Day 7 - Mercredi 28e Mai

---

Bonjour! I must again apologize for this late update, I looked for this internet cafe for TWO HOURS on Wednesday, with no luck. But I'm here now.

I woke up late again, sometime around 11h. I managed to haul myself to Notre Dame for noon, and didn't encounter any protests this time! The line here is the longest I've seen yet in Paris, it was about 40 people long. I hunkered down for a long wait on a bright sunny day (at least it was outside!), and updated my journal and planned the rest of my day. About 10 mins into the wait, a guy shows up with a rubber monster mask and starts entertaining the crowd by sneaking up on people and pretending to be their husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend. Watching their faces when they turned around to talk to their significant other was pretty hilarious! I've got pictures, you'll see what i'm talking about.

After getting past the gate outside, we climbed some spiral stairs to the gift shop/waiting room. They put you into a group of about 25 people, who then do the climb together. The cathedral has so many doors and stairs that lead to mysterious places, I wish I could have gone off exploring on my own. Oh well. Pretty soon we started off climbing again (which was very slow... I guess some of the "old people" we slowing us down). It was about a step every 15 seconds, 400 steps in total. You get the picture. We hit the first landing and the second set of stairs starts, but the stairwell got narrower, and the steps got smaller. We finally topped out on the main.. umm... level where the two towers start... and boy was it ever windy! You climb up the north tower to it's base (the bells still ring every hour or so, so the bell tower itself is actually closed to the public), and walk across to the south tower (which contains the big bell). The south tower has access to the belfry (i think that's the correct term), and you can climb some rickety old wooden stairs to get to the bell itself. I have some more details about the bell, but not with me, so that'll have to wait. Let me assure you that it's huge, I think 13 tons huge. I remember that the clapper weighs a good 454 kilos (or so) by itself. I imagine it would have been one heck of a challenge getting it up there. The bell is suspended from some huge wooden latticework within the tower, apparently it's there so the bell doesn't resonate as much and shake the building apart. The beams are pretty big, a good 12"x 12" each at least. I've got some pictures of what I think is the biggest half-lap joint I'll ever see in my life.

After the belfry, we climbed up some more spiral stairs to the roof of the south tower for a panoramic view of the city. I think I forgot to mention that it was really windy that day, so standing in the open was a bit of a challenge. Let's just say that I completely understand why they put up the safety net that blocks most of the clear views. It was a pretty clear day (again, I'll have pictures soon), so it was a clear view in all directions. I'll have to admit that while I'm glad I did do the climb, it wasn't on the top of my Paris experiences list. I think if it was a faster climb, I might have enjoyed the view more. Or maybe not. In any case, I walked around the top of the tower, then walked down the tower all the way to the bottom. Watch out for the 3rd step from the bottom by the way, the inside part is half-missing.

After I got back outside, I decided I'd go check out the thing I missed the last time I had visited - the treasury. The crown of thorns wasn't actually there when I went, and I found out later that most of the riches were taken during the revolution, but what I saw was impressive nonetheless. If what I saw was any indication, the church was ridiculously wealthy back in the day. After wandering out again, I sat down to write in my journal when they made an announcement that there would be a free guided tour in english at 1400h (13 minutes from then). I stuck around for that (after taking a picture of the sun streaming directly through one of the stained glass windows and casting a coloured light on the floor near the entrance; beautiful).

The tour started outside, and explained about the cathedral's origins, and a bit about the symbolism of the design. I won't go into the complete details now, but i'll give you some highlights!

There is a small ring of stones in the square in front of the church, that is the zero point for all the roads in France. Whenever you see a sign telling you the distance to Paris, that's what it refers to. This gives you some idea of the importance of the church in the past. Pretty much the only original stained glass in the entire church belongs to the rose windows (north, south, east, west). The other window have been replaced many times over the years, at one point they were all clear glass! You can really tell the difference between the methods used to make the various windows, the originals have a richness of colour that can't be matched. Again, there will be pictures.... At one point, the church was divided into different sections, as it was used as a meeting hall, marketplace, etc as well as a sanctuary. The umm... preaching area... choir stalls.. that's it!.. was walled in (they actually have a smaller pipe organ mounted on top of one of the walls of the choir stalls that was used in that time). They have gradually revised the walls, until finally taking down the main one in 200X sometime. The area is still closed to the general public, but our tour took us right up inside. I'm glad I stuck around for the tour! I also learned that the crown of thorns is only displayed on fridays or saturdays (so I won't be able to see it before I leave! Oh well, next time! The last really interesting tidbit about the cathedral is that it used to be brighltly painted, inside and out, all the pillars, all the statues, everything. I've got some pictures of some pillars in the side chapels that haven't been scraped off, it gives you some idea of what it must have looked like back then. Okay, enough of that!

After that, I hopped on a RER train and went to Le Tour Eiffel. I'd read that it was best to climb the stairs, as the lines are MUCH shorter than the ones for the elevator. I've got a picture to prove it. I arrived on site, took some photos, looked at the lines for the elevators, then walked up to the stairs ticket window and walked up. (well, I had to wait about 5 minutes in line for the ticket, but that's pretty much it...) I managed to make it up to the first level in about 4 minutes, and the second level in another 3-1/2. The line for the elevator to the 3rd level was about an hour long, so I decided i'd just have something to eat, enjoy the view, and hike back down. The original stairs were a narrow spiral set, which probably would have induced vertigo in anyone almost instantly (again, i've got pictures...). I have to admit that once again, while the views were nice, and climbing the stairs is something I had wanted to do, it doesn't top out my list of things to do while in Paris. It was a nice view though, and I glad I did it.

Next stop (I know, it was a really busy day!), was the Louvre. I'd gotten a taste of it the other night, but felt that I was missing out on so much more! The Louvre is open late on Wednesdays (til 2130h), I got there around 1730h. This time I didn't have to wait in line for anything, I walked straight through security, managed to find a ticket machine that wasn't being used, and as I was walking to the Richelieu wing, decided to pick up an electronic guide. I'm glad I did. I spent the next few hours wandering around the museum learning about it's history (it started as a castle... they've even excavated the moat, and made it into an exhibit (again, pictures). Highlights of the tour include the Grande Gallerie, the Napoleon apartments, and learning about the grand renovation of the early 90's (including the story about the pyramid). Having the whole story now, I can say that I feel the renovation works very well with the whole complex. I took part of a second tour after the one about the building's history, called the antiquities tour. I only got about half-way thorough it before closing time, but I had seen enough to know that I wanted to come back again. The Louvre is a HUGE place, before taking the tours I had no idea that the antiquities department even existed. They have about 6000 artifacts on display on average, out of the 60,000 in their collection. I got back to the pyramid in time to see that the sun was setting in a rather spectacular way, so I got some great pictures (again, i'll post them soon), and sat on the steps of the Jardin Tuileries watching it set. I then spent the next TWO hours searching for the stupid internet cafe, on foot, and not having found it, gave up and headed home. I was exhausted by that point, so I just fell into bed. A demain!

---

Photos

So I'm leaving the Louvre....
And for some reason, the sun is setting.

Top of Notre Dame
I'm still glad the cage is there!

Emmanuel
13,000 kilos.

On the left....
The line for the elevators, the yellow booth on the right is for the stairs.