The Lone Lady

I’ll never forget the day that… I climbed the steps of the Notre Dame Cathedral.
For me every place I travel to has a moment, that one moment that completely defines the place for you, embedded in your memory forever. My moment in France was at the top of the Notre Dame Tower.
First off I had gotten lucky with where I decided to stay; Le Montclair Hostel in Le Montmartre, in a four bed dorm with an en suite. The hostel is ideally located, easy to get to from CDG Airport and the room was kept to a good standard.
Unfortunately the day I decided to visit Notre Dame ended up being cold and wet. Parisian weather can be very similar to Irish weather, so it is always good to pack something waterproof to wear.
Also important to note that the Notre Dame Cathedral, if you are in any way ill of health, can be difficult to climb, the steps get narrower as you go up, and are incredibly steep with little to hold on to for balance and are of course stone, so a rainy day like the day I climbed them could be slippery. With that said; the experience I had could not have been foreseen and became the most memorable moment of my whole holiday for all the right reasons.
As I was making the climb, being careful with every step, there was a couple roughly in their late thirties in-front of me moving so slowly that the people behind were practically pushing me forward with their breath. This is when I realised that the woman was climbing so slowly because she was blind.
I remember thinking to myself; why on earth would she go to the trouble of climbing up all those difficult stone steps to get to the top when the sole purpose of doing so is for the view?
It was when I got to the top, with the cold wet wind hitting my face as I stood next to the beautiful stone carved gargoyles, that I found myself once again standing next to the couple.
The blind woman stood facing out towards the panoramic view, her husband was hugging her while quietly describing everything he could see into her ear: From the Gargoyle beside us, to a boat travelling down the Seine, to the mist falling over the Eiffel Tower in the distance. She was breathing in the air and smiling as he spoke.
It was the most romantic moment I’ve ever seen in my life, and I witnessed it in Paris, the city of love.
And this was a reminder as to why I love to travel so much, these are the moments and the stories you get to take with you. That was my Paris moment.