Victoria Gazette - From the Editor - Victoria Mn Newspaper

Funeral Home & Cremation Services

952-474-9595

Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic.

Occupational Therapy. Speech Therapy.

952-443-9888

Huber

City of Lakes & Parks 952-443-2363

“Trees Are Our Roots”

8099 Bavaria Rd * Victoria * 952-443-2990

Headlines

and bylines

Front Page

Feature Story

From the

Editor

Sophie’s

Drawing

Letters

to the Editor

Victoria

Moments

Hook

Line & Sinker

Calendar

of Events

Click here to

Advertise

the Gazette

Return to

Home Page

Order

paper Gazette

Notes and

Quotes

The Scoop

at City Hall

I was glued to the TV on April 15th, 2019, as the flames billowed and Notre Dame Cathedral burned and burned just before Easter. My parents and Allan and I visited the Cathedral when we were in Paris together in October 1997. To be honest, Notre Dame wasn't the highlight of our 15-day trip, but it was certainly memorable. More on that later.

We four -- Mom, Dad, and us -- spent our first five days in London, the second five days in Paris, then one day and an overnight at Normandy Beach, and the last four days in Belgium.

I can tell you that back in 1997, I didn't have a digital camera. And so I've got an album of hardcopy photos from that trip, in addition to those pictures seared in my mind. Those in my mind are better than those in the album. They are also better than the lengthy video I also have of the trip, because there are some things that just can't be captured on film.

My first memory of London is of the three-story building where we lived for those first five days, in the downtown area. Allan had found it online, contracted for it online, and so it was ours, like it or not.

We stood in front of that building with our very large suitcases and discovered there was no elevator to the top floor, which is where our flat was located. We hauled our suitcases up those winding three flights of stairs, and we got to laughing so hard about our predicament that we had to stop and catch our breath, more from the laughing than the exhaustion.

We tried to do only one round trip of stairs per day, so when we took off sightseeing each morning, we were aware we didn't want to get back right away. And, yes, we saw and did most everything that London has to offer an American tourist.

Then we took the chunnel directly to Paris, where our downtown hotel had an elevator to the second floor. We also did much of what Paris has to offer an American tourist, none more memorable than the Arc de Triomphe, an impressive landmark, the biggest arch in the world, commissioned by Napoleon. We had to see it, of course, and also the magnificent view of Paris from the top of it.

So we stood in a long line with others at the bottom of the arch, paid the rather hefty entrance fee to get inside, and discovered, once inside, that the only way to the top was a long, long, winding stairs. There was no elevator. We couldn't get our money back and there was nothing else to do inside except climb to the top, one step at a time. I believe Mom counted 284, one way.

Again, we had to stop often and catch our breath, more from the laughing than from the exhaustion. My parents weren't old then, only 70 and 72, but maybe they each carried a few extra pounds around their middle at that time. So did Allan.

We also walked over a long bridge to the Cathedral of Notre Dame where Mass was about to begin. I was thrilled that the procession of celebrants and altar servers in full regalia passed only inches from us, and I recognized Cardinal Lustiger!

I recall the large plaza in front of the magnificent facade of Notre Dame and the three large portals. We walked through the elaborate sculpted doors on the far right. I remember Allan telling us about flying buttresses.

I recall a huge and dark Notre Dame interior, and even in 1997 there were TV monitors everywhere so we could actually see the altar. We stood in the back and Mom lit a candle. If she prayed for a good trip, her prayer was answered.

After Mass it was on to fine dining in downtown Paris where we laughed again after seeing the look on our waiter's face when we ordered a bottle of "the cheapest wine you have."

The next day we drove to Normandy Beach and, in addition to the solemn moments of that occasion, I recall the buffet breakfast that next morning. Among the wide array of foods, Allan took what he thought was a hardboiled egg. He shouldn't have tried getting into that egg shell over his plate of fruit and cold cuts, for the egg was raw. He didn't think it was funny, but I did.

Then, after our drive across country, we did much that Belgium has to offer, and we got to do it with Father Ferdinand Jennen, a cousin of my mother and her mother, and therefore also me.

One evening at the Ibis Hotel in downtown Hasselt, after we dropped Fr. Jennen off at his church home, we passed through the ground floor bistro where we stopped for an appertif. When we got up to leave, I accidentally swiped my giant black leather purse across the table and all the glassware went crashing to the hard tile floor. Said the waiter, "Don't worry. It happens all the time." For whatever reason, the next morning Dad laughed heartily as we recalled the awful mess that I had made and then the rest of us did, too.

And so when Notre Dame was burning on April 15th, 2019, I was laughing and crying at the same time.