What can you say about Notre Dame Cathedral
that has'nt been said before ? In nearly a
thousand years of existence everyone and his dog
has put their little bit in about Notre Dame.

I am sure that you don't want reams of
information about transepts { whatever they are }
or purple prose such as " the vibrant
forcefullness of the flying buttresses" which I
read somewhere --- anyway, you are not getting it
whether you want it or not - so I will keep the chat
to a minimum on this page and show you the
pictures so that you can judge for yourself.

There has been a lot written about The Hunchback of Notre Dame and I'm
sure just like me you have heard all the jokes but when Victor Hugo
wrote Notre Dame de Paris he was actually writing about characters who
really existed ! The trouble was that in those days if anyone mentioned the
Yeti or Bigfoot they were called a witch or a warlock and strung up at the
nearest lamp-post. Victor Hugo was smart enough to know these things
and so he made out that he was writing a novel but really he was writing
about a real creature that lived in the Bell Tower of the Cathedral and
swung from the bells each night. In these more enlightened times we can
laugh at such fears and see Hugo's book for what it really is- a vital
historical documentation of a creature now extinct !!

The picture on the right could not have been published years ago but you
are privileged to see here with the only picture in existence the living
proof that the Hunchback truly existed.

There is a plaque in the centre of the parvis of

Notre Dame. This is the geographical centre
of Paris from which all distances are
measured. The parvis itself has been witness
to many dramatic events ---none more
poignant than the trial of the last Grand
Master of the Knights Templar.

The Order of the Knights of the Temple came into being
in the year 1118 when Hugh of Payens along with nine
other knights { reputed to be the first into the Temple
after the fall of Jerusalem } asked permission of Baldwin
1 to found the order. Baldwin, who was the so-called
King of Jerusalem not only acceded to their wishes but
gave them the former Temple of Solomon as their
headquarters. The Knights were called Templars from
that time onward.

The Knights of St John were contemporaries of the
Templars and they often campaigned together but unlike
the Knights of St. John who were Hospitallers and
dedicated to healing and the welfare of pilgrims, the
Templars were totally martial and dedicated to the
repression of Islam ---armed monks who became
legendary for their fanatical courage in battle.

Over the years, the order became rich from acquisitions and
treasure gained in battle while money also poured in from
supporters throughout Europe. So that, not only did they have
acquisitions in The Holy Land, they also had holdings
throughout Europe and one of these was in central Paris,
predictably called called the Temple. The Temple no longer
exists --there is a small park on the edge of the Marais where
it used to stand { even up to 1800 it was still standing and at
one time held Louis the Sixteenth and his family }.

In its heyday, it was a Templar fortress in the centre of Paris
and so powerful and wealthy had the Templars become in
France and throughout Europe that the King Phillipe le Bel
felt threatened. Pope Clement v also had his reasons to
acquiesce in the downfall.

Jacques de Molay and Geoffroy de Charnay, the Grand
Master and his deputy stood accused on the parvis of Notre
Dame of crimes dreamed up by the King's tribunal. The
Grand Master was asked to recant --" Nous ne sommes pas
coupables " was his reply and the last Grand Master of the
Templars was burnt at the stake not far from the Cathedral
in the year 1314. There was an immediate purge of the
remaining Knights and the Order went out of existence.

It was ironic that the very same institutions that had
brought the order into existence and it had fought for
so valiantly, were the ones to bring it to its end.

The supreme irony of all is that Pope Clemence and
Phillipe le Bel were both dead at the end of the same
year.

The former confreres of the Templars, the Knights of
St. John, went on to win everlasting glory in Rhodes
and Malta. They also had properties all over Europe
{there is one in Liverpool } and they survive to this day.

The Knights of St John have a Grand Master and they
have forsaken their martial past and returned to their
Hospitaller roots. The Maltese Cross can be seen
wherever help is needed and their activities today are
more extensive than they have ever been.

The Temple -- a city within a
city.

In French ; a pilule is a pill and a pile is a battery.

The French pronounce "pill" as "peel".

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I asked the shopkeeper for a "pilule" { in fractured French}.

The shopkeeper said he did'nt sell pilules { in fractured English }.

but he did sell piles.

I said I did'nt want a pill.

So, the shopkeeper said well that's all right then.

So, I said but there are loads of pilules in the window.

And he said I thought that you did'nt want any pills ?

So, we looked in the window and I said there are hundreds of pilules

And we would still be there today if I had not mentioned the magic
word camera ----so I got a pile for my camera and the shopkeeper
got a pill for his headache.

There is no doubt that the part of Notre Dame everyone likes
best is the facade. In the picture on the left, the top arrow is
pointing to the Rose window while the lower arrow indicates
where Quasimodo first saw Esmerelda. In the picture above, a
statue of Charlemagne is in the foreground while the three
Doors in the background are as crowded as ever.

Over the three Doors are rows of statues of the Kings of Judah. During the Revolution, the
heads were removed by the mob in the belief that they were ancient Kings of France. They were
later replaced by new heads of Judaean Kings and everyone was happy until a few years ago when
the original heads were discovered buried in a yard and historians promptly stated that they may
have been Kings of France after all. So, we now have a situation where the heads of the ancient
Kings of Judah are on the bodies of the ancient kings of France and the heads of the ancient Kings
of France have no bodies at all which is no surprise really given the number of heads that were
being removed from theit bodies at that time.

The view from the bateaux
mouches is quite dramatic
especially at night.

This view is the North Rose
Window as seen from the
Seine.

One of the most neglected
parts of the Cathedral is the
small garden at the rear
where people feed the
sparrows in their lunch hour

{you must roll the bread up
very small or the birds won't
take it }.

The side away from the river is next to a block of houses in much the same way it must have been in
the Middle Ages when the Cathedral was completely surrounded by houses so it is difficult to
photograph as it is in shade most of the day. The houses are mostly ignored by tourists but it's well
worth a wander among them because they are a very few of the true Medieval houses left in Paris.
The rue Chanoinesse was a part of the Abelard and Heloise tragedy, La Colombe and La Lieutenance
are ivy covered houses with real style.

The trick in Paris is to wander off the beaten track ---I have never yet been disappointed but I'm
absolutely sure someone will write in and say they did and were.