Today was a free day for us without any scheduled tours with Viking. We wanted to get into Notre Dame today but were a little skeptical given that all of the free advance reserve tickets for Sunday were sold out. They offer 10,000-15,000 timed passes a day to help skip the regular line. We got up at 6:15am, had breakfast at 7:00 and were ready to set out and explore Paris by 8:15. Would we be smart and beat the crowds or would everyone else have the same idea?
Rob ordered us a taxi using the Paris G7 app. We requested an English speaking driver as well. The driver picked us up in a nice Camry hybrid. It was very clean and quiet, and the driver had a pleasant British accent. About half way to the cathedral we ran into a problem. There was a running race and all the roads on our side of the Seine river and to the cathedral were blocked off. In order to drive us to the cathedral he would have made a significant detour and likely take longer than walking. So he got us as close as he could and dropped us off at the Eglise Saint-Sulpice. We waited about 5 minutes before we were brave enough to trot across the street through a gap between the runners.
From here it was about 0.8 miles to the cathedral. The walk was pleasant with very few people out except for the runners, but a little chilly as the temperature was only about 50F with a slight wind. We saw even more runners as we walked towards Notre Dame.
We made our way down Rue Saint-Sulpice, past the church and made a left on Rue De Conde. We followed that to Boulevard Saint-Germain and then a left onto Rue Danton.
That street took us to the Quai St-Michel. It was from here that we got our first glimpse of the cathedral. We made a right on Quai St-Michel and followed the Seine river before crossing over it on the Petit-Pont Cardinal-Lustiger bridge.
This put us in the park just in front of the cathedral. It was about 9:25am and there were quite a few folks outside the cathedral taking pictures. Rob first spotted the line for those going in for mass and then saw the sign for visitors entering without reservations. It was a set of metal crowd fences that snaked back and forth. We walked into the entrance of these fences and although we had to go back and forth countless times, the line moved at a normal walking pace, never slowing down. About halfway through the maze, the cathedral bells started to ring. Michele saw that our queue to the front door was clear without any delays and said, “I think we will be able to walk right in without a wait!”
We noticed that the line of folks waiting in the Mass line were now filing into the center front doors of the cathedral for the service. After about 5-7 minutes of walking along this corridor of crowd fences, and Rob getting annoyed at the chick taking selfies of herself, we reached the entrance of the cathedral and walked right in. No waiting at all! We couldn’t believe our luck.
Very shortly after entering, the pipe organ began playing and the priests began singing/chanting. Michele sat down in one of the many chairs in the nave of the cathedral and watched mass while marveling at the newly built ceiling and beautiful interior. She recorded portions of the service and couldn’t believe that we were so lucky to be surrounded by music during our visit.
Rob, Roy, and Gwyn slowly made their way clockwise around the cathedral. The nave of the cathedral was reserved for those attending mass. The aisles on either side of the nave were for visitors.
The inside of Notre Dame is surreal due to how clean and bright everything is. We can only guess that it looks like it did when completed in year 1260–a brief 97 years after its construction began. So often these 800 year-old cathedrals are very dark inside after centuries of accumulated dirt.
Here are two of the famed rose windows:
North Transept
South Transept
The center ceiling vault where the nave and transept intersect was completed destroyed by the fire when the spire collapsed into the building. Today, it is completely restored!
The back of the choir wall tells the story of Jesus’ life.
There are 15 chapels in Notre Dame.
Some of the sculptures in the Apse were gifts from Louis XIV in honor of his father Louis XIII.
Behind the Aspe, the holy relic of Notre Dame (the crown of thorns) is kept here. It is only brought out once a month and on Good Friday. Our tour guide from yesterday, Janice, told us that when the cathedral caught on fire, one of the priests frantically bicycled to the church to remove and save the crown of thorns. He was successful.
The cathedral has 3 organs. The biggest was difficult to photograph due to mass and its location directly above the entrance. Here is one of the smaller ones.
One of the altar boys brought the incense out right by us so we got a hefty dose of it. After our complete lap around inside, we walked back outside. Michele was all smiles from the experience in the cathedral and Rob said, “That was spectacular.”
We then walked around the outside of the cathedral counterclockwise. Restoration work continues today on the exterior of the cathedral though a significant portion of the scaffolding has been removed. We observed that from the inside you would never know there was so much restoration still occurring outside.
There are temporary and modular on-site construction offices to manage the restoration after the fire, like this small white one facing the rose window below.
We walked around the back of the cathedral, crossing over the Seine to walk down the north side of the building. The construction fencing along this side contained excellent information about the restoration efforts. It is in multiple languages, offering highlights of the many aspects and craft trades of the restoration, such as lead roof repair, stonework and structural repair. We probably spent 30 minutes walking down the street slowly reading the many displays with the cathedral as its backdrop.
You can see some of the hefty wooden stabilization structures that are still in place for the flying buttresses, just beneath them.
We planned to find the best cream puff shop that our tour guide told us about yesterday. By the time we finished our walk around the exterior of the cathedral it was 11:15. Gwyn said, “I’m going to need more than a cream puff.” We decided to start looking for a lunch place early given how crowded the streets were with people. As we circled around to the front of the cathedral, we were shocked at what we saw: the line of people waiting to get in was crazy!
The entire maze of fencing we had breezed through just two hours earlier was packed with people and the line extended out all the way to the end of the front courtyard of Notre Dame. We made a very good decision to arrive early at the cathedral.
We crossed back over the Seine and turned right on Quai St-Michel and followed the Seine for one block. Michele saw a nice-looking restaurant with inside seating across the street, Le Depart Saint-Michel, so we crossed over to check the menu. There were a few items that looked good so we went in and were immediately seated. Roy, Rob and Michele ordered variations of croque monsier and Gwyn enjoyed quiche. Michele also got the vegetable soup that was a delicious bisque and the homemade peach iced tea.
We really enjoyed our lunch and decided that we would walk over to the Louvre to have a look at the inner courtyard of the former palace and now famous museum. The walk was about a 1/2-mile up the scenic Seine.
We reached the Louvre and cut through one of the southern buildings to get into the courtyard. Wow! The place is huge and very busy with people clustered around the pyramids. Michele, Roy, and Gwyn found a spot to sit along the southern wing and Rob walked around the inner courtyard for pictures of the four pyramids (one large and three smaller ones) and pictures of the building facades. We’d have to visit the museum inside on another trip as it contains 500,000 objects!
It was time for ice cream, but the first place was closed. Rob found a Haagen-Dazs nearby. This time we were successful.
While sitting there, we saw a very chic couple roll up on a small and pristine black Harley-Davidson. The man had his lady on the passenger seat and she was holding a very cute dog! They effortlessly parked the bike, got off, and walked down the street. They wore beautiful clothes and looked fabulously Parisian. Michele was so surprised that she forgot to take a picture.
After the short break, we decided to head back to the hotel for a rest. Rob hailed a taxi using the G7 app and we were chauffeured back to our hotel, this time in a hybrid Lexus. With the app we get the license plate of our driver so it is easy to identify the correct car approaching. Payment is all done through the app.
Rob worked on the blog and downloaded today’s pictures while Michele napped for two hours. At 7pm we dressed for dinner and walked over to pick up Roy and Gwyn. We got a recommendation at breakfast from Colleen, one of the ladies we met on the cruise, of a restaurant (Les Fauves) that Viking recommended nearby. She said the chicken dish was excellent and to arrive early because it is a small restaurant. Just a three-block walk and we lucked out to be seated without a reservation. The chicken dish said it was a stew with spicy potatoes, so only Rob tried it. The rest of us got the braised pork loan with roasted vegetables. The meals were beautifully presented and flavorful. Rob’s chicken was not a stew nor were the potatoes spicy, so something was lost in the translation. No matter, we liked our meals.
During dinner we wondered how much it costs to upkeep the Versailles palace each year. The average ticket price for the estate and garden is 32 euros. Multiply by 30,000 people visiting a day and they are bringing in nearly 1 million euro each day!
We also ordered dessert, then rolled ourselves back to the hotel for the night.
Tomorrow we have our last tour in the morning for a few hours.
