Europe Trip 2003

Paris - Notre Dame

We spent the Easter holiday in Paris and woke up early to attend Easter Mass at Notre Dame. On our way to the cathedral, we found the streets completely empty of people and cars. It was so peaceful and, for the first and only time of our trip, we had the whole city to ourselves. After this moment the crowds would plague us all the way to Rome.

Mass at Notre Dame was short and simple. One reading was even in English. We stayed after Mass to take some time to walk around the cathedral and admire the beautiful stained glass and architecture. After our tour we stepped outside to find that the crowds had returned in full force to fill the square in front of the church. It had also started to rain. We only encountered a brief drizzle on one other stop on our trip (the morning we left Florence). Getting a bit soaked, we waited in line to climb the bell towers made famous by Victor Hugo and his Hunchback of Notre Dame. Once up the stairs we were greeted by various gargoyles and picturesque views of a rain soaked Paris. As we left Notre Dame and headed back toward our hotel, we got to hear the famous church bells ringing.