Saturday 23 June - Paris At last

 I woke up at around 1230 in the border town of Irun I think where the train was sitting for what seemed like a long time because I woke up again at 1 and 130 still in Irun. There was a conductor or security guard walking to and fro, back and forth, on the platform with a walkie-talkie each time I looked out the window.
I was not sure  at what time we finally started going again, but the room was still stifling hot. I woke again at 2 to darkness and again at 4 in a town but it was too dark to see the sign of where we were.
I used the washroom  at around 530 and I tried to have a shower in the tiniest washroom I had been in for years. I semi succeeded and it still felt good and refreshing.
Off to the dining car at about 545ish and wrote in my journal. It was a beautiful misty morning with clear skies and french trees and villages. They look different than spanish villages. Thier roofs have smaller tiles and the houses seemed to be taller and straighter somehow.
 At around 6ish am we came into a lovely town of some size "Poitiers". The scenery was beautiful. we passed farms and rivers, vineyards and small villages.  I Tried to get photos but mostly I got reflections of me in the windows.
(this is Margie)I was on a plane flying in from Montreal. I arrived at 8:30 and Paul picked me up at Charles De Gaulle airport and drove into Paris. We went to get the key to the apartment but no one was at the office. 
The staff came into the dining car and I had to go as they had to set up for breakfast so I went to the bar car and had a cup of tea. went back to the hot roomette around 720 to see if Maureen was alive. We opened the door to our room. Air! Cool air came flooding in. Relief. We saw Hot air balloons around 730. We had breakfast of toast ,tea and peach jam, around 750  in the dining car and then went back to our roomette around 830 to pack up.
 I wasn't sure of the exact time that we were getting in but thought I would be ready in any case. I was done by 845 and we pulled into the station in Paris at 9. We went into the station and got directions from the lovely assistants who tried to convince us, rightly so, to speak french. Maureen did not agree and complained about having to speak french in France. I have started to ignore her complaining.
I kept speaking spanish since I had been that getting used to it and would find myself starting in spanish and, realizing that I was in spanish but needing to be in french, switching to french in mid sentence, which sounds really silly.

We walked down the road and along the river past a park full of flowers and statues and some people practising some kind of game or play or something on the river walk. There are lots of Bridges in Paris. We went over one and Maureen pointed out Notredam Cathedral. We were on the Ilse de Loius.
As we arrived I saw Maureen and Dennie walking up a side street on the Ile de Louis. Paul drove away to find the people with the keys and I went back to find Dennie and Maureen and they were gone !
The Ilse Louis where our apartment was. Maureen had stayed on this island before and so I let her lead us to the apartment rather than digging out the address for myself. I should have dug out the address.
There was a detour that we had to take as they were working on the apartment on the corner, so we had to find our way around the block to the other side of the island.   This should not be a dificult thing but it seemed to be for us at that moment in time. We found the right side of the island but missed our apartment as Maureen had not pulled up the address either and did not know what address we were looking for either, although we did see the apartment that Maureen really had wanted but it was not good for three people.
 I finally pulled out the address from my backpack and we found the apartment.  When I buzzed the apartment we found out that it was still occupied and that they were not leaving until 11.  We had the code for the building so we left our bags in the hall and walked out front wondering where Margie was as she was supposed to be there at that time too. She was flying in from Edmonton that morning and getting a ride from the airport to the apartment.
I wandered around several blocks and then headed to the apartment and then saw them on the Pont Marie bridge. Hurray!
I walked out onto the bridge  which is right next to our apartment to look at the Siene river and all of the bridges. When who should appear but Margie. The Driver knew that she could not get into the apartment yet, so had taken her to the office  which was only a few short blocks away. We went back and got our backpacks and Margie showed us to the office.
I paid for our stay, as arranged, and we got all kinds of information from the girl at the office. We could get into it at around 2 so that is when they would take us over there. we cold leave our bags in the office until then. Yea! free of backpacks ad we were all in Paris!
Maureen took us over a bridge and  to the restaurant looking at the Notre dame cathedral which is very large and very impressive. My first french meal was vegetarian lazagna, and it was good too. After a refreshing break we were off. Notre dame Cathedral is impressive from every angle. Gardens with lots of flowers around the first two sides that we saw and then the front with its large square in front and the facade with all its intricate stone work.  Wow!
There was a line to get in but we didn't mind waiting in line. Margie was so excited just to be there in Paris. The trip of a lifetime.  I was very excited-I had not slept all night and was not a bit tired!
We took turns standing in line. I wandered around and took lots of photos of the outside and the statue of Charlamane at one side of the square. I asked where the washrooms were and was told they were beside the statue.  I went over there but could not see them. Margie had better luck. Kind of, she was gone so long that we were starting to worry.  when she finally showed up she had tales to tell.
There were only three washrooms and the line was so long that she almost didn't make it. but she did. note to self. go at the restaurant. Paris gets 22 million visitors a year so you think that there would be more than three washrooms but it is an old island.  The line was very long. and there were signs evrywhere watch for pickpockets! There were attendants down below to let you into the washroom-I do not know why? And then they put there hands out for a tip. Nope sorry. I could have probably gotten in sooner if I had tipped them but most people did not.
the Inside of the church is even more impressive than the outside.
Wikipedia says  an historic  Roman Catholic Marian cathedral on the eastern half of the Ile de la cite in the  fourth arrondissement (community) of Paris, France. Widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and among the largest and most well-known churches in the world ever built, Notre Dame is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris; that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra (official chair) of the Archbishop of Paris, currently Andre Vingt-trois . The cathedral treasury is notable for its reliquary, which houses the purported crown of thorns , a fragment of the true cross and one of the Holy nails – all instruments of the passion and a few of the most important first class relics.

Notre Dame de Paris is often reputed to be one of the most prominent examples of Gothic architecture in both France and in Europe as a whole, and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture.  The first period of construction from 1163 into 1240s coincided with the musical experiments of the Notre Dame School. 

The cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790s, when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. An extensive restoration supervised by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc removed remaining decoration, returning the cathedral to an 'original' gothic state.

Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave but after the construction began, the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher and stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern. 

Many small statues were placed around the outside. These were crafted individually and served as supports for columns and water spouts. Among these are the famous gargoyles and chimeras (the former of which is designed to run off rain water). These were originally colored, as was most of the exterior. The paint has worn off, but the grey stone was once covered with vivid colors. 

The cathedral was essentially complete by 1345. The cathedral has a narrow climb of 387 steps at the top of several spiral staircases; along the climb it is possible to view its most famous bell and its gargoyles in close quarters, as well as having a spectacular view across Paris when reaching the top.

In 1160, because the church in Paris had become the "Parisian church of the kings of Europe", Bishop Maurice de Sully deemed the previous Paris cathedral, Saint-Étienne (St Stephen's), which had been founded in the 4th century, unworthy of its lofty role, and had it demolished shortly after he assumed the title of Bishop of Paris. As with most foundation myths, this account needs to be taken with a grain of salt; archeological excavations in the 20th century suggested that the Merovingian Cathedral replaced by Sully was itself a massive structure, with a five-aisled nave and a facade some 36m across. It seems likely therefore that the faults with the previous structure were exaggerated by the Bishop to help justify the rebuilding in a newer style. According to legend, Sully had a vision of a glorious new cathedral for Paris, and sketched it on the ground outside the original church.

To begin the construction, the bishop had several houses demolished and had a new road built in order to transport materials for the rest of the cathedral. Construction began in 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, and opinion differs as to whether Sully or Pope Alexander III  laid the foundation stone of the cathedral. However, both were at the ceremony in question. Bishop de Sully went on to devote most of his life and wealth to the cathedral's construction. Construction of the  Choir took from 1163 until around 1177 and the new High Altar  was consecrated in 1182 (it was normal practice for the eastern end of a new church to be completed first, so that a temporary wall could be erected at the west of the choir, allowing the chapter to use it without interruption while the rest of the building slowly took shape). After Bishop Maurice de Sully's death in 1196, his successor, Eudes de Sully (no relation) oversaw the completion of the transepts and pressed ahead with the nave, which was nearing completion at the time of his own death in 1208. By this stage, the western facade had also been laid out, though it was not completed until around the mid 1240s.

 I took photos of most of the 50 plus large stained glass windows in the place. they are all different and all beautiful.  I loved the cathedral. it was really impressive and beautiful. Everyday in Paris at some point we walked past it and I never tired of its beauty.The most significant change in design came in the mid 13th century, when the transepts were remodeled in the latest Rayonnant style; in the late 1240s Jean de Chelles added a gabled portal to the north transept topped off by a spectacular rose window. Shortly afterwards (from 1258) Pierre de Montreuil executed a similar scheme on the South transept. Both these transept portals were richly embellished with sculpture; the south portal features scenes from the lives of St Stephen and of various local saints, while the north portal featured the infancy of Christ and the story of Theophilus in the tympanum, with a highly influential statue of the Virgin and Child in the trumeau. 

Over the construction period, numerous architects worked on the site, as is evidenced by the differing styles at different heights of the west front and towers. Between 1210 and 1220, the fourth architect oversaw the construction of the level with the rose window and the great halls beneath the towers.

In 1548, rioting Huguenots damaged features of the cathedral, considering them idolatrous. During the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, the cathedral underwent major alterations as part of an ongoing attempt to modernize cathedrals throughout Europe. A colossal statue of St Christopher, standing against a pillar near the western entrance and dating from 1413, was destroyed in 1786. Tombs and stained glass windows were destroyed. The north and south rose windows were spared this fate, however.

In 1793, during the French Revolution, the cathedral was rededicated to the Cult of Reason, and then to the Cult of the Supreme Being. During this time, many of the treasures of the cathedral were either destroyed or plundered. The statues of biblical kings of Judah (erroneously thought to be kings of France), located on a ledge on the facade of the cathedral were beheaded. Many of the heads were found during a 1977 excavation nearby and are on display at the Musee de Cluny. For a time, Lady Liberty replaced the Virgin Mary on several altars. The cathedral's great bells managed to avoid being melted down. The cathedral came to be used as a warehouse for the storage of food.

A controversial restoration program was initiated in 1845, overseen by architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. Viollet Le Duc was responsible for the restorations of several dozen castles, palaces and cathedrals across France. The restoration lasted twenty five years and included the construction of a fleche  (a type of spire) as well as the addition of the chimeras on the Galerie des Chimères. Viollet le Duc always signed his work with a bat, the wing structure of which most resembles the Gothic vault.

The Second World War caused more damage. Several of the stained glass windows on the lower tier were hit by stray bullets. These were remade after the war, but now sport a modern geometrical pattern, not the old scenes of the Bible.

In 1991, a major program of maintenance and restoration was initiated, which was intended to last ten years, but was still in progress as of 2009, the cleaning and restoration of old sculptures being an exceedingly delicate matter.

We stayed there for over an hour. I think I  took over two hundred photos of the stained glass windows, statues and just everything.  On our way back to the office we passed our first street performer doing' la vie en rose'. yea! There were lots of shops on the islands and between window shopping and going in to check things out took us up to the time we were supposed to be getting to the office.

Got back to the office around 2 to pick up our things and the young girl said that if we wanted her to come over and show us things just to give her a call. We told her that we wanted her to come over with out even having to call her. she was good. She came over and quickly explained the rules to the apartment. The washer, the dryer, the telephone, etc. After we settled in and came up with the plan that we would each take one night to cook dinner, we went to the store.
 The office had given us directions to a store off the isle Louis saying it was cheaper so off we trundled, investigating the odd store as we went. We found the grocery store on Rivoli, a main street in downtown Paris, with little difficulty and purchased each purchased what we needed for our dinner and things that we would like to munch on. I got eggplant, eggs, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, pasta sauce and couscous with some broccoli. a little wine to top it off and we had a dinner. easy. 
Found a bank to get some cash and Margie found a washroom that was not working so went into a restaurant and bought a bottle of water so she could use their restroom.  I also bought a little fruit tray which we hardly even touched. We really bought a little bit too much stuff-but we must have been hungry at that point.
Maureen went ahead of Margie and I on the way back. Margie had bought quite a bit of stuff including water so was pretty laden down. I gave her a hand and found out that she was carrying stuff for Maureen too. 
We got back and Maureen had her feet up on the couch relaxing.  I made supper and cleaned up after myself. We decided that each person cooking would clean up after themselves. That way if I used 10 pots to cook dinner I could clean them too.  decided that I was too tired to go out to a show at the cathedral that night so went to bed around 830 and was fast asleep by 9.

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