Paris: Day One (part I)

Paris, Paris, beautiful Paris ... you are a lovely city, with your parks and palaces and places of note. There are many things that make you magnificent. The Seine River, flowing right through your middle, bristling with boats and barges. There is Notre Dame with her gray towers and soaring spires. The Eiffel Tower, impressive and tall, floating above your sprawling streets. It's no wonder so many people have had a love affair with you. Countless names have adored you, from great artists, writers, musicians, political figures to long dead kings. Paris certainly claims many ardent admirers.

There's the Paris of films like Moulin Rouge, all flash and fizzle. There is the Paris of the literary world, found in works such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tropic of Cancer. And then there's the personal Paris, the city that one gets to know from experience. This is the true Paris, the ultimate Paris, the version of France that is every bit as rich and enchanting as in the books or movies.

My Paris began on a mild evening, sometime shortly after 9pm local time. This acquaintance between me and France began on a rather discomforting note as me and my mother tried to wrangle through the hassles of clearing customs, changing currency and catching a cab. Luckily we managed these tasks, despite the herds of people (and dogs) flooding the airport. Lesson one learned in Paris: the French love their pets.

Our cab driver was a friendly enough guy, wary of our horrible French but game to try out his mildly awful English. He pointed out a few sights such as "zee football arena" during our trip out to Montmartre, where our hotel was. 35 Euros and several attempts at a conversation in broken English later, we were deposited at the hotel and quickly went off to sleep.

My first official day in Paris began with dark clouds, a sullen sky and rain. It was cold, I had the wrong shoes for the weather and no umbrella. Bummer. I wanted sunshine! and white clouds, but no such luck. So it was in this rather atmospheric and appropriately gothic weather that I set out to see what is perhaps one of the world's most famous medival cathedrals. Notre Dame is an iconic structure, and as the star of books, post cards and movie plots, was the very first 'Must See' stop on my list.

Notre Dame is located on a little island in the middle of the Seine River known as 'Ile de la cite'. It was where the original settlement of Paris was located back in the pre-Roman and Roman days. The Ile de la cite is charming and has an old world feel to it, which makes sense for a place that is so full of ancient buildings.

Notre Dame itself was imposing, to the point where it was almost impossible to take it all in. The exterior is intricately carved with the figures of kings and saints, and the three large doorways leading to the interior were decorative masterpieces. Lines of people stood all along the front and sides, staring up in wonder.

The interior was dark and awe inspiring. The vaulted ceilings were so high above my head that I had to literally bend my neck all the way back just to be able to look. The famous stained glass windows beamed colored lights on to the floor, despite the rain and dreary weather.

Incredibly beautiful works of art lined the sides of the cathedral, with various chapels-within-the-cathedral given over to a particular religious figure. Candles flickered underneath the richly painted bodies of the saints, left by the pious visitors who wanted a little heavenly help on their travels or for loved ones. A few spiritual souls prayed on bended knees in front of the flickering flames.

The middle of the church was given over to rows and rows of seating. Mass is still given at Notre Dame, and there is usually a priest present to do services and take confession. (In fact, there were one or two confessional booths that had signs taped to them telling the time/languages spoken by the priest on hand.)

I didn't do the steps up to the towers of Notre Dame or the visit to the treasury, which required payment. I did donate a few euros to the church as an act of charity, however. I also paid out the leg for a book of postcards -- but how could I not? The place was magic!

My over all impression of Notre Dame was that it was a place of great beauty, rich art and a powerful religious tradition. The reverence people had for the church was delightful to see. Even little kids knew this was a special place.