ANNE's and VINCENT's walks around PARIS

Paris is our city and our Love.
We spend a lot of time in planes, travelling around the world, doing our job. But we always come back to PARIS with pleasure.
We will be happy to have you with us during our walks around main monuments of the city .
There are about 1000 monuments in Paris and we will try to show you that you can spend at least a half a day for each of them .
Then 500 days will be not sufficient to visit our city.
We live over here for a couple of years (about 30) and we still discover new attractions every weekend.


So Join Us in PARIS, you are invited.!

 

The fist walk is around Notre Dame de PARIS

1. The History of Notre Dame

30-1100 Gallo-Roman temple to Jupiter, a Christian basilica, and a Romanesque church
1163 construction of Notre-Dame de Paris began in 1163 during the reign of Louis VII. Pope Alexander III laid the foundation stone. The idea to replace the Romanesque church occupying the site - the Cathedral of St. Etienne (founded by Childebert in 528) - was that of Bishop Maurice de Sully (who died in 1196). (Some accounts claim that there were two churches existing on the site, one to the Virgin Mary, the other to St. Stephen.)
1345 Construction was completed roughly 200 years later in about 1345. The choir was completed in 1182; the nave in 1208, and the west front and towers circa 1225-1250. A series of chapels were added to the nave during the period 1235-50, and during 1296-1330 to the apse (Pierre de Chelles and Jean Ravy). The transept crossings were build in 1250-67 by Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil (also the architect of the Sainte-Chapelle). It was essentially completed according to the original plans.
17th century The reigns of Louis XIV (end of the 17th century) and Louis XV saw significant alterations including the destruction of tombs, and stained glass
1789 during the Revolution, many of the treasures of the cathedral were either destroyed or plundered. Only the great bells avoided being melted down, and the Cathedral was dedicated first to the cult of Reason, and to the cult of the Supreme being. The church interior was used as a warehouse for the storage of forage and food.
1845

After falling into disrepair, a restoration program overseen by Lassus (died 1857) and Viollet-le-Duc, was carried out in 1845. This program lasted 23 years, and included the construction of the spire (see image) and the sacristy.

1871 During the Commune of 1871, the Cathedral was nearly burned by the Communards - and some accounts suggest that indeed a huge mound of chairs was set on fire in its interior. Whatever happened, the Notre Dame survived the Commune essentially unscathed.
1991

Now in 1991, a 10 year program of general maintenance and restoration has begun, and sections of the structure are likely to be shrouded in scaffolds for the foreseeable future.

   
 
Some other events from the history of Notre Dame
  1239: The Crown of Thorns placed in the Cathedral by St. Louis during the construction of Sainte-Chapelle.
1302: Philip the Fair opens the first States General here.
1430: Henri VI of England is crowned here.
Mary Stuart becomes Queen of France after her marriage to François II, and is crowned here.
1572: Marguerite of Valoi is married to the Huguenot Henri of Navarre here.
1804: 2 December ; After the anointing by Pius VII, Napoléon seizes the crown from the pontiff and crowns first himself, then Josephine.
1944: 26 August ; The Te Deum Mass celebrates the liberation of Paris. (According to some accounts the Mass was interrupted by snipping from both the internal and external galleries.)
1970: 12 November ; The Requiem Mass of General de Gaulle is held here.
1980: 31 May ; After the Magnificat of this day, Pope John Paul II celebrates Mass on the parvis in front of the Cathedral.

2. On the Saint Louis bride

We always start this walk by our preferred iceCream dealer : Bertillon on the corner of the StLouis Island Face to the rear of Notre Dame.
I advertise these ice creams as the best on the earth but if you bring your best ice creams from your country we will organise a competition

  • With our cream we join the exhibition bridge with music or cirque and many other subjects to enjoy.
    This day it was about our bikes:
    - the country is small, compared to the US or Australia
    - the city is small : 3million people inside Paris
    - the space is rare and expensive
    SO to optimise the space :
    - the people are small
    - and the bikes also …
creasy French people, with their creasy machines
the trip is short but the pleasure is big

 

 

3. On the back of the Cathedral

Before to join the front full of crowd , we continue , clockwise, by the back. From the bridge de la Tournelle you will see the most spectacular view of the Cathedral. To build such a high building without internal superstructure the architect of the Cathedral has to support it by these big arches giving to Notre Dame a shape of a gigantic Spider.

  • Notre Dame is like a beautiful women. There is a very long discussion (8 centuries now) about the beauty of the Cathedral, to defined the preferred side : The Front or Back.

  • Anyway As you can see on these pictures Notre There is located on the Island "Ille de la Cité" and the contrast between these old stones , the water of the Seine, the green of surrounded gardens makes the landscape grate.

you can also visit from the café
the arches

 

 

4. On the side of Notre Dame The Seine river.

As the Nile for Egypt, la Seine, our river, is the heart of Paris. All around the Notre Dame old but also very sophisticated new boats carry hundreds of tourists to visit the city from the river.
It is a very good visit specially during hot summer month.

  • Many old transport boats was transformed into Cafés, Restaurants, Theaters .

  • The naval architects design more and more sophisticated boats to be as transparent as open as possible.

It is not a fly, it'a jus a boat (busBoat)
Go ahead around NotreDame


5. Front of the old Lady at the end of the day.

After 10 years of renovation Notre Dame is coming back from the past with her new Dress. Cleaned, stone by stone with a laser beam to do not heart these old materials , the Cathedral in now as new.
It is disappointing to some of us but I think that we will get used of this new shape.

  • By the end of the day , the front of Notre Dame, looking West , is becoming Red. It is definitely the best moment to take pictures.
  • A quiet crowd is watching this sunset from the Notre Dame square
discover the new shape of the old lady
just before the dark