I'm glad I did this one while I am still young

Back to that in a moment but here is a shot from the morning pastry run, our just around the corner boulangerie.Monsieur and all of the help smile and try to help me as much as they can. Only Madame is still a bit severe. Her attitude is that if I am going to try to order in French then by god she is going to carry on in French as well. Fortunately I know just enough French to get by, at least so far.

We went out at about 8:20 thinking to check the information sign at Notre Dame to gather information about when and whether we would try to ascend the towers. At 8:30 there were already half a dozen or so people in line for a 10am opening. A careful reading of the information informed us that ticket holders would be admitted in groups of 20 with a new group admitted about every 10 minutes. Having seen the line in previous days and knowing that later in the day the line would exceed 200 people, stretching later in the day the entire length of the cathedral, we decided to go ahead and get in line. We were 10th and 11th.

People began arriving in significant numbers starting at about 9am. By shortly after 9am people were going to wait through at least 4 groups of admittees before being admitted themselves. The projections quickly got more grim for those arriving even later. Nearly every single person who goes up on that tower tour has to wait in line for a minimum of an hour and a half. The shortest wait is probably the arrive at 8:30, wait in line for an hour and a half until opening and be first up the tower. Arriving any later means a longer wait at the side of the cathedral.

We waited the hour and a half for opening and then at 10am we went in.

There are 422 steps to the top of the cathedral.

*pause*

Yes, I said 422.

*pause*

Yes, it was a long, long, long climb, a climb up a spiral staircase inside the tower, a climb up stone stairs with deep indentations worn by 750 years of people going up and down.

Thank god I did this while I am still young. If I waited to try this until I was old it seems likely that 422 steps would be a couple of hundred steps too far.

Closed circuit to the person formerly requesting gargoyles, the official guide refers to this as "la galerie des chimères". I agree, they look like gargoyles to me.At that point we are on the north tower. Looking up from the front of the building you would find us at the arcade at the top of the main building with only the two towers now above us. That picture is looking north northwest with Tour Saint Jacques in the foreground and Sacre Coeur and Montmarte a bit indistinct in the distance.

This one looks off to the west towards that big steel tower.Down the spine of the church towards the southeast.Next up was the environs of Quasimodo, the belfry in the south tower. The big main bell, le Bourdon photographed against the wooden structure that is the belfry.The belfry is oak, not stone. It is flexible enough to absorb the vibrations of the big bells. If the belfry were of stone the vibrations would over time crack the stone and bring the whole thing down.Here's one of the folks running the concession, Francois. He was bustling about just before the 10am opening, giving instructions mostly in French but also in English. I tried, "I like your hat".He replied, in English, "Thank you very much, I bought it in Istanbul just a few days ago."

It is orange.

This afternoon we went to the Pompidou Center for the Musée National d'Art Moderne, the largest museum for modern art in Europe.

Just for starters I am going to say that cubism is hard.Le guitariste by Pablo Picasso, 1910.

It was fun. One definite impression I have is that the young kids like their art to be big. Lots and lots of the art works fill a hallway or even a room, a far cry from that puny little Mona Lisa at the Louvre.

Pompidou is a great, great, extremely interesting building and the museum is spectacular. As with all truly great museums there is soon just too much art and at least for me, I reach art saturation point. But I saw some things that I like.

Here's one, Ten Lizes by Andy Warhol, 1963.I especially liked the French translation, "Dix Liz Taylor". Ten Lizes isn't going to be my favorite Warhol, though. I mean who doesn't like "Sixteen Jackies"?

And in a final reminder that through all of this travelogue stuff it is best to remember that this is a bicycle blog.The pretty spectacular "Le Vélo" (1983) by Alain Séchas.