B:2-Notre Dame!

On Monday, while waiting and wandering around the city to go to meet our host families, Katelyen, Jevelle, Laura and I decided to go inside Notre Dame. It was something we had all been wanting to do and see and it was free, which is always good. Almost immediately upon entering we got separated. Everything is so gorgeous and breath taking you're too busy to keep up with anyone because all you can do is look up and attempt to take it all in. The stain glass work is the absolute MOST beautiful glass art I have ever seen. It is such a shame to think of all the wars going on near something so beautiful, or that someone would want to vandalize the statues and take their heads off! Now I know I have not been to many churches in the United States but I can be sure that there is nothing like Notre Dame at home. The stonework, glass work, architecture, and the engineering used in this time period (time periods...) is just overwhelming to think about for the time in which this was constructed. And not only that, but to think of whats underneath and in front of Notre Dame also is even more astounding. In comparison to the oldest church in America, which was said to be built in 1598, Notre Dame's construction started approximately 400 years prior to that. To contrast the huge difference even more, the pictures I found of the oldest church in the U.S. church, it was a plain and simple building, absolutely nothing like Notre Dame's magnificent architecture and glass work. This is my favorite piece of architecture in Paris thus far, hands down.