Living the Hunchback Story at Notre Dame Cathedral

As soon as I'd decided to go to Paris for the first time, I knew that the place I most had to visit wasn't the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre: it was Notre Dame Cathedral. For the best part of six months I'd been reading Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and I absolutely had to see where all the action had taken place.

If you haven't read Victor Hugo's novel about the cathedral bell-ringer, I can't say I recommend it - the prose is really dense and wordy, and there were chapters describing tiny aspects of the cathedral or the historical situation of the times in such excruciating detail that I had to skip them. But to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame and then to visit the cathedral itself makes the reading really worthwhile, and your visit to Notre Dame that much more special.

As for me, I arrived at the Notre Dame Cathedral on Easter Sunday, of all days. A series of masses were being held throughout the day so I sat in on one for a while, but my French was nowhere near good enough to follow anything. I did love it when the organ started up, though. At one stage I was standing directly under the organ and the paintings on the walls around me were shaking and vibrating with the loud sound.

The highlight for me was climbing up the North Tower of the cathedral. There's a small admission fee or it is also sometimes included in a Paris city pass, as was the case for me. The queues to do climb the tower are often quite long, and I had to wait over an hour in cold rain, but I still recommend it. You can't be too unfit - there are some 422 steps to climb - but there are exhibitions to admire along the way, so there's no big hurry. Most of the exhibitions relate to Victor Hugo's novel, including the actual spot which seemed to inspire Hugo to describe the hiding spot used by the character of Esmerelda.

Once you reach the top of the tower, the views over Paris are stunning. It is also fascinating to be able to see the ornate Gothic structures of the cathedral up close, especially the expressions on the faces of some of the gargoyles. It's easy to see what made Victor Hugo feel that Notre Dame Cathedral was a building inspiring enough to write a (long) novel based around it.