Top Three Sights to See

I have no idea if you care about the details of my trip, but I had a pretty fantastic time and it's all I really want to talk about this week. To that end, each day I'm going to share with you a different top three list from the trip.  The most-asked question I've gotten since I returned is: "What was your favorite sight to see?", so my first top three will be my Top Three Favorite Sights.

3) Musey d'Orsay

Everyone knows about the Musee Louvre. (Musee means museum in French, fyi), which we most definitely visited. Not everyone knows the awesomeness that is the Musee d'Orsay.  The Orsay is right across the Seine from the Lourve and is home to art from the late 19th century. This means it includes many Monets, Van Goghs, Manets and other beautiful pieces. In my opinion it blew the Lourve out of the water.  It's also in a renovated train station and is just beautiful inside.  They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, but this was my favorite painting that I saw. It's a Van Gogh that I had never seen before called The Church in Auvers-sur-Olise. This tiny version doesn't do it justice.

2)Notre Dame

Notre Dame was built in 1163. It is indescribably beautiful on the inside with many colorful and elaborate stained glass windows and breathtaking ceilings.  It is such a beautiful thing to stand there and realize that people have been worshiping God there for almost 1000 years.  You can climb over 400 stairs to the top for a breathtaking view of Paris, a close-up view of the famous gargoyles and  a chance to see the infamous bells of the cathedral.  

"All Paris was spread out at his feet, with her thousand turrets, her undulating horizon, her river winding under the bridges, her stream of people flowing to and fro in the streets; with the cloud of smoke rising from her many chimneys; with her chain of crested roofs pressing in ever tightening coils round about Notre Dame."- Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris

1) Bodleian Library

We went to Oxford University with the primary purpose of seeing some Harry Potter-related sites.  We were not disappointed with the Bodeian Library, which is the main university library and also the Hogwarts library in several of the Harry Potter films.  However, that's not at all what made it one of the best visits of the trip.  This is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, begun in the 15th century. Most of its original books were destroyed by Henry VIII, but beginning in 1598 Sir Thomas Bodley began restocking the library and the many, many books he purchased on behalf of the library were still there and sitting on the shelves that we were staring at. It's also a copyright library, so they automatically get a copy of every book published in England and can request any other copyright published pieces. They received thousands of new books each day. It blew my mind. No pictures were allowed inside, but I found this one online.

Have any of you been to any of these fabulous places? Let me know!