The sullen, sexy Seine nudging its barges against the bank, the commanding palace of the Louvre with its leisurely gardens, the wide boulevards overseen by elegant stone buildings with their petite balconies and red-blooming window boxes. It’s the oddest and most wonderful combination of relief that I’m home, and exhilaration that I’m back to explore.
And think about this for a reason to love Paris and Parisians: the Cathedral of Notre Dame was saved by the author I just quoted.
Victor Hugo wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame when he found out it was to be torn down, wrote it to raise awareness and money, and now look at it. A humble book inspired lasting love for a beautiful building.
Where else could that happen?
© Paris Tourist Office David Lefranc