Last day and we started with an early check-out around 08:00, went to the metro station Saint-Michel and stored our luggage for the few remaining hours in Paris. Today was the day to see the Grande Dame, two years after she has been rebuilt – not only from the outside but climbing hundreds of stairs (around 400 in one direction). The rebuilt cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris is as beautiful as imaginable – and it’s much more than just a reconstruction. And hey, Markus learned a lot today about the marvellous architecture, incredible pieces of art, hardly imaginable amounts of wood to reconstruct the roof that burned down completely.
The quick breakfast at The Shakespeare and Company Café across the street was okay, nothing special so we won’t go into detail here, worth mentioning is the queue that formed next to it – the book store that pretty much belonged to the breakfast company or the other way around started amassing people on the outside. The motto was “no mobile inside” – and people were simply taking pictures. 🙂
Well, we did not fully get it and decided to go inside the rebuilt Lady, exploring the inside. We were impressed by the brightness of the stones and learned, that they have been sandblasted during the renovations so that we can see them today as they have looked like 800 years ago, when Notre Dame was initially built. A humbling experience!
Up in the sky
At 10:30 we went to the “special entrance” and upwards over countless (still 400+) steps into the first tower. The climb had several breaks due to logistics of the visitor groups. Overall it was not too strenious for us, but for couch potatoes it is definitely not an easy endeavor. Standing on a balcony and next to the hundreds of years old gargoyles in the shapes of animals and fantasy figures we were reminded of the story of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and imagined that these creatures could start to talk to us. Up in the bell tower we admired the huge bells and even got an audio example of the different sounds due to different sizes. On the top we got a 360° view over Paris and the surrounding area. We noticed the shiny new roof construction and in contrast the 12 almost black statues of the Apostels. The reason why they are not refurbished is, that they were removed only days before the fire in 2019 for restauration and survived the fire in their original state.
Down again we decided first to go for our only “Glace” and enjoyed it very much, as it pleased both visual and taste receptors. Unfortunately Markus dropped half of it before he could finish it, but it was splendid and amazingly looking nevertheless as the ice cream was stapled like petals of a flower – it took mere moments and felt like it made quite a difference.
Tartar de boeff vs. Duck leg
Before our way to the airport, we decided to grab a bite from a typical french restaurant “Bistro des Lettres” – and indeed it was a great choice to spend our final hour eating. After hours of climbing stairs and exploring the vincinity of Notre Dame, we were sure that having a snack before going to the airport would turn out to be a better idea than a hangry Juli in the plane. Both our choices turned out to be good ones and something we can recommend – and there was again a little extra: letters to send, more explicitely – you get, if you like, a letter and they will send it a year from now to whoever you like to send a letter to. We’re both curious when they will surface and we really, really loved the idea.
A bit short on time we decided to pick up our luggage and move towards Saint-Michel. Our navigation and public transport app were a bit concerned about trains not reaching CDG but luckily this was not true for us. We checked in our stuff, moved to the gate and waited for the boarding to start. In the end the flight was even 20min delayed.
In the evening we safely arrived in Vienna, took the train to Korneuburg and headed home, where we were greeted by Stitch, who was quite vocal about… Well we’re not sure yet, but he insisted on both munchies and cuddlies.
What a great vacation, and as usual we both were very happy to be back home. Always a great feeling when you can come home to place you love and call your home.
