The Sunday Traveler ~ Notre Dame de Paris

The bells were all ringing when we arrived on a cold and rainy December morning. An incredibly rich and emotional moment with this greeting; to approach the church, to hear and see this grand cathedral in this way was more than I could have wished for.

Antiquity, beauty beyond belief in Paris. The bells tolled for a long time as I wandered about the front of the church taking in as much as I could with my eyes, and camera.

The pigeon man feeding pigeons, and Charlemagne had my full attention. And all the while the bells rang; there are ten, Emmanuel being the largest, and Marie, Gabriel, Anne Genevieve, Denis, Marcel, Etienne, Benoit-Joseph, Maurice, Jean-Marie. I thought you’d like to know their names. I have a short iPhone video of the front courtyard, and the bells; if I can figure out how to add a video, I will do that as a separate post.

Security is tight at all public venues, and there was a bit of a line to go through a bag check, and opening your coat to let the guard see that you had nothing hiding in there. The short wait only added to the anticipation. I will continue on into the inside of the church next week; there is just so much, I think this will be at least a three parter posting on Notre Dame.

The Sunday Traveler is trying to keep the Paris posts short so as not to over do things, and I get overwhelmed going back through my photos, marveling once again at how beautiful it all is.

Until next week.