Notre Dame Cathedral

  Paris, France
Sunday, July 8, 2007

After the train ride to Paris, we returned to the hotel for a nap before heading out once more.  We ate at a restaurant called Louis-Philippe.  This was our first sit down meal in Paris, and we really enjoyed the relaxing dining atmosphere, which encouraged discussion and leisure.  Following the meal, we decided to take a walk around the smaller of the two Parisian islands, and while doing so, we realized that the Notre Dame Cathedral was offering late evening tower tours.

The line was short to enter the tower because it was an odd time for a visit, so we walked right in, and climbed the tight spiral stairs to a gift shop, which was supposed to be the location of Claude Frollo's private chamber from the novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, written by Victor Hugo.  From there we ascended several more stairs...hundreds, in fact, to the first observation level which kind of outlines the perimeter of the two towers.    The sun was setting and the sky was painted a pastel blue with pink brush-strokes dusting the horizon.  The gargoyles were stony, yet friendly.

We continued the ascent to the very top of one of the towers, and we remained there for nearly an hour, watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle with its dancing lights in the distance, and observing the evening activity of the city as it came alive with electricity! 

We actually visited the bell, which the infamous Quasi tended.  Victor Hugo's legend of the hunchback played in my mind as I saw the gargantuan bell sway ever so slightly to and fro.

This was by far one of my favorite experiences, thus far, in Paris!