The early morning wake-up call (ok, it was only 7:45am) was worth it because today we got to climb the steps to the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral bell tower.
We left the apartment, got some excellent pain au chocolat and headed across the bridge to wait. We had to wait about an hour plus, but the weather cooled down drastically to 75 degrees or so, so it was pleasant.
The only people ahead of us were another group of Americans (one of whom lives in Greece the other three being some kind of relation of hers and hailing from the Chicago area), and one guy who lives in America but was from Panama originally. How did we find out this much about them? They had a lot to say. We sat quietly so as to not be invited to discuss the topics at hand (mostly complaints about what they didn't like about Europeans) and listened.
In the end, my snarky attitude should be put in check, because when the door opened it said we needed exact change (8 Euros for me, free for little missy). I was short by 50 centimes. The woman heard this and gave it to me. So, I take back some of my opinionated remarks, but only some.
The stairs are stone and very narrow and curvy. The first stop is a forced layover in the small gift shop for 5 minutes. Since we were in the first group to go up, it seemed silly, but they do it to stage the number of people up on the parapet at any given time. Next up, the first panaromic viewing level. Absolutely amazing!
There was a tiny wood door (which even Isabella had to bend down to get through) that led into the original bell tower. Wood stairs led up to the bell. Think "High Anxiety" (ok, "Vertigo" for you movie snobs) and you'll get a good idea of the kind of structure we were in.
I am very afraid of heights, but Isabella usually isnt. She had a really hard time up there, got very shaky, but was determined to do all of it. In the end, I had to help her, thus, was unable to be afraid myself, so it worked out well for me to be able to finally experience some high flying sites. She was amazed by all of it, it was just hard for her.
Next up, the top level, which I think was somewhere in the neighborhood of 400+ steps up from ground level. There are passageways that everyone has to go through that I had to turn flat to fit through. I was unclear of how the general non-shorty population was making their way through, but everyone did.
Overall, it was amazing to see the interior workings of the tower, and the views of the city. There was some cool grafitti up there, too, check out the flickr stream for today to see some of it.
Form up high, we spotted a promising looking brasserie, so as soon as we dizzily hit ground level, we headed across to it.
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