about 9/17

I went to bed early on my birthday. The earliest I’ve gone to bed all week and probably for a very long time. Industrial strength sleep pills! I totally want them! I woke up around 8am naturally and finally started to quietly get ready at 8:30 and my 9:30 I was pretty much out the door and headed for Notre Dame. 

I waited in line for a bit but not too long. Again, I listed to a Rick Steves audio tour of the Notre Dame facade, interior, point zero and something else. I zoomed in on the center of one of the huge circular stained glass windows. It would be on your left side if you were standing in front of the altar facing the rear of the church. It is one of only three original windows either in the whole place. (I’m pretty sure thats accurate but my memory could be wrong)

I also tried to get artsy and take some black and white photos. The hope is that I’ll be able to narrow down my pictures and frame them to use as decorations in my future apartment. 

I tried sitting down and just thinking but I couldn’t. There were too many people and I just kept getting distracted. All these people made the church feel less solemn to me so I decided to leave and figure out how to climb up to the bell tower. 

I found the line and whoa was it long. The weather was a little chillier than usual which gave my legs some goosebumps. I’ll admit that I felt an odd sort of pride that Chicago made me feel like I could handle the weather in my skirt and light sweater.

After an hour, I started the climb to the tower. When you go up the tower, they make you stop at the gift store before continuing on your way. I heard someone speaking Spanish so I asked if she could take a picture for me and it came out really well. 

Then I checked out the big bell which is probably as wide as I am tall. Yes, I’m short but 5 ft is still a pretty big bell. 

Then I waited for my turn to climb to the top of the bell tower and this time just enjoyed the views of Paris on a slightly overcast early afternoon. 

I walked 206 steps up but in chunks so it didn’t seem so bad. The walk down though is uninterrupted and it seemed neeevvveeeerrrr ending. I would see light and think I was almost done only to realize it was sunlight streaming from a window.

I was tricked many a times lol. 

I think I might try and read The Hunchback of Notre Dame again. I bought it at a book fair sale back in elementarymiddle school but I think I was too young to get it and thus didn’t get very far. Along the paths leading to the bell tower there were plagues with quotes from the text along with pieces of the story summary and I came to look forward to finding a plague and reading a couple of lines. Maybe this means I’m ready to try reading it again.