Peter Jones: On That Day in Paris

Early in the day on Monday, April 15^th, I had been visiting groups and snapping pictures around Notre Dame.  It was a lovely day and the cathedral was as beautiful as ever.  The crowds were out in full force and the line to the cathedral entrance was as usual snaking its way across the square.  Everyone was in good spirits.  The air was cool but the sun was shining.  It felt like spring.

Before that, I had walked down from the Luxembourg Gardens.  People were playing tennis and the spring plantings of colorful flowers was breathtaking against the backdrop of the Palace. After lunch I had grabbed an electric scooter from Lime. I sailed across town and had one of the greatest rides around Paris. She had never looked better.

That evening I was with a lovely school group who were interested in fashion.  I marched them through Bon Marche to scope out all the top designer names.  I’ve never taken a group through there before…and probably never will again, but it was a trip!  The faces on the chic and wealthy clientele were quite amusing.  But then we came out of the store and saw the smoke in the sky.

We were over in the left bank near St Germain which is when I got a notification on my phone.  Notre Dame was on fire.   At first, I thought they were speaking about the Indiana school, Notre Dame University.   And then another beep on my iPhone, then the kids got them too, and suddenly social media took over and we all realized that “the” Notre Dame, Notre Dame de Paris, was really on fire and that smoke in the sky was coming from the cathedral.  It was serious.

We walked to a crepe place in Montparnasse and in every bar the TVs were turned on to the news.  The smoke was pouring into the evening sky.  The fire was out of control.  The noise of the fire trucks was everywhere.  The city literally froze and was transfixed.  We went up to the Montparnasse tower to get a look.  It was heart wrenching.  In the near distance a huge fire with flames soaring into the night sky in the center of the city.  It was tragic.   But with just a turn of the head, Paris was glittering and was stunning (as it always is) as I looked west toward the beautiful Eiffel Tower.

Later I headed down to the end of the Boulevard St. Michel where a huge crowd had gathered.  The police had cordoned off the access point to the cathedral, but you could see the north and south towers clearly.  Still the glow of a fire was evident.  It was after midnight by this time as the crowd began singing a beautiful prayer.  A fire truck came rolling out, the crew exhausted, and the crowd cheered.  Les pompiers.  They saved the north tower and risked their lives.  And in all of this I realized that Paris had experienced a beautiful moment wrapped in tragedy.  They had come together very humbly and sang together and were respectful.  You saw the power of this old lady of Paris; 900 years and not going away.

I hung out for a while to watch.  The towers were in the distance but the spire and most of the beautiful interior that I had walked around earlier was long gone.  Thankfully, nobody had died, and all of our groups were safe.  Soon the reconstruction will begin.  The foundations and the shell of the cathedral had been preserved.  The towers are still there – not sparkling white as they were in the morning sun but strong and resolute.  The bateaux will pass by along the Seine as they do every day and night and we will all remember it as it was.  Notre Dame de Paris.

In the meantime, Paris will have its fair share of monuments to see.  Travelers will keep on traveling and slowly we will be witness to a rebirth of this great lady of Paris.  Travel changes lives.