This week we spent four days in Paris, certainly our last visit to the city on this trip. We’ve been coming to Paris for many years – our first time in the city was in 1983: two day-trips while we were staying with Mary and Gilles in Chartrettes. Our first stay in the city, probably four or five days, was ten years later. Since then we’ve spent time here on probably ten or twelve vacations. We loved this city from the start and have only grown to love it more each visit. So it was hard to walk back to the flat and then the train station knowing it will be a while before we’re back.
We had a great four days in Paris, though Tuesday started with an unbelievable downpour. After that, though, the weather turned clear and cold. We can always add another layer, so off we went. Here are some pictures of our time in our favorite city.
Notre Dame
You likely remember seeing pictures of Notre Dame burning in April, 2019, and I wrote a bit about it after our first stay in Paris in August. Restoration has just started; engineers worked two years to stabilize the Cathedral enough that the work of restoration could start. This beautiful building came close to completely collapsing in the fire; huge kudos to the firefighters who saved it.
After much discussion, the powers-that-be decided to restore Notre Dame to its pre-fire appearance (a decision with which I whole-heartedly agree). There will surely be some changes and it will be much more resistant to catastrophes, but it will look almost exactly as it has for 800 years.
Restoration schedule: François Macron, President of France, wants it open for the 2024 Olympics to be held in France. It may be open then, but the schedule for full restoration calls for almost twenty years(!) of work.
From the east end. You can see the scaffolding that envelopes much of the central part of the building.
The entire south side of Notre Dame, from across the Seine. The towers at the left survived the fire by fast and smart work by the firefighters. The fire got into the towers and had the firefighters not stopped it almost immediately, the towers would have collapsed, bringing the entire Cathedral down with them.
Even in it’s “under-repair” state, Notre Dame still dominates the sky here, and keeps its title as an iconic image of Paris. I don’t know of a better known Church anywhere in the world.
Look Up!
If someone asks me about visiting Paris, one of my regular bits of advice is: “Look up.” Paris is full of beautiful buildings. Here are a few we saw this trip:
There is, of course, the occasional clunker. Don’t know what the architect of this building was thinking, or if he or she was thinking at all.
Two Favorite Churches
Within a five minute walk of Notre Dame are two churches that we like a lot. The first is Saint-Julian-le-Pauvre. This is a tiny church that holds a strong claim as the oldest church in Paris, having been built over a 6th century church. Since 1889, Saint-Julian-le-Pauvre has been a Greek Orthodox church; the first time I stepped into it four or five years ago a service was in progress. The church continues to hold Greek Orthodox services, and also presents musical concerts almost every week.
The other favorite church is Saint-Severin, just a hundred yards from Saint-Julian-le-Pauvre. This church has some Romanesque arches in the nave and about every type of Gothic known: early, flamboyant, neo-, etc. It, too, is not a huge Church, and it doesn’t draw crowds, so it is a place of beauty and peace. For us, it’s a lovely place to just sit.
Gotta love a beautiful organ.
River Walk
After visiting Saint-Julian-le-Pauvre and Saint-Severin, it was time to start back. We walked to the north side of the Seine (the Right Bank, as it’s known) and walked along the river.
Our first few trips to Paris, I whined about how few places there were where people could walk along the river. Fortunately, things have changed, as there are now several miles of walks along the Seine. Right next to the river runs a former two-lane freeway that transported tens of thousands of cars a day. A few years back the city closed the road to cars on Sundays and opened it to walkers, runners, skateboarders, bikers, strollers, scooters. Then a couple years ago the mayor of Paris closed it off permanently, thus earning the ire of thousands of motorists. The payoff, though, has been fabulous for us walkers.
A heavily-used “highway’ down the Right Bank, turned into a walkers/bikers/runners paradise. Drivers are less enthused, but we think this is by far the best use of this road.
Some pictures of Paris from our walk down the river…
Lots of bridges, close up!
The Conciergerie, long a notorious prison, now a government office building.
School-kids enjoying the walkway and a beautiful day.
A corner of Ile de la Cité, home of Notre Dame. This is the only part of the island where residences were spared the clearing and rebuilding wrought by Baron Von Haussman in the 1870s.
Looking across at Ile St. Louis. You are seeing here some of the most expensive residences in Paris: a 230 sq. ft. studio apartment is listed for $400,000; a nice 750 sq. ft. two-bedroom goes for $1.4 million.
Nice place to eat lunch…
Then, it was on the bus, back to the flat, pack up and head for the train station. As we walked along the river, we said, again and again, how much we love Paris, and how we will always have a plan for the next trip there. Have to have something to look forward to through the approaching winter, and Paris is what we’ll be remembering and looking forward to again.