Au Revoir, Paris.
Just a short walk from my hotel room, I started my last day in Paris with a visit to Notre Dame. With no preconceived expectations, I was surprised at how big this cathedral was. It seems like everything in Paris is bigger than I imagined.
As I got closer to the cathedral there was a small garden of low shrubs filled with hundreds of birds, all sitting patiently on the top of the bushes. An older man was handing out bread crumbs to children and would encourage them to hold their hand up with the bread in the palm of their hand.
Having fed the local aviary population, I went inside the cathedral. As I approached the front doors, I could better see how beautiful the architecture was. There were rows of statues, about two stories up, completely surrounding the building. Huge stained glass windows, intricately decorated with scenes from the bible adorned the upper arches.
Once inside, everything changed. The lights were dim, voices spoke in soft whispers and there was a palpable sense of divinity. A sermon was in progress, so I quietly found a seat toward the back of the church. The sanctuary was enormous, I could barely see the man giving the sermon at the pulpit. but he was speaking into a microphone so I could clearly hear his words. I didn’t understand a word he said, but for some reason I felt it appropriate to listen awhile.
