On the afternoon that I got to Paris, we walked around and ended up in front of Notre Dame as I wanted to photograph it before sundown. Now that it has been cleaned, the stone appears to be much lighter and the carved figures are a lot more visible.
As it happens we witnessed the end of a service (a Messe Chrismale) with a long procession of priests and bishops exiting the cathedral.
We were intrigued enough to return the next day to attend another ceremony: holy thursday. The gospel was sung rather than told, but that did not make it any easier to understand. It was about the washing of the feet and I expect they performed it on each other but we left before the end. Visiting such a large and usually dark church during a celebration, ablaze in lights and music made it a lot more interesting and easier to imagine what it must have been like in the past.
As we walked away, I took one last photograph of its side…
Not far from there, along the river banks we came upon a film being shot. There was a body, policemen, a couple of divers, an ambulance and lots of people just standing there as there always are on movie sets.
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Next we went to a charming little restaurant where I tasted the most original version of the warm goat cheese salad, I have ever had (and I have tasted many). It consisted of a slice of goat cheese, over a piece of ginger bread, and topped with a poached pear. The whole thing had been briefly broiled. It was served as usual with a nice salad. I suspect this one had raspberry vinegar in it or some other fruit flavored ingredient. It was out of this world. The main course, the dessert and especially the wine were just as interesting and tasty.
After dinner we stopped at a very unusual bar. It had an unbelievable spiral staircase. You could not help but touch it as it seemed to be made of leather…the ironwork was like lace…
