Paris: Notre Dame Cathedral and Bell Tower

We tackled Notre Dame on our 2nd full day. If I had it to do over again, here's what I'd do the second time around:

• The lines can be long (although, now that I have gone to Versailles, I will say every other line in France pales in comparison) but if you time it right, it's not so bad. So go right when it opens or after 4 pm. We got in line for the tower (called a "tour" in French, which is kind of confusing for those of us--i.e. me--who don't speak French and thought this was an actual tour of the tower) at 4 pm, and it took about 50 minutes to actually go up.
• There's no cutting to the front of the line with the museum pass here! And if you don't have a museum pass, then you better have exact change. Notre Dame does not mess around.
• The cathedral itself is free and is open later than the tower. So save that for after. Plus, Notre Dame still holds daily mass. So if you go later, you might be lucky like us and catch one. It's wonderful to see a piece of history still in use like the Notre Dame is.

PS: If you are wondering about the wicker basket hut, they are sprinkled throughout the gardens surrounding the cathedral, and I couldn't resist getting a picture in one.

PPS: The last two pictures are courtesy of my little brother. Quite the photographer, right?!