Notre Dame is a historic church in the Paris, built on an island in the Seine in the middle of the city. In April 2019, a devastating fire almost ruined the structure. When we visited in late March 2024, the spire had only just been unveiled, with the surrounding scaffolding having been removed less than a month before. But such was the extent of the fire that it has taken almost 5 years for just the spire to be restored.

Firefighters were able to control the fire in time to save the structure. Most of the wood/metal roof and the spire of the cathedral was destroyed, with about one third of the roof remaining. The remnants of the roof and spire fell atop the stone vault underneath, which forms the ceiling of the cathedral’s interior. Some sections of this vaulting collapsed in turn, allowing debris from the burning roof to fall to the marble floor below, but most sections remained intact owing to the use of rib vaulting, greatly reducing damage to the cathedral’s interior and objects within. Like all the cathedrals of France, Notre Dame is owned by the state, and on the night of the fire, President Macron vowed to restore it.

Five years later, the exterior of the structure is still encased in scaffolding and the boundary lined with exclusion fencing. The fencing is layered with board that are covered with excellent information about the history of the building and the efforts to restore it.

On our second day, we made lunch out of a bagette, a block of cheese and a bottle of wine eaten sitting on a park bench overlooking the Seine with the church on the island across the channel.