Paris part deux

We had planned to get a somewhat decent start to the day, perhaps leaving the hotel by 10 or so.  But it was vacation after all, and instead, we all slept in until after 10.  This meant that we didn't actually arrive in Paris until almost 1 in the afternoon.  But we only wanted to do two things, Notre Dame and the Louvre.  We took the Metro until one stop before Notre Dame.  We decided it would be nice to do a little strolling in the famous Paris streets.  There were tons of fun looking little shops, that if I had had more time and money would have been all I needed to entertain me for the whole day.  As it was, we just kind of soaked up the atmosphere and had fun pointing out interesting details on the surrounding buildings.

We passed the famous Marie Antoinette prison, and discovered that it is still used as a police building today.  We also saw the Justice building built by the revolutionaries after the first French Revolution. I was very glad we had taken the boat tour the day previously, or I would have just walked right past these buildings, not knowing what they were.  Finally, we could see the familiar outline of Notre Dame rising up around the corner, and the crowd of people hanging around out front.  We had read about climbing up the stairs to the belfry and the balcony to get eye to eye with the gargoyles.  Chris wasn't sure about doing it with the kids, especially Alexandra, but I was determined.  I told him I would carry Baby, and he could help Noah. 

The line went surprisingly fast, giving us just enough time to eat a pack of Pringles and a half a sandwich each. It also helped that there were three cute Chinese girls right behind us in line who thought Noah and Alexandra were absolutely darling.  They played peek-a-boo with them the entire time, laughing and giggling all the while.  I seriously think they had more fun than the kids. When it was finally our turn to go up, they let us stow the stroller down at the bottom by the entrance, and we were off up all 422 steps to the top.  Fortunately, they broke the tour down into manageable sections.  As we soon discovered, the reason for this wasn't to be kind to our knees.  No, it's because the same narrow set of stairs is used for the ascent AND descent.  To cut down on the amount of two-way traffic using a one-way staircase, they have the groups stop and wait for the other to pass every so often.  The first stop was the obligatory gift shop, which had a second staircase leading to the spot which Victor Hugo described as Esmerelda's hiding place in his book.  I wanted to see it, but wasn't sure the kids would be up for even more stairs, so we decided to save that for another trip.

Then we made the bulk of the ascent up to the balcony where you could see the gargoyles up close. Chris took pity on me and carried Alexandra for this part of the trip.  The kids were surprised that there were so many different ones, since in the Disney movie only three come to life.

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  The view was incredible, cloudy day and all.  At several different strategic points along the length of the balcony, they had small posters with quotes out of the Victor Hugo book, describing what Quasimodo saw from his "home".  Around the corner from where we originally came out of the staircase, there was a small doorway you could go into and enter the belfry. Of course, this involved more narrow stairs up to the actual bell, Emanuel.  The girls wanted to see the other bells since they are also talked about in the movie, but apparently that bell tower is closed to visitors as the bells ring quite regularly.  I can only imagine the damage it would do to your hearing to be standing next to one as they were rung.  The largest bell, which we got to see, is also the deepest, and is only rung on special state occasions. I didn't get a photo of it, though, because Nick was not interested in climbing any extra rickety stairs to just see "some bell' and he had the camera around his neck. 🙁

Then we left the belfry, and continued back to the original staircase and on up to the very top of the tower.  Every once in while there would be a tiny window to look at, so you could guage your progress.  It got a bit tricky for me at a couple points, as people were coming down, and I had Alexandra in my arms taking up all available space.  There happened to be a nice, young American couple in front of me that helped me hold her against the wall as the people passed.  It was quite comical, actually.  I had a hand under one of her arms, and the man was holding the other arm, as we both flattened ourselves against the wall.  Chris was up ahead with the other kids, and seemed to fare okay, but was also incredulous that they didn't regulate the traffic just a bit better.  Oh well, we all survived.

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The trip back down was easier, but we also were now the people trying to pass, and I was still holding Alexandra.  Fortunately for me, we were behind the three cute Chinese girls from the line outside, and they helped me keep Alexandra from falling.  I could hear Sarah talking to Chris further down the stairs, but could never see them because of how tight the spiral was.  When we finally all arrived at the bottom, we were all a bit out of breath and Noah made the comment that his legs were all shaky!  We rested for a few minutes, and then walked around to the front of the church to go inside and see the pretty stained glass windows.

As we joined the group of people slowly meandering into the cathedral, guess who we ran into?  The three Chinese girls.  They asked to take pictures with the kids, so we let them.  Didn't think to take any myself until they had already gone. (rolls eyes and shakes head)  Inside, it was nice and quiet, despite the crowds.  They had an official "shusher" right inside the door,
reminding people that this was first, and foremost, a house of worship.  We were instructed to speak as little as possible, and only whisper when necessary.  The kids were very respectful, we just told them to act like they do when at our own church.

There were some truly beautiful carvings along the outside of the choir, highlighting pretty much every story in the Bible to do with Christ's life.  One side was devoted to the events of His birth, one to miracles He performed during His ministry, one to the last week of His life, another to events after His resurrection.  The rose window, and actually, all the stained glass windows, were truly astounding.  To think that such detail and precision was achieved with what we consider primitive tools and limited supplies is pretty humbling.  I told Nicholas that it took so long to build the whole thing, it kind of turned into a family business for some craftsmen.  The fathers started on it, the sons learned the trade by watching and helping, and then when the fathers died, the sons took over and completed the project.  It kept food on the table, yes, but I think was also a labor of love for many of them.  The obvious care they took to make the whole thing as perfect and beautiful as possible is quite a testament to their own devotion and love of the Lord.

I pointed out a few buried bodies, but the kids weren't very impressed by those.  They did like all the lit candles, though. On our way out, the kids asked me if the nun holding out a bowl for donations was a fake beggar like all the other ones we had encountered on our wanderings through the city.  I told them probably not, she was collecting money for the upkeep of the church, not for herself.  That seemed to satisfy them, and we moved on.

By now, several of us needed to use the facilities, but the advertised public ones right next to Notre Dame were closed. :(  We were a bit stumped for a minute, but then we both remembered seeing a McDonalds on the walk over here from the Metro, so we headed back there.  We asked the kids if they wanted anything to eat since we were there, and I am proud to report that they all ordered bags of fruit!  Sorry, Ronald, you're brain washing hasn't worked on my little smarties. 

Then we continued our walk to the Louvre.  We could have probably hopped on the Metro, and gotten there a bit sooner, but the walk to the Metro and up and down the stairs equaled just walking straight to the Museum from where we were.  As it was Friday, it was open until 9:30 that night, so we had time to see everything we wanted to.  I had found a couple of self-guided tours from their official website before we left, so we weren't just wandering aimlessly through the endless hallways.  Nicholas took over as official guide, and did a spectacular job, but we eventually took the responsibility away from him.  He was spending too much time looking at the papers, and not enough time looking at the art!  After all those stairs and the walking earlier in the day, the kids were a bit tired and not in such a great mood for art appreciation.  However, when we had seen all the big masterpieces Chris wanted to and started on the lion hunt, they were completely different kids.  We stopped in between and had another snack, which also seemed to brighten their moods.

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The tour said to look for all the lions in the French sculpture section, but I decided to change it up, and just had the kids look and count as many lions as they could, anywhere they could find them.  This got them looking at EVERYTHING we passed, trying to see if any lions were hiding there.  They were smiling, excited, and urging each other on to find more and more lions.  We covered more ground than I had thought possible and truly looked at many more pieces than we would have normally.  Even Noah totally got into it.  We could have stayed even longer, but it was getting kind of late, and Chris was worried about the long train ride home.  In the end, we counted 26 lions in the Richeliu gallery, and one very lion-like dragon.

As we arrived at the train station, we were met with very large crowds.  It wasn't really rush hour, it was well past dinner time, but perhaps the fact that it was Friday night affected things.  At any rate, there were lots of people trying to get on the same train we were, that was already packed pretty full when it arrived at the station.  Chris got on with Nick, then the girls hopped on.  Noah and I were bringing up the rear with the stroller when the doors started to close.  Only the front wheels were in, and there wasn't really much room for anything else.  I got a bit worried, because if those doors shut, I was going to be cut off from my French interpreter and guide, aka Chris.  I had no tickets, no map, and no clue.  I cried out in English, "My family!"  which was all I could muster in my panicked state.  A kindly French gentleman standing by the door understood the situation immediately, and stepped in front of the door to keep it from closing.  He gestured to the people around him and somehow they crammed together even closer than they already were, making just enough room for us to squeeze in.  You know that saying, "packed like sardines"?  Yeah, that was us.  If the train had done a 360, I don't think any of us would have moved an inch, we were jammed in there so tightly.

Then we got to the next stop and the real fun began.  See, a large majority of those people now wanted to get OUT of the train through the very doors we were squished in front of.  But we needed to stay on for several more stops.  As they all started streaming past us, I told the kids to hold on tight to each other so no one would accidently get swept out the doors.  We were also all holding tightly to a metal pole placed in the carriage for people to hold on to when the train stopped suddenly. Without that pole, we would have gotten pushed out of the train for sure.  That stop was the worst, after that the train got emptier and emptier.  We were even able to find seats and sit down just a couple of stops later. Who knew a train ride could be as exciting as a ride at Disneyland? 

We didn't get into bed until pretty late, it was after 10, for sure.  But the next day we were only driving home, so if the kids were tired and drifted to sleep in the car, so much the better.  The hotel asked that we clean the kitchen, empty the trash, and fold all sheets and towels and leave them on the beds. Check out was at noon, and we only went over by 30 minutes. heehee.  In cleaning the kitchen, guess what I found, though?  A big closet that had been hidden behind the open kitchen door.  In it were three pillows.  Why the guy didn't point these while he was here remains a mystery.  Next time we stay there, we will know
all the tricks.

Thankfully, the ride home was boring and uneventful.  As soon as the kids started recognizing familiar landmarks, they started singing a song from the movie Bolt.  "There is no home like the one you've got, 'cuz that home belongs to you!"  Vacations are fun, but coming home is even better. 

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