A Year Ago Today...
 

My husband and I were on a Delta flight taking off from CDG. A few minutes after takeoff, the captain announced that they had been given an unusual route and would soon fly over central Paris. It was a beautiful morning and he said those on the left side of the plane would have a clear view of Notre Dame. Unfortunately we were sitting on the right side so did not see it. Hours later, after landing in Boston and clearing passport control, we rushed out to the curb just in time to catch our bus to Portsmouth. As soon as we were on the bus, I checked my phone and saw the messages from our children about the fire. What a sad and shocking ending to another wonderful trip to France.

Like many here, we have had to cancel our upcoming trip. Also deferred for now is a great deal of the scheduled work on Notre Dame. We're hoping to reschedule our next trip for the fall if travel is possible again and to hear that work on Notre Dame has resumed. Fingers crossed.

I was thinking all day today about Notre Dame and Paris.

It's my travel companion's birthday. Last year we went onto a day trip to the Black Forest, returned home in the early evening... - to that news. The evening was spent in front of the computer watching the livestream of Notre Dame burning. We knew we shouldn't watch this as it would drag us down, but we could not turn our eyes away. It was and still is heartbreaking to see those images.

Today is the one month anniversary of total confinement in France.