Last year on our whirlwind trip to Europe we were fortunate enough to spend some time as tourists in Paris. One of my most favorite stops was to visit Notre-Dame de Paris.
If you are like me you have seen pictures of this magnificent Catholic cathedral over the years and marveled. Seeing it up close and personal in person was beyond inspiring.
I could regale you with all of the facts I have gleaned from books and the internet as to the history of this magnificent structure but I won’t. You can check out all of the facts and figures on many sites including this Wikipedia reference.
What I will tell you is that this French Gothic structure held its groundbreaking in 1163 and was completed in 1345. Just think about that. Pretty incredible that this is still around after all these years. 
Today I want to share some of the photographs that I took outside the cathedral. I will save the inside photographs for another post on another day.
Notre Dame attracts about 13 million visitors each year.
Notre Dame Cathedral is properly called Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris).
One of the world’s most well known books was set mostly in the cathedral.The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo was written to increase appreciation for the building.
In 1804 Napoleon invited Pope Pius VII to come to Paris to crown him emperor in Notre Dame. At the last minute, however, Napoleon seized the crown from the pope’s hands and crowned himself.
The famous twin towers go as high as 69 meters (226 feet) and it have 387 steps.
The South tower is home to Notre Dame’s largest bell, weighs 13 tons (28,000 pounds) and it is known as the Emmanuel Bell.
It was a warehouse at a time. At the end of the 18th Century, it indeed housed many wine barrels of the troops of the Revolutionary Army, which shows how the situation was difficult and threatening for this Cathedral.
Do you feel as if you have been to Paris today? I hope so. It really is a magical place and I have so many pictures and thoughts to share that I have just never written. Bit by bit I will get to it but for now enjoy these photographs from outside that show you just a little bit of what to expect if you should go.
Have you been to see Notre Dame in person? If so leave me a comment about what your favorite part was. All comments this month go to support our Comments for a Cause Corolla Wild Horse Fund.
