After a long night’s rest, I finally went out the door for an afternoon in the 2nd Arrondissement, the Latin Quarter, and Notre Dame Cathedral.  Taking the bus to get an above-ground introduction to Paris, the #86 dropped me off a few streets away.  I crossed my first Paris bridge to Notre Dame.  Finding Point Zero, the exact center of Paris marked in the plaza 30 metres from the door, I studied the detailed facade.  I entered the cathedral with a line of other visitors and took in the vast nave, sanctuary, stained glass all around, and the grandness of its 9 centuries old beauty.  I visited each side chapel, one by one, and then seated myself for time to reflect.  Before I knew it, Vespers began, then mass.  What a day to visit: the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux, of the Little Flower, October 1.  When mass concluded, the congregation, the last souls in the building, exited the north doors below the famous and last original stained glass of the Rose Window.

Evening then, I roamed the streets back on the Left Bank and visited Shakespeare & Company, of course!

View from Petit Pont

Point Zero

Notre Dame at night