Notre Dame in Crisis, Photo by Erica Simone
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Monday, December 27, 2010 • Paris, France.
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     Erica Simone, Photographer   Details from "La Belle Notre Dame"  The View from "Le Notre Dame" Fractional  "Our Lady" Herself on Christmas Eve  Kilometer Zero  Au Vieux Paris  La Seine on Christmas Eve *All photos by Erica Simone with the exception of the 1910 Flood, the view of "Le Notre Dame" Fractional and the aerial view of Kilometer Zero |
Tomorrow more rain and snow is predicted for the City of Light while New York and the Northeast U.S. is suffering the same freezing temperatures and heavy snow creating more travel havoc across the globe. I don't envy those making airline connections.
Each time the snow and rain fall, my cellar floods -- a new development that has the plumber (I brought in my best from the "quartier") and the "Syndic" (building manager) scrambling to find a solution.
On Christmas Eve Day, the three of us trekked back and forth from the cellars in building A to the cellars in building B to learn why water was dripping through the 17th-century stone into my "cave" and nowhere else. My neighbor's cellar in building B looked just like most all cellars in old Paris -- dark with a dirt floor, stone walls, vaulted ceiling (this is a special feature) and filled with old junk covered in cobwebs that will never be seen or heard of again.
Mine is exactly the opposite, since just recently a concrete floor was laid, florescent lighting installed, the stone walls cleaned and shelving placed lining the walls. Everyone jokes that it's so luxurious it could become be the next rental apartment on our Parler Paris Apartments roster for vacation stays! Meanwhile, it's a "piscine" (pool) and the things recently placed there are in danger of ruin.
One hundred and one years ago, in January 1910, the river Seine flooded Paris and is threatening to do the same now, but perhaps even worse. The river rose 26 feet above normal turning Paris into a land-locked Venice overnight. Hundreds of streets and more than 20,000 buildings were flooded. Only one person died in the city and the Seine never went fully "back to its bed" until months later. When you purchase a property in Paris, one of the evaluations made note to the buyer is whether the property is in the flood zone or not.
Until now, we all chuckled about the last great flood of 1910 and how unlikely that will ever happen again. Guess we were wrong! This morning, national news channel France 24 reported that it could easily happen again this year! That means my cellar is doomed, "n'est-ce pas?"
(If you want to learn more, visit Geraldine Kaylor's "Travel Oyster" blog at traveloyster.blogspot.com)
Christmas Eve the night was cold, but clear. My photographer daughter and I first made a stop at "La Belle Notre Dame" -- a REAL new apartment on the Parler Paris Apartments roster a stone's throw from "Le Cathédrale de Notre Dame" on the Ile de la Cité. She was assigned to take photos of the newly renovated two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment for use on new Web sites (to be launched soon). Designed and decorated by Martine di Matteo, with the mosaic artistry of Véronique Husson, and artworks by Pascal Amblard, the colorful "pied-à-terre" is both pure fantasy and heaven for either a visitor or longer-term resident.
No doubt, everyone will wonder about the significance of the Roman numerals embedded in tile in a few key locations in the apartment: MCLXIII (1163). The story goes that "to begin the construction, the bishop had several houses demolished and had a new road built in order to transport materials for the rest of the cathedral. Construction began in 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, and opinion differs as to whether Sully or Pope Alexander III laid the foundation stone of the cathedral. However, both were at the ceremony in question. Bishop de Sully went on to devote most of his life and wealth to the cathedral's construction. Construction of the choir took from 1163 until around 1177 and the new High Altar was consecrated in 1182." (Wikipedia.org)
After the photo session, we had dinner and spent a relaxing evening with a friend who lives on rue Chanoinesse in an ancient building (at least 17th-century if not older) that has a fireplace and a perfect view of the towers of Notre Dame. He owns and manages several apartments on the 'island,' one of which is a "fractional" property, appropriately named "Le Notre Dame," which also has a beautiful view of the cathedral and which still has a few shares left for the taking. (For those of you interested, visit:
frenchproperty/fractional/pfo/lenotredame)
At 11 p.m. we made our way over to "Kilometer Zero" -- the point from which all distances in France are measured, right in front of Notre Dame. There is a marker on the square denoting the official center of France (N 48.85340 E 2.34880) on which you can stand. The line formed to enter Notre Dame to hear the choir and partake in the Midnight Mass was as long as is the "parvis" (courtyard), so we opted out of the wait in lieu of warmth in front of the fire.
On Christmas Day, we did exactly what you would expect -- we took in a movie ("The Tourist") at the UGC Ciné Cité Les Halles and went to our favorite Chinese restaurant in Belleville (Lao Siam).
RottenTomatoes.com gives The Tourist a 20% rating and a bad review -- "slow, muddled plot, or the lack of chemistry between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie" -- but we loved it. Angelina Jolie is simply as "jolie" as it gets (all you women will covet her wardrobe and her body!) and we all love Johnny Depp, even in such nutty roles as "Edward Scissorhands" (I saw it last night on TV).
Lao Siam still wins our award as best Asian in Paris. It might not actually be that, but it's just one of those restaurants that settles in to your habit like an old friend. Located on rue de Belleville in what is the second largest Asian community (number 49, 19th arrondissement, phone 01.40.40.09.68), it offers a long list of dishes from several different Asian countries (China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam...) and is inexpensive and consistently delicious. After 16 years of regular visits there, we have come to know every dish on the menu and order without looking at it. It was packed with diners just like us...naturally.
A la prochaine...
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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P.S. Tomorrow we are traveling to Alsace to visit Strasbourg and environs from where I will be writing Wednesday's Parler Paris. Stay tuned!
P.P.S. I just got word that our 'cool & comfy' studio in New York’s West Village (with a perfect view of the Empire State Building) is available for vacation rental January 8th through January 17th. Located in the heart of the chicest 'hood' in the city, it's ideal for any two travelers and two-thirds the price of the least expensive hotel in the Big Apple. $175/night, $1000/week. Four night minimum, a 50% deposit reserves your stay. For your reservations requests, email: erica1111@gmail.com
