My touchstone is burning
Everyday I pass Notre Dame 2, 3 times.
Notre Dame early morning when the Seine is like glass
C'est un incontournable
If you come to Paris, you come to Notre Dame.
Such skies like I've never seen before
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Thanks for posting. It was you I thought of first when I heard the news.
ReplyDeleteMe, too, says Caterina B. I am sick with sorrow. I believe you could actually see the cathedral from your apartment??
DeleteBeyond words. The thought of the loss....
ReplyDeletejoel todd
difficult to absorb the loss
ReplyDeleteSo deeply sad......my heart goes out to you, Paris, and all of us in the world who love Notre Dame. Since you are a neighbor to Notre Dame I thought of you at once. ❤️
ReplyDeleteSo sad
ReplyDeleteCarol is unthinkable! I can't watch the videos. I can't imagine how it must be for you and those there to witness this descruction. There are no words for the pain. Thank you for sharing your beautiful images. Our memories will be treasures.
ReplyDeleteI thought of you right away.We went there the same day I went to you and you were not home.
ReplyDeleteI cried this afternoon.
Montreal is saddened ..the world is saddened.
Carol, stay safe - you're so close. It's a terrible loss for the City and the world. We're all mourning.
ReplyDeleteI also thought immediatly of you. Thanks for posting this. I have no other words, just glad to know you are safe
ReplyDeleteCarol I was frantic-looking at your facebook and insta accounts-I was thinking of you and how I love your evening shots of the this beautiful monument - I embrace you from across the Atlantic.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful hommage Carol <3 It was your precious neighbour and the treasure of Paris. It looks the firemen have the fire under control now and I hope it will be possible to restore Notre Dame even though it will not look any close as the original. But we were lucky to have seen it and enjoyed every single moment <3 <3 <3
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Solli ❤️
DeleteNotre Dame will rise again 🙏🏻❤️
I'm glad you are OK, I was worried about you. I'm so sad I won't ever see that wonderful cathedral again. It was do beautiful any time of day or night.
ReplyDeleteso very sad….terrible loss...
ReplyDeleteI thought of you immediately, too, when the news flashed across the TV screen. Impossible to believe that the jewel of Paris was on fire, Solace to all who are saddened by this tragedy.
ReplyDeleteCarolH.
I also thought of you there. So very sad!
ReplyDeleteI have been in tears all day and my thoughts have been of you & many others in Paris now. It is hard to imagine Paris without Our Lady.
ReplyDeletePARIS IS NOT WITHOUT OUR LADY !!!!
DeleteMOTRE DAME WILL BE REBUILT as it has in the past...in the 1800s with VICTOR HUGO AND VIOLLET-LE-DUC. Please do a little research PBers. PLEASE❤️
Ahem...naturally I meant Notre Dame...not Motre etc..😳
DeleteHeartbreak. Shock...It is perhaps the most moving manmade structure I've ever been in...
ReplyDeleteCarol thought of you--so heartbreaking--I am weeping
ReplyDeleteCarol, I am looking at your watercolor of Notre Dame and cry.
ReplyDeleteThis is so terribly sad. I just watched the scenes of people singing hymns as they battled the fire and it is just heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteI'm very glad that it is safe now, and that so many people are planning on pitching in to rebuild.
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words.
ReplyDeleteI am convinced It will be rebuilt. It was in a terrible state. Pollution has eaten away at the stones...ND held together with spit and glue more or less.
Now the whole world will step in hopefully. ❤️
XXXX
Hello from Seattle—
ReplyDeleteA student came to my writing studio today to tell me that Notre Dame was burning and it was the longest two-hour session of my life because I couldn’t keep my mind on her work. As soon as she left, I watched the news and burst into tears.
I’ve never been to Notre Dame, though I’ve wanted to see it since I was in my freshman French class 30 odd years ago. I always assumed one day I would, though because my French is so horrible I’ve really only let myself visit countries where English is the primary language, and my interest in Irish literature keeps landing me there instead of France. Even now, I’m not sure when I was weeping earlier today because of the history that was burning up with those timbers, because when something beautiful is destroyed it is physically painful to me, or because I missed seeing it in all of its original decrepit splendor.
After I was done feeling sorry for myself, I then thought of you. Later, I would think of Madame Rutkowski, my French teacher in high school who I did not like at all but who I recognize now was a wonderful teacher who gave me a love of French history and a particular interest in Paris. Then even later, I’d remember a kid I knew in junior high who is an ex-pat in Paris now doing something that seems important on Facebook at Château de la Muette (I’m unclear on the details). But first, it was you, which is an odd thing to say about someone I’ve never met. I’ve been reading your blog for years now, and my mother—who is in Indiana—and I regular talk about whether or not the other has seen the latest Paris Breakfasts and we talk about your adventures and your art.
Anyhow, I am sorry for your loss. And thank you for rekindling my love of the idea of Paris, though I’m sure that’s what made the news today seem extra sad.
Love this !!❤️❤️❤️
DeleteThanks so much for another year of Paris maps. I am mourning with you as we watch the news this morning from Notre Dame. Take good care, my thoughts are with you.
ReplyDeleteI can’t imagine how you feel. My thoughts are jumbled, scattered, moving from one idea of how tragic this is, to another. It is where I go first thing, almost always, when I arrive in Paris. It is my church when I am there, where I go to worship. It is where my partner and I exchanged rings, in the park behind the cathedral. I can’t even say I feel broken hearted, just numb. Sort of like when my father died.
ReplyDeleteMy heart breaks for you, the folks who live near there, the shop keepers, the musicians (street and not) and clergy and all the others who cherish this beautiful, monument to faith and history. Keep your chin up!
Carol, Do you have a watercolor card that you have painted of Notre Dame? [Also, just a thought, if you did have one and sold it perhaps you (we) could raise money for the restoration/rebuilding.]
ReplyDeletelouvregirl
I am planning something Louvre girl 😄🎨
DeleteI have to finish the APRIL PARIS MAP FIRST !!!!🙏🏻🤞🏼❤️
Dear Lourvegirl,
DeleteIsnt it better to just give without expecting somehing in return?
I will donate to this charity for Notre Dame I found on the Guardian site:
A Call for donations to help rebuild Our Lady of Paris, Notre-Dame cathedral, after the brutal fire that has partly destroyed it. 🙏
The Fondation du patrimoine is a private organization dedicated to saving french cultural and natural heritage.
➡https://don.fondation-patrimoine.org/SauvonsNotreDame/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2019/apr/15/notre-dame-cathedral-fire-paris-france-landmark-live-news?page=with%3Ablock-5cb50d688f08ce46f07f00ac
SOMETHING, will I ever learn to spell? 😳😳😳
DeleteCarol, thanks so much for your responses. Just checking back now. I have visited Paris (in 1988) and did learn French (as a young woman.) Sadly, I did not visit Notre Dame Cathedral when I was there....
DeleteWe read over all typos!!!! ;)
DeleteDear Carol & Bear: We have had few words since yesterday to express our feelings of shock, loss, heartbreak. Please know that you are in our close thoughts. We booked flights to Paris earlier this week, and cannot wait to be in our most beloved and cherished city. We send prayers, and all good thoughts of hope and healing. Love, Patricia and Eric, Minneapolis, MN
ReplyDeleteHearts around the world are breaking with you. And yes, what Louvregirl said above.
ReplyDeleteWe feel heartbroken here -- I am so grateful I have had several visits to Notre Dame (and more exterior views) to hold in my heart.
Thinking on you Carol, since Notre Dame is close to your island in the Seine river. Trés desolé. I am sure it go back to beauty.
ReplyDeleteI thought of you too and am glad you are safe. It sounds like the structure is intact at least. It could have been so much worse!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteAnd I just read the windows at Notre Dame are intact - a miracle!
Absolutely wonderful news !!!!❤️
DeleteYour photos today were among the most evocative I have seen, it is one thing to see news images of the building itself, another to see people watching their beloved cathedral in flames.
ReplyDeleteIt was so painful, to get the devastating news, and also watch, as portions of
ReplyDeleteNotre Dame collapsed. I know that, in time, it will rise again. Thank you,
Carol, for sharing your pictures with us.
Wendy in Baltimore
It was so painful to watch our Notre-Dame on fire. I have always known her. I was remembering that as a toddler my mom walked with me on August 25, 1944 to hear de Gaulle talk in front of her (I don’t remember much though.) Then going to school I saw her daily for years. From the US I watched the French TV and read everything I could on the tragedy. What the public here may not know is that all churches built before 1907 belong to the state, not the church, so the Vatican might not give top money to help. Churches have to share the budget with castles, museums, etc. from taxes. Maybe 14 million visitors go to visit N-D yearly but admission is free. France is getting more secular, as of 2017 a survey showed only 1.8% attend weekly church services. 53% say they are Catholic but they may go to church only for weddings and such. I read on the Catholic sites that they are upset that not more was spent to keep N-D security systems up-to-date. But even though the Paris city budget has doubled in the last 15 years the budget allocated for church renovation has been cute 50%.
ReplyDeleteBecause N-D is known the world over,and its place in everyone’s heart, N-D is already getting large money pledges. But for example since 2000 44 historic churches in France have been demolished and more demolition is planned. As in the US, people don’t want to pay taxes and church renovation is expensive, it’s easier to demolish them and make a parking lot. I am not a believer (like most French people) but Notre-Dame is different, she is a cultural icon for us and it is great shock to see her like this. We are all demoralized and grieving.
I have visited your blog off and on for years now and this my first time commenting. I am heart broken over what happened to Note-Dame. But like the time before in this iconic building's history it will be rebuilt. Watching those flames was horrible! My heart goes out to you and people of Paris.
ReplyDelete