The Notre Dame de Paris

I finally made it to Notre Dame today. The Auburn group went together to see it when we first got here, on the day that I was sick, so I didn't get to go. But today after class and a baguette, Kaylin and I took the metro up to Ile de la Cité to visit this 900-year-old cathedral. It was very impressive in size, architecture and beauty. It is huge on the outside, but the outside doesn't really prepare you for how big it is on the inside. On the inside, it looks like it is so much bigger. All of the stone arches draw your eyes immediately to the ceiling if the cathedral, where the arches meet in a triangular shape. It is an incredibly humbling feeling to be in such a large building and to feel so small in comparison.

More than anything, I was blown away by how old the building is. A history-nerd at heart, I had to sit down in the pews for a minute to wrap my head around the fact that the walls surrounding me and the floor beneath my feet were crafted by 900-year-old hands. I looked around and I could almost see them at work, shaping the stones, fitting them into place, carving all the amazing sculptures and gargoyles and freizes scattered throughout the place. I could see in my mind's eye 900 years worth of masses, papal visits, communions and baptisms, marriages and so on. And there I was, sitting in the middle of all this history, just another page in the story of Notre Dame. I couldn't stop myself from touching the walls and thinking about all of the people who have also touched that wall in the past 900 years, and of their stories.

After wandering around the inside of Notre Dame for a while, we decided to go up to the top of the cathedral, for which there was a long line. We stood in line for about 45 minutes talking to a british woman and her teenage daughter. After finally arriving at the door to enter the spiral staircase that would take us to the roof and the bell tower, we paid almost five euros to get in and stand around in the gift shop (how thoughtful!) while we waited to be allowed to embark on our journey to the top. The staircase was almost comical. Four hundred steps up a dangerously steep and narrow spiral staircase was really funny to me for some reason at the time. I guess if I am going to laugh about it later, I might as well laugh about it now.

At the top of those four hundred steps was an amazing gargoyle's eye view of the city. You can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance, the Seine river, the Louvre, Montparnasse Tower, and Sacre-Coeur on the horizon. I could even see the neighborhood in which I live, but not the exact building because they all look the same.

After walking all around the roof of the cathedral, I was ready to go into the dark, spooky bell tower where the Quasimoto rang the Grand Bell of Notre Dame in Victor Hugo's novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I crawled through the tiny door, which was maybe four feet high, into the bell tower. When I stood up and looked around, I was surrounded by wooden planks and another steep, dangerous staircase. The staircase led to the Grand Bell (of course), so I climbed up deep into the bell tower. It looked and felt like it had been there for 900 years. Musty and dark, with cobwebs hanging from the wood rafters, I stepped back in time. The bell hung in the middle of the tour, the hugest bell I've ever seen in person. I don't know how it compares in size to the average church bell since I've never seen another church bell in person, but I will say this: I would really hate to be in that tower when that bell is ringing.

Believe it or not, there was still more to see, and consequently, more stairs to climb. So I climbed more spiral stairs to the roof of the bell tower itself. It was the highest point of the cathedral, and it had an amazing view with it, too. While I was up there, the bell in the other tower started ringing. It wasn't as loud as I expected, but I was still surprised when I heard it.

Overall, I would say that I enjoyed climbing up on the roof and the bell towers more than exploring the inside of Notre Dame, but both were very enjoyable. The experience wouldn't have been complete without going to the top, and it is worth paying for unless you have a fear of heights. The Notre Dame cathedral is a big part of Paris' history and has been for nearly a millenium. Therefore, no trip to Paris would be complete without a visit to Notre Dame.