Easter in Paris: The Notre Dame "Incident"

We went to Paris over the Easter Holiday, and our trip was amazing.  I know, Paris in the Spring sounds really romantic, but this was a family trip with no time for romance; we had too much to see. 

This was our first trip out of England as a family (besides coming home to Texas).  When we moved here, I had visions of traveling all over Europe, but it is a lot more difficult when you have to factor in school, work and life.  Luckily, we finally made it happen, and Paris was our first must-see European city.  I had been to Paris, but it was Keith's and the girls' first time to visit.

Our adventure began by taking a train from Brighton to London where we caught the Eurostar to Paris.  Riding the Eurostar was nice, and I much prefer it to air travel.  When we arrived at the Gare du Nord in Paris, we were just a short taxi ride to our hotel.  It was late afternoon when we got settled at our hotel, so we decided to venture out and explore a little of Paris on foot.

Sloane and Sutton on the Eurostar

We meandered past the Centre George Pompidou and the Hotel de Ville until we reached Notre Dame Cathedral.  We weren't really planning on visiting Notre Dame, but since we were already there we decided to go in and have a quick look around. 

In Front of the Hotel de Ville

Because it was Easter there was some sort of service about to begin, so we decided we should check it out.  When we got in to the cathedral, there were already people seated and others were standing all around.  Since there were no more seats, we stood where we had a pretty good view of the altar.  We thought the service was about to begin because it was pretty full, there was music playing and lots of priests and nuns kept entering.  Unfortunately, we waited about 45 minutes before the service began, and by that time the cathedral was packed and we were standing pretty tightly with no where to move. 

Even though the service was in French and we didn't understand most of what was being said/sung, it was really beautiful.  It also was really long...and it started to get really warm...and the incense started to get really thick.  You get the picture.  To say that the girls were miserable by this point would be a major understatement.  I knew when Sloane started to get tears in her eyes, we were in trouble, but there was no where for us to go.  There was no way we were going to be able to get out of there before the service was over, so I had to tell the girls to just hang in there.  Surprisingly, it was not the girls I had to worry about.

At one point, Keith turned to me and said, "We need to go."  I just shook my head no at him and thought he was crazy.  Of course we all needed to go, but it was impossible.  When I looked at Keith again, he was really pale and was about to go down on one knee.  When he told me again that we needed to go, I knew he really meant it.  Keith tried to squeeze out past the sea of people who were standing behind us, and the girls and I tried to follow him.  We got about halfway toward the doors when Keith went down on a knee again so he wouldn't faint.  A man in a suit came out of nowhere and started helping and asking Keith questions in French.  He tried to get Keith to drink some water (from a stranger), and then he led us out the entrance into the fresh air.  I wasn't sure if this guy worked for the church, but I was pretty sure he was a doctor because he seemed to know what he was doing. 

When we go outside, we were just inside the gate where there was a long queue to get into the building, so we had quite an audience.  A few security guards came by, and the guy helping us said something to them in French and they left.  Then we were joined by a French woman who, thankfully, spoke pretty good English.  Based on her questions and manner, I assumed she was a doctor also.  After our helpers gave Keith some candy from the crowd staring at us, the medics arrived (4 of them!).

At this point I knew Keith was going to live, and this scene was really too incredible to believe.  I know it sounds cold and heartless, but all I could think was "we have to get some pictures of this."  I knew I couldn't start taking pictures (because that would just be wrong), so I turned to the girls and told them they needed to get this on film.  Sure, we sort of kicked a man while he was down, but now that it is over aren't we all glad that we did?

Getting Medical Attention Outside of Notre Dame

 

Keith, the Medics, David, Florence and Me

Thanks to the fresh air and being able to sit down and rest, Keith started to feel better.  After checking all of his vitals and asking a million questions in very fast French, the medics still wanted to take Keith to the ambulance.  He of course did not want to go, but they said they just needed to check him out.  After wheeling him to the ambulance (they wouldn't let him walk), Keith spent around another 30-45 minutes in the ambulance with the medics and Florence, the French woman who spoke English.  The girls and I were just waiting outside with our new friend David. 

Keith Being Wheeled Across the Cobblestones

The French Ambulance

David and Me

The medics were not happy that Keith refused to be taken to the hospital, and they wanted me to talk him into changing his mind.  When I told them that wasn't going to happen, I had to help them fill out the medical report.  All of this exchange was in French, of course, and to be honest I was completely overwhelmed.  I studied French in high school and college, but I hadn't used it for almost 20 years.  I am pretty sure I would have done OK easing my way into ordering at restaurants, but trying to deal with a medical situation where everyone is excited and talking really fast was a little too much.

Despite David's broken English and my very rusty French, I finally figured out that David wasn't a doctor at all, but a very kind stranger.  It turns out that Florence wasn't a medical professional either.  They were both just Christians who were at Notre Dame by themselves for the service, and they felt it was important to help a person in need.  Truly, they were both amazing, and I am not sure we would have survived the experience without them.  We all were convinced that God had brought us all together for some reason and it was a blessing to have met.

In fact, we were all so happy that Keith was fine and that we all had met, we decided to get some dinner together.  Keith and I thought the least we could do was take David and Florence to dinner, and we knew they would pick a better restaurant than we could at that point.  David took us to a nearby Greek restaurant where he knew everyone there.  It was amazing food and there was live music (at one point David and Florence got up and danced). 

Trying to Communicate Over Dinner

See, Keith is Still Alive and Well

 
We had a fun dinner with our new friends, and we exchanged contact information so we could meet up again in Paris.  Despite the drama and it being an exhausting, long day, our first day in Paris was more eventful than we could have ever imagined.  Really, we couldn't have made up a better story if we tried!

Keith, David, Florence and Me

Our Group "Crazy" Shot