St. Catherine Laboure and it is the very tabernacle THAT OUR LADY BOWED BEFORE WHEN SHE APPEARED TO ST. CATHERINE LABOURE! OUR LADY BOWED TO THE TABERNACLE!!!!!! Our Lady is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!
We then entered the Chapel, which was packed with people, just as they were beginning the last decade of the sorrowful mysteries. And then there was Benediction. It was the most perfect timing - Our Lady just totally guided us! And after Benediction I got to say my Novena in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal!!!!!! That is just beyond belief!!!!
Sarah and I left there just feeling so wonderful. It was like the whole first half of our day had been a pilgrimage and because of that we were able to go to the secular stuff - the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe - that afternoon. I feel like those things wouldn't have even been worth it if we hadn't done our pilgrimage first.
The next place we visited was the Eiffel Tower. Umm, yeah, it looks just like the pictures. Honestly, it was not that exciting. Actually it's kind of rusty. Like, literally, this thing is made of steel. So you look up and you expect it to be all perfect like in the movies and it's rusty. Kind of disappointing. But we sat on a bench across the street and just chilled for a while and it was nice.
We then headed to the Arc de Triomphe which also looks just like the pictures. I am writing a paper on the Arc so it was nice knowing the symbolism of different sculptures and stuff on it but yeah - it's an arc.
As we were heading back it began to rain and then we saw St. Augustine's Church! So naturally we went in. In the back of the Church are statues of St. Augustine and St. Monica (his mother). I was so happy to get to pray by them! And there was another statue of St. Joan of Arc! I was so glad we stopped at that Church! And it was perfect cuz we began and ended the day with Jesus!
We then grabbed kebaps and ate them at the hotel while watching Top Chef in French.
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