PAST, NOW and HEREAFTER...: Notre Dame

When I read or heard the word Notre Dame, I always imagine the plot in novel or cartoon The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The novel was written by Victor Hugo in 1800s with original title Notre Dame de Paris..I guess most of us know about Notre Dame from this cartoon instead of the real Notre Dame hehehe...probably on me...

Here are summary of the story, which I copied somewhere :-)

The story begins during the Renaissance in 1482, the day of the Festival of Fools in Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, is introduced by his crowning as Pope of Fools.

Esméralda, a beautiful 16-year-old gypsy with a kind and generous heart, captures the hearts of many men but especially Quasimodo’s adopted father, Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his lust and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to get her. Quasimodo is caught and whipped and ordered to be tied down in the heat. Esméralda seeing his thirst, offers him water. It saves her, for she captures the heart of the hunchback.

She is later accused of the murder of Phoebus, whom Frollo killed in jealousy, and is sentenced to death by hanging. Quasimodo saves her by bringing her to the cathedral under the law of sanctuary. Frollo rallies the truands (criminals of Paris) to charge the cathedral. The king, seeing the chaos, vetoes the law of sanctuary and commands his troops to take her out and kill her. When Quasimodo sees the truands, he assumes they are there to hurt Esméralda, so he drives them off. Frollo betrays Esméralda by handing her to the troops and watches while she is hanged. Quasimodo pushes him from Notre-Dame to his death. He then goes to Esméralda’s grave, lies next to her corpse and eventually dies of starvation. Two years later, excavationists find the skeletons of Esmeralda and Quasimodo locked in an embrace.

For me Victor Hugo did lots of study before he wrote that novel..Same like Dan Brown in Da Vinci code-exactly what you can found out yourself hehehe...ok, here are several pictures during my visit..More pictures in my facebook. To get into Notre Dame is free and the Q was very fast although long Q. To go to Notre Dame tower, I paid 7.50 euro and I queue for more than 1 hour in chilly weather hehehe...also, expect the worst, the staircase was really steep and narrow. Only 1 way...Not suitable for old fella or kids..

me-Notre Dame background