Day 36-> tales from the tower

Landmarks day.

First stop: Notre Dame. I heard quasimodo ring the bells then went inside to see the beautiful stained glass windows and hear a choir sing. This is the pinnacle of gothic architecture. Perfectly symmetrical from the inside and out, that's why I like this place. It's architecture is grand, embellished with chandeliers reminiscent of Versailles and infamous gargoyles on the outside. The backside of the cathedral is what makes it an amazing piece of architecture. The flying buttresses.

The buttresses were added after the cathedral was built because the back wall was bowing and would had eventually collapsed if nothing was done about it. So they added perhaps the greatest part of the structure, the flying buttresses. What's so great about them? The detail, the effect, the gradure that is created. Underneath and around is a garden that is dominantly roses, pink, red, yellow varieties.

For lunch, I went to a cafe nearby down a tree lined street. I ordered duck, rare. Apparently rare does not translate well, even if the waiter is bilingual. My duck came out and appeared to be rare. However, when I bit into it it revealed to be a tough overdone piece of meat. They had sliced the seared loin then seared it on one side. After much discussion, they re made the dish for me. This time cooked properly.

I continued my stroll to the lourve. It's huge to say the least. However, only a fraction of the collection is worth looking at including Mona Lisa, venus de Milo, and Napoleon's coronation. Afterwards I headed to the Eiffel Tower, this time to go up.

The lines for the tower were incredibly long. To save time, I decided to take the stairs. Yes, the stairs. All 670 of them. When I got to the second floor, I looked out to see incredible views of Paris. The lights of the city were twinkling as the sun disappeared into the abiss.

I decided that I would take the elevator ride to the top (there are no open stairs). It did not occur to me that a. I was going up on the highest point in the old city. B. The structure that surpassed this in height was the empire state building and C. It was a glass elevator within a open structure.

In my travels in the past year I have discovered something new about myself and that is I don't like heights. New York was challenging, I have opted out of climbing to the tops of cathedrals partly because of this fear. Elevators escalate this fear. Perhaps it's the numerous times I've ridden tower of terror, but I'm scared of the cable breaking.

This ride was no different than the others. In fact it was worse. Unlike Rockefeller Center where you get a really cool movie or empire state where you can't see, here it was all opened and crowded. So there I was 2 things that cause me high anxiety: crowds and heights, ohhh and tight spaces. A panic attack seemed unavoidable. Those in the car with me gave me the international "are you okay" look and I gave teem get me the hell out of here before I pass out look. We finally arrived to the top. Not too shabby. Looking out I was okay. Looking down, not so much. I walked around, used the restroom (yes there is a toilet up there) and came back down (also taking the stairs). Once at the bottom, I awarded myself with a nutella crepe (number 5 crepe in 2 days) before calling it a night.

Push yourself beyond your fears to new possibilities that you never thought you could do. It will create memories to last and may change how you see yourself.


-Until

Matt