2009 European Adventure Recap - From Atop Notre Dame

Monday October 26, 2009

Paris, France

After touring the inside of Notre Dame.....

....we stood in line along the side of the building.....

to climb the 422 steps to the bell tower!

We went round and round.....

 .....and after huffing and puffing a while, we were finally at the top.

Below, those pieces extending across are called "Flying Buttresses."  They are structural members helping to brace the adjacent wall.  And although they were not original to the design of the building and were added later for support, flying buttresses are a common Gothic style architectural feature, which is what style of architecture Notre Dame is.

 Don't look down!

We had some really neat views of Paris and it was such a beautiful day.

 

There was criss-cross wire up, I guess so no one could throw anything large (or themselves?) from the top?

This video shows some of the view and some of the "balcony" space where we walked. 

Does this picture look familiar?  It's my blog header picture.  :)

I really like all the silhouetted spires in this pic.

It was so gorgeous and I was enthralled with Paris!

Below is Sacre Coeur - Sacred Heart Basilica

After taking in views in all directions of Paris, we ventured in to see the Bell.  You entered the bell tower through these short little doors.

There it is!

But there was no Hunchback.

This sign is in French....maybe one day I'll decipher it.  I believe it talks about the Hunchback though.

Several "Stryge", "Chimera" and other mythical, Grotesque statues guard the towers and the bell.

Some of them are pretty ugly.

And some are more grotesque than others!

These creatures, however, are not be confused with the common term of "Gargoyle" that many people use to describe them.  While a Gargoyle is also a grotesque creature carved from stone, there is one major signifying difference between them and the other creatures.  The Gargoyle actually acts as a waterspout, whereas the other creatures are simply statues, with no other function (save for warding off evil, perhaps). 

See the figures below with their necks extended out perpendicular from the building?  Those are Gargoyles.  They are diverting water from the building - the water runs through a trough in their necks and flows out of their mouths to land on the ground below.  Pretty crazy, huh?  I think it's rather ingenious to make the water diversion system a part of the design of the building.  Looks better than a bunch of downspouts running down the side of the building!

Now you know what Gargoyles really are!

After exploring all there was to explore, it was time to head back down the stairs.

Although going down was much easier than going up, it still made us pretty dizzy!  Here's a video I took of going round and round on the way down.....the first part of it I seem to focus only on the railing tough - ha!  Guess I was concentrating on not tripping!