“Paris is the starting point of success,” wrote Victor Hugo way back in 1867. His words were intended for the attendees of the Exposition Universelle that very same year, but for us they ring as true as the day they were written. This trip has confirmed for our family what we have known for the last few years, that Europe (if not Paris) is where we are most comfortable.
The streets of Paris and London and Rome inspire us. They challenge us, educate us and fill us with awe and respect. Yesterday we entered Sacre-Couer, the stunning cathedral built in the 1870s on the Montmatre hill with its views over all of Paris. We sat in silence in the pews feeling as small as we were and after a while I looked at Jen. She appeared to have found some sort of inner peace, as if she had re-discovered a long-dormant faith or had perhaps experienced a divine intervention. I asked what she was thinking. “You know that denim skirt I bought in London,” she responded. “How do you think it’d look with the long socks I bought in Paris and the boots I bought in Rome?”
It was a spectacular combination, I admitted,
Today we visited the cathedral of Notre Dame, built between 1163 and 1334 (I wonder what Sarah Beeny would have to say about that – “The build came in over 140 years late and waaay over budget…”). We climbed the many, many stairs to the top for yet another magical view over this fairy-tale city.
On the way up, and up, and up…
Funny faces atop Notre Dame (with a vague Eiffel Tower in the background)
When we returned to the ground floor we took our place in the pews, then for Sam’s sake lit a candle and told him to make a wish. We’ve lit many a flame with Sam many times in many cathedrals around the globe and his wish has always involved a toy connected with a show he is currently watching (“I wish for a Ben 10 omnitrix!” or “I wish for a Night Fury dragon”). But this time he said, “I wish the Notre Dame was next to where I live”.
If this cathedral was to move next to our house we figure at least one of our neighbours, Bruce & Van or Cookie & Jennifer, would be a little annoyed. Many neighbouring families would also be upset that they no longer had anywhere to park their Ford Falcon XR-6s (complete with spoilers, metallic paint jobs and chrome trims). So it’s not really practical to move the Notre Dame cathedral next to where we live, but maybe one day it will be a little more practical to move where-we-live a lot closer to the Notre Dame. One day. That’s a big wish, Sambo. Maybe let’s get the small matter of your schooling out of the way, first…
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