Tag: Notre Dame

Notre Dame

Walking along the Seine, you will eventually reach Notre Dame which is in the midst of years of repair after the tragic fire.

Seen as we approached.
This bridge looks like it’s made of copper but it is cast iron. It’s called the Double which refers to the payment once required to cross it. There are 35 bridges spanning the Seine within Paris by the way.
The cathedral with the sun shining behind it.
There are photos showing various things about Notre Dame during and after the fire. This is behind a plastic shield so not very clear but you can see the cathedral on fire while crowds watched.
The famous Rose stained glass window. I don’t know if they removed the glass already or will. I’m surprised it didn’t melt with the heat of the fire.

Rear Window

I’ve had a few incidents like those in the movie Rear Window where the daily lives of residents in buildings across the way can be seen. We are close enough to one building that we can exchange smiles or waves, especially at 8 PM when we all come to our windows to applaud those on the Corona front lines. I see one family with a little boy every evening at 8. I saw a couple cutting each others hair with a mirror propped up in the window. I see people in bed sometimes and, of course, many sitting at their computers. In apartment buildings further away, we can see nice terraces including one where a woman has family members over. I think she has a jacuzzi on the other side as I see people in bathing suits and with towels. Another terrace has a set of a turquoise table and chairs and they often eat lunch while we are eating ours. I used to watch the progress from one window of a building being put up with the use of a crane but that has all fallen silent. One evening I went down to the street to look up at our building and to get a different look and hearing of the sounds at 8 but it wasn’t any different really. I did notice a lot of people on the streets, most without masks. I also noticed there wasn’t a line in front of Monoprix to get in so the next day I went thirty minutes before they closed and found no one stocking shelves so the aisles were clear and there were a lot fewer people, most of which weren’t wearing masks which I just don’t understand. I needed some things you can’t order online like fresh meat and filled up my cart.

A mostly empty street from years ago. Totally like this in most of Paris now although there are areas refusing to isolate.
Those were the days.
Notre Dame a few years before the fire.
We are looking forward to being able to have drinks out on a restaurant terrace again.

Still Here

Life goes on, even if it’s not exciting. Basically, we are afraid to go outside. We still make occasional trips to the grocery store but it’s pretty stressful. I’ve been having very vivid dreams, some of which wake me up. I think it might be because I’m taking Claratine for allergies along with my over the counter sleep medication. The last one was where I was driving a car and no matter how hard I tried I was lost. I’m not much of a dream interpreter but I think it must mean I have no control over where I’m going and not sure where I will end up. Since we’ve been watching the Spanish TV series, Money Heist, which is pretty intense, I’ve had lots of dreams where I’m shooting at people or in some bizarre criminal enterprise. I’m going through my old photos and enjoying looking at the trips we have made. Here’s hoping we will be able to do it again before too long.

Gorgeous wisteria from years ago near our beach place at Chatelaillon. Isn’t it beautiful?
The pond in Monet’s garden at Giverny.
Notre Dame shining in the sun one Autumn day a couple of years ago.

Notre Dame

Last year at this time we were in Japan. It was quite a shock, as it was with the world, to learn that Notre Dame was burning. I watched a special just last night on what they have done so far this year in the rebuilding. Mostly it has been shoring up the building so that there isn’t further collapse. They went through the rubble on the floor down below where the burning roof collapsed like archeologists at a long buried site collecting the large pieces first and then all of the small pieces like nails and other metal parts, numbering them all for possible later use. Many were trained in using climbing gear like you see used by climbers going up the side of a mountain. It is amazing. If you go to Google Earth (not Maps) you can see Notre Dame from all sorts of angles including from up above where you can see the protective covering where the roof used to be and the hole where the metal scaffolding melted. Here are some shots I have-before and after.

Two years ago on a pretty Spring day.
Loved the pretty trees with their pink flowers.
Closeup.
I took this a couple of weeks after the fire from behind the cathedral.
Seen right before confinement. I wonder if they are still working on it? The water in the Seine was high as you can see.
Another look. I hope they rebuild it in the same style and not in glass with a swimming pool on the roof as someone suggested.
From the front. So sad.

Around Paris

Another mix of photos as I showed family around Paris.

I saw these dramatic clouds which led to a hard rain storm.
Notre Dame under reconstruction.
An old shutter on an old window in the Latin Quarter.
This corner is often seen on Instagram.
The area around the Seine is starting to flood.
I think this was etched glass and thought it was so pretty.
Saint Severin Church with its famous columns.
The Abby Bookstore.
The marvellous tapestry at the Cluny Museum: The Lady and the Unicorn.

Life continues on here in Paris. We are still being very compliant although I have heard there are young people walking around in large crowds up on Montmartre. I would like to write the managers of Monoprix to complain about the stocking of shelves while customers shop trying to get by their large carts. It makes social distancing very difficult. I noticed that most of the frozen fish was gone whatever that means and jam, or confiture, is getting scarce. I read a very interesting article on how HEB in the States is handing this health crisis as they did during Hurricane Katrina. I wish they were running the health systems. It takes clear thinking and good planning. I am now watching Ozark on Netflix which is very violent but so suspenseful that I keep watching. The Mexican cartel is very dangerous but they don’t have anything on the locals living in the Ozarks. There were drugs in the Norwegian series, Borderliner, too. A world wide problem. I’m so happy we are in our relatively new apartment with great views and lots of light and that almost all of the refurbishing was finished before the Virus hit. Soon, we will all be out again in a hopefully healthy world.