She’s beautiful!! Construction began in 1160 and wasn't completed until 1345. That makes it one of the first Gothic style cathedrals. I think you could probably say that it was the Gothic Cathedral, because I don't know how any other could stand up to this one. Parts of Notre Dame were damaged during the French Revolution by radicals who were anti-religion as well as anti-monarchist.
I went inside briefly saw the sign for the audio guide and asked about them. I’m lucky the lady behind the counter didn’t understand my question, because she sent me around the side to the tour of the towers. I didn’t know it existed, but I am exceptionally glad that I did it.
You go all the way to the top. Four hundred twenty-two steps, just like these…
You get right up close to see all of the gothic gargoyles…
You also get inside the bell tower. Don’t worry, they give Quasimodo a lot of space up here. Apparently Victor Hugo’s story is the reason Notre Dame is still in such good condition, as it galvanized Parisian society into preserving Notre Dame and numerous other monuments. Anyways, here is the wooden support structure for the bells. It keeps the vibrations from shaking the stone walls apart. I’m curious as to which church found out that this could be a problem??
Then here is one of the bells…
Then the best part for me was the view from top of the bell tower. Here are the panoramas…
Looking at the other bell tower…
And the twelve apostels…
Then it was a spiral staircase back down to the bottom. The trick to not falling on your face is to look at the outer wall, not at the center of the stairs. After that journey, I went around front again to go back inside for a longer time inside. Oh, here are the eyes of Notre Dame…
Inside it is absolutely massive, my camera couldn’t quite handle it, so this is the best I could do.
The greatest part about his was that there was an honor choir of kids from the Midwest. They were from all over and it was absolutely awe inspiring to hear them sing inside Notre Dame. I just walked around and around admiring the beauty.
As you can see, stained glass everywhere!! In the chapels, near the ceiling, and of course, the rose windows. When all was said and done, I spent nearly an hour and a half just walking slowly around listening to choir. It was a good way to spend a morning.
After that, I took a leisurly stroll down the Seine, heading to the Musee d’Orsay.
Couldn’t resist this look back at Notre Dame…
Passed by the Pont St. Michel, and the Palais de Justice.
After lunch, I finally arrived at my destination. Where I would stay for a good four hours…
The Musee d’Orsay, built in 1900 as railway station. The Museum doesn’t allow pictures and has a mandatory baggage check so I took no pictures inside. I saw several Monets, van Goghs, Manets, and Courbets, but my favorite stuff were the sculptures. The Rodin work was particularly exceptional. Looked like they were about to spring to life. Didn’t think I would enjoy an art museum so much. I suggest the audio guide if you are as completely clueless as I am. Knowing what the artist was trying to does help; sometimes a lot, sometimes not at all. I still think a lot of the impressionists were really just pretentious blowhards.
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