Paris - July 9, 2016

We’re all rested up and ready to go Saturday morning, so it’s up early and out the door by 8am to head for Saint Germaine, Ile de la Cite, and Notre Dame cathedral.  As soon as you exit the Metro station at St. Michel, you immediately see all of Notre Dame in front of you – it’s such an impressive sight!  It is located on Ile de la Cite, a small island in the middle of the Seine.  The towers didn’t open until 10am so we found a café and ordered the typical Parisian breakfast – coffee, orange juice, a croissant, French bread with jam and butter, and a crepe – I got mine with Nutella.  We still had some time after breakfast so we went inside the cathedral to have a look – what an amazing structure.  It was built in sections over several hundred years, dating back almost 9 centuries, and the stonework is just stunning – the details and the degree to which everything has withstood time is beyond belief.  We made our way around the entire sanctuary, admiring the domed roof, the massive pipes for the organ, and the various chapels around the outer walls.  Margo lit 2 different candles in honor of her mom and then we got in line to climb to the top of the iconic towers.  Because we had admired the inside of the church for so long, there was a line for the towers – we probably waited almost an hour and a half for our turn to climb the 422 steps to the very top of the south tower.  In between we got to stop and admire the view from a little more than halfway up.  We got a close up view of a lot of the statuary on the building’s façade.  Margo pointed out that gargoyles are specifically for diverting rainwater off the building while everything else is considered statuary.  We got to hear the bells sound for several minutes at noon, and then we got a close up view of 2 of the great bells, which are only rung on high holidays.  At the front outside corner of the south tower, you could choose to go down to the exit or climb higher for a 360-degree panoramic view from the top.  Magnificant!  Back down the 422 steps and on to the Crypt Archaeologique!

The Archeological Crypt is directly in front of Notre Dame but underground.  When they were excavating to install an underground car park in the late 60’s, they discovered the remains of walls from fortresses built centuries before to fortify the Ile de la Cite.  In the crypt, they have preserved those walls, as well as many of the artifacts that have been unearthed nearby.  It was like walking through history, reading about the changes the island has undergone over time.

Just down the street is Saint Chapelle, a gorgeous chapel built by Louis IX in the 13^th century when his palace was located in the Ile de la Cite.  The 15 stained glass windows have been undergoing restoration for some time now, and they are extraordinary in their detail and story-telling.  There are over 1100 images in the windows representing various scenes from the bible, as well as many more carved in stone.  The most stunning piece was the rose window depicting the apocalypse of St. John, but all of the glasswork was beautiful.

Next door to Saint Chapelle was the Conciergerie, which used to be a prison in the Palace of Justice.  It was converted to a prison in the 14^th century after Charles V moved his royal residence off the Ile de la Cite.  A concierge was appointed to run the palace and the prison, giving the structure its name, and between 1793 and 1794, over 2700 people were tried and many guillotined for opposing the French revolution, including Marie-Antoinette.  Her cell has been recreated here, just behind the chapel that bears her name.  She was one of the lucky, privileged prisoners who were granted private accommodations – most people were crowded together in small cells with stone floors covered in straw, subject to all manner of pestilence and disease.

Our last stop for the day was the Pantheon in the Saint Germaine neighborhood.  Originally commissioned by Louis XV as a cathedral to Saint Genevieve in 1744, it was converted in 1791 to a National Pantheon to famous French citizens who have brought honor to France.  Those honored with burial at the Pantheon include Voltaire and Rousseau, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas, and Pierre and Marie Curie.