We finally took the trip to Notre Dame today. We'd passed it tons of times but we were actually going to the top tower and inside the church. The line was kind of big and we couldn't use our museum passes to get in so we were stuck in the line. There was a street performer that was really funny. He had a mask on and he'd hide behind stuff so we could see him but pedestrians couldn't so he'd scare them. It was funny to watch the French's reaction when he jumped out, they were all completely scared. One guy yelled really loud and ran into the street. When we got in Notre Dame it was a 400 step walk to the top and a little less to the middle. The middle was neat because you could see the gothic gargoyles and grotesques. Grotesques's are the same thing as gargoyles but aren't used as drainage system's so they're just there to look good. It was really cool to see because they all sent a different message by what they were doing. We could also see the Flying Buttresses really well because we were right above them. They are the things that hold up the church. Without them the top would collapse. The view was pretty good but not nearly as good as the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. I think these are the 3 tallest things in Paris. The next thing we went to was the giant bell. We climbed up just a few wooden steps to get here. I didn't know why but one of Notre Dame's bell was ringing but this one didn't. It looked like it could because it wasn't cracked. I thought while looking at this that this bell dates back 900 years ago when Notre Dame was built. It was built by mostly citezens who knew they wouldn't live long enough to see it themselves but their (lots and lots of greats) grandchildren would. It took 200 years to build. Next we went to the top where we could get a good view of the city and the awesome architecture below us. There were tons of gargoyles at this height and statues that we could see. We only had 5 minutes at the top even though it wasn't crowded so our visit was pretty short. The next thing we did was go into the actual church where they were giving a service. It looked just like a normal church and they were roped in so no one would bother them. We walked around the whole place and saw tons of different stain glass and statues. They were all gothic architecture like in one of the sculptures it showed death (a man with just a skull) killing a sick man, or at least that's what it looked like to me because he was holding some kind of vile which I'm guessing represented poison. It was really dark in there and it looked ancient. When we were done visiting Notre Dame we went to an underground place where there was tons of old architecture. They were stones with arches, stairs, doorways, etc. It was ancient Rome! It was really cool but it was really small because not much of it survived I guess. It was here that civilization ever began in France so Notre Dame is pretty much in the middle of France.
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