Worth the climb!

Saturday
It was late morning when we caught the train up to Paris, since Laura needed to get some work done for her course, and Roger had a church meeting earlier in the morning. Although we have visited Notre Dame a couple of times in the last 18 months (more if you count the several organ recitals we have been to), we had not been up the towers since our last stay in France many years ago. So we decided to remedy that today. Even this early in the season there was still a lengthy wait to go up - about an hour - then the climb up to the top is about 330 steps, however I found it worth the effort, both for the views, but perhaps especially for a close up view of the amazing carved figures decorating the chimera gallery part of the way up. Many people refer to these figures as gargoyles, but strictly speaking that is incorrect, since the term gargoyle refers to a carved figure used to divert water away from the stonework of the building. The figures such as the one depicted in my blip are purely for decoration and are properly referred to as "chimeras". Another term sometimes used is grotesques, which can apply to either gargoyles or chimeras. In relation to the cathedral itself, these chimeras are a relatively recent addition, having been added in the mid 19th century by the architect Viollet le Duc as part of the cathedrals restoration after the revolution. Having finished admiring the sculptures and the views, and returned to ground level, we bought ourselves some sandwiches and sat and ate them in the garden behind the cathedral. Whilst not quite as warm as yesterday, since there was more cloud cover and a little more wind, the temperatures were still pleasant.
We then took the metro to the famous Père Lachaise cemetery, which I have been wanting to get to for a while. It is the final resting place of many celebrity figures, including Frederic Chopin, Edith Piaff, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison of The Doors and Marcel Proust amongst others. By the time we got there the skies were clearing and it was a beautiful late afternoon. Unfortunately the place closed at 5.30, though we would have needed to leave soon after anyway since we had to head back to the river, and get an early dinner before going to another organ recital at Notre Dame.