Sarah has always wanted to visit Notre Dame.
Not just see it. Some tours just walk around the outside.
Not just stick her head inside. Some tours will take you inside to see all the beautiful things.
She wants to experience it.
We had looked at booking tickets, but it’s always booked out. Access is actually free, but without a booked time, you’re in a queue till next Tuesday.
Best solution? Go to church. Access for a mass is also free, and the queue is much shorter.
So off we go. Uber again, and he picks us up outside the hotel and drops us next to the cathedral.
We confirm that we have found the correct queue, and we’re set.
Busy.
So we made our way as forward as we can, and took a seat. There was a short service just started, so we were all respectful.
Someone near us started taking video, and got booted. If you’re a tourist, you walk around the edges, after you’ve stood in the queue for ages. If you’re here for the mass, you get to be in the middle of, but cameras are bad form.
So I sat through another mass for Sarah, this time in French and Latin. So much easier than Spanish and Latin.
Once the service was over, it was safe to pull out the phone.
I think the organist was auditioning for Phantom of the Opera.
Part of the ceremony involved people wandering around carrying a thurible, the incense burner on a chain.
Seeing one of these always reminds me of a joke my ex-wife would enjoy telling over 30 years ago.
Two gay priests walking down the aisle, one carrying a thurible. The other one says “Oh flower, your handbag’s on fire”. She was never funny.
To me it looks more like an ecclesiastical poi dance.
I think I mentioned the big one in Spain.
The incense burner at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is called the Botafumeiro. I think that translates to “My dangler’s bigger than yours”
It is the largest thurible in the world, weighing 53 kilograms and measuring 1.5 meters.
Operated by eight men, known as tiraboleiros, it swings in a complex pulley system across the cathedral's nave, creating a spectacular display of smoke and a powerful aroma. The Botafumeiro is used during significant liturgical services and solemn occasions, symbolizing prayer, purification, and the joy of pilgrims upon reaching the cathedral.
One of its main functions in previous centuries was to cover the smell of the pilgrims.
Here’s a link to a short clip of that bad boy:
Again, I’ve probably mentioned it, but there’s a great movie made by Emilio Estevez and starring his father, Martin Sheen, as a dad trying to reconnect with his son who died while attempting the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. This movie also shows the botafumeiro in
context.
Saw some soldiers patrolling out the front.
I wonder if his mother knows he’s out
Had a wander around, and found a souvenir store that carries an amazing range of Tintin memorabilia. Hopefully we’ll get to visit there when we come back to Paris.
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