The Latin Quarter and Notre Dame.

Friday 13^th September.

When we look out to the street from our French doors this morning, the pavements are dry, a good sign. But, of course, it doesn’t last and a heavy misty cloud blankets the city, visibility is poor, and there is a constant, light drizzle of rain. More like a wet mist. Even an umbrella doesn’t keep it all off as it blows around and tickles our faces. So the Towers are off the list for today. Eiffel and Montparnasse that is. We didn’t finish our Latin Quarter walk yesterday, so we pick up where we left off, which was basically the Eglise St Etienne and the Pantheon.

Eglise St Etienne

Down Rue Saint Jacques for the College of France and left onto Rue des Ecoles for the Sorbonne. In a courtyard in the College of France are a statue and some large niches on the walls with other important dignitaries in situ. The Sorbonne is the sort of place that has to be seen to be believed, the amount of stone carving on the façade is remarkable and had it been a nicer day, we could have stood studying the many features for much longer.

The Sorbonne

Downhill now towards the River Seine, only seen briefly when we crossed it on our arrival the other day. We go inside to explore Eglise de Saint Severin,  one of the oldest churches on the Left Bank, that has some lovely stained glass windows, one set documenting the work of St Vincent de Paul, the patron saint of charity. He would take abandoned babies that the Sisters of Charity wouldn’t take because of their dubious heritage. He had them baptised, they then became ‘children of God’ and the nuns would then accept and care for them. I’ll never look at a St Vinnies the same way again.

Eglise de Saint Severin

Then we hit the narrow little streets of old Paris, hoping  to have a drink in the Caveau des Oubliettes, but it’s closed. Apparently they still have a guillotine tucked away somewhere downstairs. There’s Rue de la Hutchette, I’m sure I read that this was where the medieval butchers slaughtered the beasts and the blood flowed into the Seine, the Rue de Chat-qui-Peche, where cats fished in the big puddles created by the flooded Seine and Rue Xavier Privas, some of the oldest and narrowest streets in Paris. We turn the corner and we are presented with the Notre Dame. What a sight!

The line to go inside is very long but moves quickly. It is as amazing inside as it is outside, photos are allowed as long as no flash is used. There’s a display showing the construction and it’s hard to believe they achieved such a feat. There’s an option to climb to the top and even though it’s started drizzling again, we go to see how long the line is. Groups of 20 go every 10 minutes and judging by the line, there’s nearly an hour to wait. Not that we’re impatient, but we’re not sitting in the rain when we could be walking in the rain. Back to the front we perch delicately on the wet seat and read up on the meaning of all the carvings on the façade. Knowing more about a building certainly adds to the experience. We see what could be one of the first ‘selfies’. Architect Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc put a likeness of himself at the base of the spire looking upwards, above the green apostles and evangelists during the restoration of the church in 1860. From every angle around this beautiful building there is a photo opportunity and we happily snap away.

Pont de Archeveche

We can hear a brass band playing and see some sort of market on the left bank so head that way, meaning we have to cross the Pont de Archeveche, one of the bridges where all the lovers attach their locks to signify their love and throw the key into the Seine. We get totally distracted looking at all the locks, some very old, some very new, that we loose interest in going to the market and are tired of being drizzled on, so instead decide to make our way home for some snacks and also we don’t really know how far away we are or how long it will take to get there. Surprisingly, if we knew the way and didn’t have to stop to check the map, we were only about 15 minutes away. Back to the supermarket for more supplies and upstairs to relax. I bought a 200g slab of pate for 0.84 euros, pretty happy with that, and it tastes good. No crackers that we could see, so went with a thinly sliced baguette, the first choice of Parisiens.