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Paris through the Ages-The Notre Dame tour stroll no.6 on the right bank (all credit to Arthur Gillette)

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This will be the densest but also the shortest stroll. High heels are not recommended. And I say “dense” because the lady cathedral is one of the world’s most complex, stirring and yet mystery architectural creations existent. It is hard not to wax lyrical on this subject: the grand old lady of Paris” is indeed a “symphony of stone” “like Victor Hugo said, “a majestic and sublime edifice, this ancient queen of our cathedrals.
Stand on the Pont Saint-Louis Bridge behind the cathedral just before midnight. The searchlights reveal her in all her splendor. The towering spire, the waterbug-legs-like “oars” of the vast “ship” sailing on the Seine, the gentle yet deep ivory hue of the stone. Perfection in three dimensions! Then, at the stroke of midnight, the lights go out and you are faced with a two-dimensional silhouette of the faceless black outline etched against a brighter sky, black-lit by the city.
In fact, the Cathedral is surrounded by imperfections and unelucidated questions some of which we will discover during the stroll. Given the complexity of the subject, I will concentrate on external “circumnavigation.” IT BEGINS AT METRO RER SAINT-MICHEL/NOTRE DAME. On the’ Cathedral’s “parvis (the open space in front of the façade. The old parvis is outlined by rows of five stone at your feet, which suggest how overawing the cathedral must have seemed to people who crowded there before it was enlarged to its present size in the 19th century.
Our “circumnavigation, with a more detailed look at the façade. For the time being, please  keep your eyes at your feet, and seek out the rough-hewn stone lines that shows the foundation of walls around Saint-Etienne, a church of possible the 6th century (same time as the Saint-Germain de Prés church, St.Etienne, which stretched well under today’s Notre Dame, was probably not very high. The thickness and number of its walls outlined here suggest a military connotation. But the many walls make one wonder how sure of their skill the builders were. At its medieval heyday, the ile de la Cité counted no less than 23 churches.
Just a few more general points about Notre-Dame before we leave the “parvis”, but that’s for next article.