Cathedral bells do not ring in France between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday. The children in France believe that all of the cathedral bells fly away to Rome on Thursday to be blessed by the Pope, and that when they return on Sunday, they will bring back chocolates for the children.
At 12 am on Easter morning, we awoke to the sound of cathedral bells cascading down the streets. They rang for what seemed like five minutes. Though we were tired, it was beautiful and jubilant. What a delightful way to ring in Easter Sunday.
This was the view from our hotel room.
As you can see, we had a front row seat for the midnight festivities. We could hear not only the bells from this church, but also the bells from Notre Dame, which was just down the street.
The bells did not forget my children in their flight. They must have received word that there would be a few extra children on their route this Easter.
Here are Punch and Judy in GJ and Papa's apartment on the rue de Bievre. (As you can see, my camera did not enjoy the lighting in the apartment).
This is the corner window overlooking the street in GJ and Papa's apartment. If you hung out the window and looked to the right, you could just see Notre Dame cathedral.
After we ate and got settled, we went out to explore Paris a bit. We walked down the Siene to Notre Dame and then followed the river on the other side, past the Louvre to the Tuileries.
Notre Dame...
A view of the cathedral from behind the stalls.
As you can see, we visited at just the right time. All of the flowering trees were in full bloom.
There was a massive line of people outside, waiting to go inside the cathedral.
While we were standing in front of Notre Dame, admiring and taking photos, we noticed a man feeding the birds. Mr. MacGyver took a video of the show.
He would hold out food and the birds would swarm and hover around him, eating from his hand.
On the other side of the Louvre from Notre Dame is a large public garden -- the Tuileries Garden -- that was created by Catherine de Medicis in 1564 as the garden to the Tuileries Palace. It was opened to the public in 1667 and became a public garden after the French Revolution. After enjoying the flight of the birds at Notre Dame, we walked down the Siene, past the Louvre, to the Tuileries.
This carrousel, found on the grounds of the Tuileries, was built to celebrate the victories of Napolean.
This is a statue erected to the memory of Charles Perrault.
Charles Perrault (12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was a French author and member of the Académie française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known of his tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Le Chat Botté (Puss in Boots) and La Barbe bleue (Bluebeard).[1] Many of Perrault's stories were rewritten by the Brothers Grimm, continue to be printed and have been adapted to opera, ballet (such as Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty), theatre, and film (Disney). (Wikipedia)
Being a lover of children's stories, I was delighted to find this statue.
Mr. MacGyver was taken by a statue of a different nature.
As was Punch...
More gardens...
At the other end of the garden, is a view of the Eiffel tower. Judy and I had our photo taken here when we visited Paris in 1997 (Judy was only 6 months old). We repeated the photo this trip as well, but alas, it was taken on a camera other than mine. So I will put out a plea for that photo and perhaps I can add it later for you to enjoy.
After our long walk we were hungry, so we stopped for dinner...
...during which Punch tried, and enjoyed escargot. Cooked in garlic and butter, who wouldn't like it.
I kept meaning to get my hands on a map of Paris and record how much ground we covered each day because we walked our feet off everytime we walked out the door. Battle scars you know.
That is it for Easter Sunday in Paris...on to the Eiffel Tower tomorrow.
