Trip 49

January 23, 2025

We’re staying at a new hotel in Paris, but in the same general area we usually stay. The room is on the top floor, but the sleeping area is up a set of stairs and maybe it’s the attic? (no traffic noise though ). It has a small window that looks out on the buildings across from us and down into the square below.

Our plans for the day are a lunch cruise down the Seine and hopefully, Notre-Dame de Paris.

Many years ago a French friend treated us to a dinner cruise down the Seine and we decided to spring for a lunch cruise. This line, BateauxParisians leaves from a dock on the same side of the river as the Eiffel Tower. As cold as it is (and having visited the Eiffel Tower before), that’s not on the agenda while here.

Still, the obligatory photo.

We were seated with a window view

Here are some of the landmarks along the way.

Lunch was very good and the service attentive. I’d guess the boat , which can seat 550 (!) was maybe 40% full. The cruise lasted about 2 hours and took us down the river to points we hadn’t seen in years; there is quite a bit of new construction going on further out near our turnaround, not far past the Accor Arena.

While on the cruise, my wife was able to snag two tickets (they are free, but very limited) to Notre-Dame de Paris, at 7pm. We had a few hours before we needed to make our way to Notre-Dame, so we stopped at the hotel for a bit to charge up our phones.

We took the Metro to the nearest point to walk to the cathedral, crossing over the river at Pont d’Arcole to Île de la Cité (one of two natural islands in the Seine)

I won’t revisit the tragic events that nearly brought the Cathedral to complete ruin in 2019 , but the Cathedral has been under a massive restoration for the past five years and just reopened for Christmas service in December, 2024. Construction of Notre-Dame began in 1163 on Île de la Cité, under the reign of King Louis VII, and the cathedral was largely completed by 1345. Although the exterior restorations are not complete (still some cranes and scaffolding on the sides) , the reopening has allowed visitors to appreciate stunning restorations. We came to view the progress in 2022 and 2023, but the exterior was completely enclosed either with scaffolding or construction walls that obscured the work.

At 7pm (entry closes at 10pm) , it’s dark and there are two lines; one for those with reservations and those without. While I’ve read that the non-reservation lines do get in, the waiting times have been long and entry not guaranteed; our line moved pretty quickly. There are no more construction walls or scaffolding around the front portion of the Cathedral.

The immediate impression on entering is how bright and white the architecture is, no longer bearing the weight of over eight centuries of age. The paintings have been restored and are full of vibrancy and color, as if they were completed yesterday.

We spent about an hour inside, just completely in awe of the restoration work of so many craftsmen who came together to restore an international treasure. It’s mind boggling to appreciate the project management required to coordinate the removal of dangerous materials (principally lead) , prevent the total collapse after the fire, gather and preserve the precious relics, and coordinate the trades and materials necessary to restore the Cathedral to as close to its prior state as possible, in just five years. One visit won’t allow us to appreciate the “new” Notre-Dame.