Notre Dame

Notre-Dame

We cross the garden behind Notre-Dame and at its backboard side. From this side we have the closest view of the cathedral.

We see clearly the extensive system of flying buttresses supporting the walls. They are one of the main characteristics of Gothic churches. We also see the front of the transept with an enormous rose window, also spires and dragons, all typically Gothic.

When we come to the west front of the church it rises in all its majesty, with magnificent pointed arches over the portals, a row of kings’ statues, a rose window of nine meters in diameter and finally two massive and spireless towers which reach 70 meters in height.

The biggest bell in the south tower weighs 13 tons and its clapper half a ton. Travellers who want to enjoy the view from the tower can take the stairs.

Notre Dame interior

We enter the Notre Dame.

It can take 9000 worshippers at the same time. It has a crucifix plan with very short transepts. It is 31 meters high on the inside, with lon
g, Gothic windows. It is completely surrounded by chapels nestling between the buttresses. In the transept there is a rose window on each side. An enormous chancel with an altar and an ambulatory is in the far end.

Notre-Dame is an historical landmark of architecture, a show-piece of the early Gothic. It was built in 1163-1345. All the time the original plans were faithfully used. Therefore, it has a consistent style and became the model for French cathedrals. Thus, it was dominant in spreading the Gothic style all over France and also had influence on similar cathedrals in Britain.

Today most of church is original, including the glass in the rose window on the west front. And what has been renovated has been done in the original style. The church itself and the square in front of it have for eight centuries been the focal point of Paris and France.

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Notre Dame seen from Quai d’Orléans

Quai d’Orléans

When we arrive at the other end of the street we first observe Notre-Dame which lies open before our eyes on the far side of Pont Saint-Louis. We  turn right and walk along the river bank around the whole island.

We first stop at the bend of Quai de Bourbon and enjoy the downriver view. Then we continue along Quai d’Anjou where some of the finest mansions are, such as Hôtel de Lauzon at no. 17 and Hôtel Lambert at no. 1. In French hôtel means a town mansion and not necessarily a guest house or hotel. We turn again over Pont de Sully over to Quai de Béthune and then Quai d’Orléans.

Here one can often see sunbathers and anglers on the lower bank below the street level when the weather is fine. On the bend of Quai d’Orléans there is a splendid view through the foliage of the trees to the back of Notre-Dame which many find to be at its most beautiful from this direction.

Rue des Ursins

Next we turn left over Pont Saint-Louis to Ile de la Cité. First we ignore Notre-Dame and turn right along Quai aux Fleurs. Soon we turn left down steps to Rue des Ursins.

It runs parallel to the bank. We are down at the original level of the island and in a medieval aura from the 11th and 12th C. Such was the island before city planner Haussmann overthrew everything on behalf of Napoleon III. We walk the narrow street to the end.

Then we turn left into Rue de la Colombe and then again to the left into Rue Chanoinesse. These streets constitute the ancient quarter of monasteries. 

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Rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Île

We walk from the Pont de Sully bridge to its intersection with Rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile, where our walk really begins.

An elegant house on Rue Saint-Louis-en-l’Île

The street with the long name is the backbone of the island, the only street that goes through it lengthwise. It is full of tiny and ench
anting speciality shops, interspersed with restaurants and hotels. The specialization of the shops is so far developed that there are no general butchers, only special beef shops, fowl shops, pork shops and sausage shops.

It is fascinating to observe how the street flows with pedestrians all day long. In the morning it is a world in itself, when the locals go from shop to shop to assemble their lunches and dinners before the tourists take over the scene. Some of the establishments in the street are mentioned elsewhere in this database.

There is also the church which has given its name to the island and the street, Saint-Louis, built 1664-1726, with an interior in decorous Jesuit style by Le Vau, consecrated to Louis IX

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Grand Véfour, restaurant

Cuisine

French restaurants are the best in the world. The range and variety of French cooking is astounding. France is very rich in agricultural resources. There is a tradition of passion for cooking. Parisians love to eat out and to discuss cuisine and chefs, as others might discuss politics and politicians. Celebrated chefs are considered national monuments.

Western European and North American cooking is mainly derived from the French. The nearest rival to French cooking is Japanese cooking. In the last decades French chefs have emphasized their lead by inventing Nouvelle Cuisine, a light and lean version of the classic French cuisine, but more in line with modern considerations on health.

The last decade of the 20th Century has seen a resurgence in Cuisine de Terroir, earthy farmhouse cooking, partly as a counterweight to Nouvelle Cuisine and partly an evolution of farmhouse cooking under Nouvelle Cuisine influence.

Pharamond, restaurant,

Eating habits

The French do not eat much in the morning. They may have a café latte and croissants at the corner café. Lunch often starts at 13 and dinner at 20:30. Both lunch and dinner are hot meals and are equally important. The French like delicate food and consume it with due reverence.

Few French have drinks before eating as it spoils the palate. They are also careful with the wine and some only drink water. In good restaurants most people have bottled water though, l’eau minerale, often with gas, gaseuse.

Nouvelle Cuisine

French chefs have emphasized their position as the world leaders by inventing Nouvelle Cuisine, a light and lean version of the rich and classic French cuisine, but more in line with modern considerations on health.

The main rules of Nouvelle Cuisine are as follows:

Raw materials are fresh, chosen according to the season, preferably not from the freezer and definitely not out of tins. Emphasis is put on seafood and vegetables. Cooking times are shortened to conserve the taste and ingredients of the food. Precooking and reheating are abolished. Flour in sauces and soups is written off in favour of fumets and blenderized vegetables which are lighter on the stomach. Fats are used sparingly, pan-frying has decreased and deep-frying almost disappeared.

Wine

French wine is absolutely the best in the world and priced accordingly. But the general quality is so high, that even the house wines are excellent. The French don’t drink plonk. The best French wine is graded in complicated ways which vary betwewaen regions, Bordeaux and Burgundy wines generally fetching the highest prices.

Now we start the Paris walks.

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Notre Dame

Sights

Paris is the most beautiful metropolis in the world, crammed with famous churches and palaces, squares and avenues. Its centre is the largest tourist city in the world. There are five kilometres as the crow flies from Arc d’Triomphe to Notre Dame and from Montmartre to Montparnasse. In no city centre has the traveller more things to cover.

Not only does the city boast of centuries of basilicas and mansions, plazas and boulevards. It also excels in the necessities of life for travellers. Nowhere is a greater conglomeration of excellent restaurants and hotels, some of them even at a reasonable price. It is based on the natural culinary artistry and architectural taste of the Parisians.

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Champs-Elysées

Life

Paris is the city of elegance and style. People conduct themselves in the streets as kings and queens. Elegance is everywhere, from hotel and restaurant decoration to everyday clothing. What would be considered casual elsewhere would be considered shabby and vulgar in Paris. The clean and efficient and stylish Metro is a symbol of the classy status of Parisians.

Parisians consider themselves to be citizens, discussing politics, design and cuisine as eloquently as ancient Roman orators, balancing the abandon of the south and the restraint of the north. They are proud and self-sufficient, and consider themselves to be equal to anybody, including kings and popes. On foreigners this often wrongly translates as haughtiness.

Paris is a lively city of liberal inhabitants. Its nightclubs are world leaders. Its vibrant pavement cafés constantly evoke fond memories in the minds of visitors to Paris. The home team and visitors hang around in cafés, squares and streets to kill time and observe fellow humans. Champs-Élysées and the boulevards Saint-Michel and Saint-Germain are the main centres.

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