FRANCE 2000: PARIS - CHRISTMAS MORNING, ARC D'TRIOMPHE, STRAVINSKY FOUNTAIN, NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL

 December 25, 2000

I just couldn't let the usual Christmas traditions go, so when we woke up on Christmas morning in our hotel in Versailles, there were stockings with pieces of paper listing small gifts that were waiting for the kids at home. 

Our daughter had bought a beautiful tablecloth for me and other gifts from France for her dad and brothers, and I had also packed one or two gifts for each family member.

What to do on Christmas Day in Paris? We weren't sure what we would find open, especially after our dinner fiasco the previous evening. We decided to head to the center of the city to check out the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. 

My photo is a little less glamorous than the postcard above. It was a rainy, gloomy day.

Built between 1806 and 1836 to celebrate Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, the "Triumphal Arch" honors the casualties of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. It is 164 tall, 148 feet wide, and 72 feet deep. The vaulted arch is 96 feet high and 48 feet wide. Twelve avenues radiate from its courtyard.

Various friezes on different parts of the arch represent wars and peace treaties in French history.

In 1920, the unidentified body of a casualty of World War I was interred here to create a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Like many similar memorials around the world, an eternal flame burns on site.

We kept walking until we reached the Stravinsky Fountain, a shallow pool dotted with sixteen whimsical sculptures that move, spray, and generally wreak havoc. 

The sculptures represent various themes and pieces by the composer Igor Stravinsky, hence its name.

The fountain is next to the Pompidou Centre, an equally funky modern art museum that opened in 1977. It is an "inside-out" building that has all the things usually hidden in the walls (plumbing, heating and cooling pipes, electrical system, etc.) forming the exterior of the building.

Today, over 23 years later, we can't remember if we went inside. I don't have any photos of the art, and it was Christmas Day, making the likelihood that it was open low.

It's a short walk from the Pompidou Centre to the Notre Dame Cathedral, but the cathedral is on an island in the middle of the Seine and can be reached by a footbridge.

Before we crossed, however, our daughter convinced us to go to McDonald's to try the French version of french fries. Oh my goodness--pomme frites, French style, are the best french fries we had ever had and probably have still ever had to this day. They were fat and flavorful--cooked in something other than the oil used in the U.S. Delicious.

We are grateful now that we were able to see Notre Dame Cathedral in all its original glory. These two photos are one I took with my cheap camera on a murky winter day and a postcard photo:  

Construction of the Gothic-style cathedral began in 1163 and was largely completed by 1260, although of course it was "remodeled" during ensuing centuries. Napoleon was crowned here in the 19th century, and the liberation of Paris from the Nazis was celebrated in Notre Dame on August 26, 1944.  Many other important events took place within its walls.

Sadly, during a restoration project, the roof of the building caught fire in April 2019 and burned for 15 hours. Fortunately, the interior was fairly well protected by the vaulted stone ceiling, but the spire collapsed, most of the roof was destroyed, and the upper walls were badly damaged.  Most of the interior art was saved, along with the altar, two pipe organs, and the rose windows.

It was heartbreaking to watch the story unfold in the news.

Photo from USA Today

Photo from ABC7 Chicago

However, the French are good at rebuilding, and they are scheduled to reopen the cathedral on December 8, 2024. Sadly, that's not in time for this year's Olympic Summer Games, which will be held in Paris, but still, to complete a project of this magnitude in 5½ years is remarkable, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic in the middle. Also remarkable is the fact that almost $1 billion was raised from around the world to aid in the restoration.

I took more photos than usual of the interior and exterior of the cathedral, but of course now I wish I had taken ten times as many!

Notre Dame means "Our Lady" in French, and the cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Its three rose windows are among the best-preserved medieval stained glass windows in the world.

The cathedral is also famous for its 28 "flying buttresses," among the earliest to be used and an amazing Gothic engineering feat. They help to support increasingly larger buildings by distributing the building's weight.

The exterior of the cathedral is wonderful. We were especially captivated by this sculpture of St. Denis who, after his execution, carried his own head from Montmarte in northeastern Paris to a spot on the northwestern end of Paris before he finally collapsed and died. Today, the Basilica of St. Denis stands on the spot of his death.

Of course we had to take the stairs up to the high point in one of the towers.

We got a good view of the steeple (lost in the 2019 fire) and the dozens of gargoyle water spouts that ring the structure.

The cathedral has ten large bronze bells, each with a name, and many smaller bells. In addition to ringing to signal regular activities at the cathedral, the bells have rung on days of national and international significance, including the armistice that ended World War I on November 11, 1918, the liberation of Paris August 19, 1944, the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9,1989, and the attacks in the US on September 11, 2001.  We dubbed this massive bell "Quasimodo's Bell":

READING

Perhaps the most famous novel set in the Notre Dame Cathedral is The Hunchback of Notre Dame by French author Victor Hugo. Set in 15th-century Paris, the novel tells the sad story of Quasimodo, a severely deformed bell-ringer. In addition to his hunched back, he is nearly blind and almost totally deaf. Adopted at a young age by the cathedral's vile archdeacon, a man named Frollo to whom Quasimodo is completely devoted, Quasimodo has spent most of his life within the walls of the church. When he falls in love with the Roma street dancer Esmeralda, however, he sets in motion a series of events that lead to a tragic end.

The story has also been made into at least ten movies over the years, starting with a silent movie in 1911. The most recent film version I can find was released in 1997. It is a made-for-television version starring Richard Harris as Frollo, Salma Hayek as Esmeralda, and Mandy Patinkin as Quasimodo. Of course, there is also a much-loved Disney cartoon version released in 1996.