Notre Dame, another signature Paris sight.  This middle Gothic Cathedral is among one of the most famous in the world.  Erected to honor the virgin Mary (Our Lady), it is close to eight hundred years old.  It’s the setting of Victor Hugo’s famous book, Notre Dame de Paris.  We might know it by it’s Disney movie name… The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  The cool thing about that is that Victor Hugo probably saved Notre Dame from decay.  His novel sparked a widespread nationalistic pride that began restoration of the Cathedral.  The cathedral has a very nice treasury, filled with golden objects and reliquaries.  The inside would have had an austere peacefulness but for the hundreds of chattering tourists that gave me a headache…  Normally most cathedrals that I’ve been in have allowed me to reflect and relax, but not Notre Dame.  The architecture really is quite amazing, inasmuch it uses the flying butress to make the use of stained glass windows a reality.  There’s only one of the original windows left, the other two large ones were bombed out.  The tympanum over the western portal depicts the last judgement, obviously a far cry from the sculptures of the renaissance but quite elaborate and detailed for its time.  At one point it housed many bells, but the big one is still there for tourists to see.  It’s quite interesting, the towers, because they have internal wooden framework because the bells would crack solid stone.  All in all this is a remarkable World Heritage and French Heritage site.  Completely worth a visit despite the insane crowds.