Sightseeing... Paris in the rain

If you've read the title and murmured in your head "ohhh... Paris in the rain... that sounds so romantic," stop.  Stop right now.  It's cold, it's wet, it's windy, your shoes and socks and pants get soaked, and it's no fun at all.  Romantic comedies involving rain-soaked kisses in front of the Eiffel Tower and drizzly promenades down the Seine are all nonsense.

We started our day late as usual, taking our sweet time getting out and about in the morning.  Our first activity was to buy umbrellas at a shop near the hostel, only 3 Euro each and worth every Euro cent.  From there we hopped onto the Metro to the Eiffel Tower.  Immediately accosted by Gypsies at the base, we didn't spend much time there because of the poor weather.  We waited a while looking for some tourists to take a photo of us and (would you believe it?!) we couldn't find any!  Then we wandered about for a while at Michael's discretion, grabbing some food for lunch and heading to the Luxembourg Gardens.  We found a pavilion to eat under and then Marc and I departed briefly to search for some coffee, because we were both cold and cranky.  We both agreed that Paris isn't nearly as enchanting a city as Amsterdam was.

What a wonderful drug caffeine is!  After one little coffee each, Marc's and my moods improved greatly.  We were energized and totally ready to take on the rest of Paris, despite the rain.  The city gained a great deal of appeal, and the rain mattered significantly less.  Our umbrellas were enough to keep us happy, and we strolled about the gardens for a while to see what there was to see. 

From there we pressed on to the Ile de la Cite, a large-ish island on the Seine whereupon is located Notre Dame cathedral.  We damply made our way to the cathedral and WOW.  The rain stopped mattering entirely.  I ripped out my camera and began to snap a lot of photos.  I hopped around the grounds near the cathedral in the rain and wind for ages as my pants grew wetter and wetter, and my feet got soaked as I took dozens of pictures of all the intricate, beautiful aspects of the cathedral.  Our luck improved as the rain let up for a while, and we were treated to some fast-moving beautiful clouds that gave way briefly to some blue sky, providing us with some amazing light for photos (apologies for the lack of accompanying photos; the connection here is terribly slow.  I'll catch up, I promise).  That experience totally redeemed Paris for me.  Notre Dame is far and away the most beautiful building in the entire country (I haven't seen Versailles yet).  The intricacies of the gothic architecture are simply fantastic, and the rain, clouds, and gray lighting only helped make it even more imposing of a structure.

Thoroughly sodden, we started to walk to the Louvre, to be blessed again by a break in the clouds near the Seine, serving for some excellent sky photography with the Eiffel Tower in the background.  

We decided to head back to the hostel to spend the rest of the evening under a roof and in dry clothes, where we took care of blogs, e-mails, and socializing with the great British girl we met (Ailsa) until this very point.  

What to do tomorrow?  Most likely we'll continue to explore the city, though we're planning on visiting Versailles as well.  Any suggestions?