Our third and final day in Paris was on Christmas Day; so it was only appropriate that we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral. According to The Independent, France is the least festive country in Europe and it certainly came across as no one seemed particularly bothered it was Christmas Day, nor did we see anyone wishing each other 'Joyeux Noel'. Nonetheless, we still had a magical day roaming around the cathedral and capturing the beauty of The River Seine.
The Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the free attractions that Paris has to offer, and although the queue may look like you'll be waiting around all day, it moves so quickly it only takes about ten minutes to get in! The architecture of the Notre Dame is extremely intricate and when you get up close, you can really see just how much work must have gone into its design.
I am in no way religious, but there was such a strong aura in the building with so many people reflecting and lighting candles in remembrance of loved ones. There were booths available for visitors where they could confess their sins, but I was on a strict schedule and I would have needed more than a few hours if I was to go in there! Throughout the cathedral, there were different activities that you could partake in such as signing the guest book and writing a wish on a piece of paper where you place it in a locked box. The extra touches that they added throughout the cathedral definitely made it an extra special experience.
Notre Dame is very reliant on donations by the public so there are a lot of opportunities throughout the visit to dig deep in your pockets and spare some of your holiday money for this historic landmark. They also have some extraordinary souvenirs with most of the profits going straight back to the church or different charities.
After a busy three days, we were exhausted to say the least so we ended up spending the rest of our evening mooching around the side streets by the Eiffel Tower whilst eating Nutella crepes. Looking back on the trip, it was all rather a whirlwind fitting everything into just three short days but it can be done! I would love to come back for at least a week next time to really soak up the Parisian way of life as I feel most of our time was spent doing the typical touristy stuff so we never found any of the unknown gems that Paris has to offer.
I hope you've enjoyed reading the 'Christmas in Paris' blog series and that it's given you some sort of idea on what to do when time is limited! Thank you for reading :)
Tannaz
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