Saturday 28th January 1984
Another dull day, trudging around in the drizzle of dismal weather visiting the remaining sights. Being cultural philistines, we felt that Notre Dame was good for a snap of the exterior and a cursory glance at the interior.
We failed to appreciate that Notre-Dame de Paris (meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral was consecrated to the Virgin Mary and considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. Its pioneering use of the rib vault and flying buttress, its enormous and colourful rose windows, as well as the naturalism and abundance of its sculptural decoration set it apart from the earlier Romanesque style. Major components that make Notre Dame stand out include its large historic organ and its immense church bells.
The cathedral's construction began in 1160 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and was largely complete by 1260, though it was modified frequently in the following centuries. In the 1790s, Notre-Dame suffered desecration during the French Revolution; much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. In the 19th century, the cathedral was the site of the coronation of Napoleon I and the funerals of many Presidents of the French Republic.
Popular interest in the cathedral blossomed soon after the publication, in 1831, of Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris (better known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). This led to a major restoration project between 1844 and 1864, supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The Allied liberation of Paris in 1944 was celebrated within Notre-Dame with the singing of the Magnificat. Beginning in 1963, the cathedral's façade was cleaned of centuries of soot and grime. Another cleaning and restoration project was carried out between 1991 and 2000.
The cathedral is one of the most widely recognized symbols of the city of Paris and the French nation, but we dismissed it lightly before giving similar treatment to the Louvre, giving it a cursory once over which faltered at the ticket desk when we discovered that there was a charge. The Louvre, or the Louvre Museum (French: Musée du Louvre), is the world's largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement (district or ward). Approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square meters (782,910 square feet), including the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci. A traveller staying at the Youth Hostel advised us “you need to spend 3 days in the Louvre to see everything”.
We gleaned more joy from the record shops where George increased his collection of disques from 3 to 9 albums. We stocked up for an orgiastic eating debauch in the Félix Potin supermarket that appeared to sell everything, including some super drinking yoghurt. Félix Potin opened his first shop at 28 rue Coquenard in Paris in 1844, at the age of just 24. This was followed by numerous other branches operating under the same name. In 1860, he opened the first two-level, large-area retailer on the Boulevard de Sébastopol in Paris. The following year he constructed a Félix Potin factory in La Villette, in the northern outskirts of Paris.
A glut of food and wine made us drowsy and resulted in a lazy afternoon. In the evening we visited the Gare du Nord Railway Station, one of Paris’ main train stations (there are six in total) and is conveniently located at the heart of the city, and invested in a copy of New Music Express (NME) to peruse in the worst rip-off burger joint yet. We were fleeced 2.50 French Francs for a cardboard thimble of nasty coffee.
The first Gare du Nord was built by Bridge and Roadway Engineers on behalf of the Chemin de Fer du Nord company, which was managed by Léonce Reynaud, professor of architecture at the École Polytechnique. The station was inaugurated on 14 June 1846, the same year as the launch of the Paris–Amiens–Lille rail link. Since the station was found to be too small in size, it was partially demolished in 1860 to provide space for the current station. The original station's façade was removed and transferred to Lille.
The Gare du Nord is the station for trains to Northern France and to international destinations in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom via Eurostar and the Eurotunnel. The station complex was designed by French architect Jacques Hittorff and built between 1861 and 1864.
21:00 hrs. found us back in our bedroom lazing around again with hopes of more fun tomorrow.
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