11th Sept- Paris-Of Notre Dame n Latin Quarter

The morning emerged with the relentless question-"Do Romanians not like taking a shower?" In the 3 days that we'd been at our hostel room, not once had I actually seen them head towards the shower-combine that with the assault on the sense of smell and the answer seemed astonishingly simple. The solution was not-we just sprayed some perfume in the air and got on with the explorer's life.

The day was to be devoted to Notre Dame and then the Latin Quarter-the original "cool" place.
Taking the audio guide at ND chapel was such a waste-all the information is available in English and it was one place where the guide was a bit of a distraction rather than an invaluable aid.

The tour up the tower though, is highly recommended. The cost of the uber scenic view of Paris is 400 steps or thereabouts-not ready currency with the faint hearted! What was really persuasive to my 26 yr old legs was the sight of people 3 times my age mocking my stamina and marching on-Such josh machines, those oldies!

Got to discover loads of fun facts-e.g. all religious bells are baptized-thought it was a rather sweet tradition. Naming inanimate things just makes it better, yes? 'Met' Emmanuel: the largest bell of 'em all- it was earlier rung by bell ringers, but is now set in motion by the electric motor, that too on major occasions only.

Awesome crepes and gelato later, we walked towards the Pantheon (the fake French version-we did see the real thing in Rome). It was completed in 1789 and remained a church only for 2 yrs-post which it was seized by the Revolutionaries. Now these Revolutionaries-they were anti-Catholics and because they were proponents of an extreme ideology-they did take things to the extreme. Burnt bodies of saints; converted churches into civil offices; even beheaded the gods on the facade of the Pantheon! (many of the heads are now either in the Middle ages museum/Musee de Cluny). Today's Pantheon serves as the final resting place for some great and glorious people (Mdm Curie's buried there!) and well, you have to be really great and really French to find a berth with the other exalted ones. Pity not too many are making the cut these days-dont make 'em like they used to!

Janine was our Latin Quarter Walk guide-the tour's absolutely worth it at 12 euros-nuggets of trivia, exploring the place by foot, lovely weather-all added up rather well.Highlights of the Latin Quarter walk:

- The first and the most prestigious high school in France.
- The Chapelle next door (no its not called that-just dont remember its name, but do remember where its located)-famous for two reasons-a) its the only church with the stone rudeway left (a structure that divides the worshippers and the priests) and b) it stores a Saint's finger-the only part which somehow escaped the rowdy revolutionaries who burnt her body and threw it in the river. Such idiots!

-Mitterand's house: no. 22, if you please: he lived in a narrow gully!

- Oldest church in Paris (11th century i think)

- Oldest tree in Paris (1602)

- Shakespeare & Co-the English book store started by an Englishman called Mr. Beech, who also rented out the rooms above to aspiring writers- this was a regular Hemingway haunt.

- Place St. Michel

- the fruits and veg market (operates on 4 days of the week-Tue, Thurs, Sat, Sun)-not so much of an 'attraction' for the desis-but well, everything in Paris gets a coat of mystique and finesse-even a subzi mandi.

- Lots of eateries: Greek, Mid-Eastern, Indian and yeah...a bit of French and Italian too.

- The original jazz place: served as a hiding place for Free Masons!

- Sorbonne University, which actually started as a theological school-but surprise, surprise-it changed its positioning after the Revolution. Smart thing, that.

- Luxembourg Gardens: Beautiful and majestic-overlooking the Senate. The lady (hehe..forgot her name too) who ordered the construction, never really got to stay here-her son sent her on an exile to Germany! No respect, I tell you!

Two bits of trivia which I feel compelled to share:

-Most avenues in the Latin Quarter are named thus: Rue de "____"- the blank is filled by a profession, coz this is how the residences were organized and recognized...so there was one avenue for scribes (people had to go to them for all things to do with the written word- illiteracy was rampant), another for butchers and so on. I found this quite fascinating- using profession as a variable of organizing society isn't just one Ancient Indian whim then! Silliness is pervasive and as ancient as society itself. How gratifying.

- Notre Dame was cleaned in 2000, with lasers! and as proof of how dirty it had become, they've left the middle tower out-so the poor, not-so-little-thing stands tall and ashamed, showing the visitors the surrounding soot-less towers, silently begging to be revealed for what it really is.

To be continued.....(the evening was the most memorable one in Paris, and perhaps in the entire trip-just have to give it the privilege of undivided blogspace-sure G would agree.)

ps- if any of the facts stated above are found to be wrong, you know who to blame- Janine, of course! :)