It’s been covered ad-nauseam already, both in traditional media and social, but I was on a boat during the event itself, and I feel like I want to acknowledge the event.
Everything on earth is temporary, and moments like this really serve to drive that fact home. On the plane home, I got to thinking just how many times I’ve seen the roof and spire of Notre Dame de Paris specifically, and it turns out the answer is “kind of a lot.” See what you can, make experiences and memories because all of a sudden, that thing you’ve been putting off for so long because you’ll get to it someday is impossible because the thing is gone. We were lucky with this fire, I know that, but it feels very close nonetheless.
More, as usual, after the break. pictures, too. Plenty of pictures
1993 – can that be yellowing already? 
1994 
One of 2 Bad Scans of 2004 Spire and Roof 
Second bad scan of 2004 Spire and Roof 
I got both towers in 2008 
also 2008, I’ve always had a thing for angle pictures 
Emmanuel & Rebecca’s Wedding Reception view 
One of my favorite views of the Cathedral ever 
on a cloudy day in 2015 
a little weird HDR in 2015 
Saved after falling the farthest
It looks like a lot of what I, personally, feared lost actually survived the fire, and that, all things considered, it could have been a lot worse. The fact that no people died fighting or fleeing the fire is amazing, and really the most important thing. I’d read and heard that anywhere from one of the three iconic Rose Windows were lost to “all the stained glass,” which was never a thing – just goes to show how crazy reports can get during an incident. Now I’m reading that all the stained glass survived. I wonder how it looks.
The Scandinavian timber from the 14th century that made up the frame of the roof is all gone, which is a shame, but wood is great (some of those trees must have been seedlings at the turn of the last friggin’ millenium!) and can be replaced. The spire, of course, which is the focus of most of my pictures here, is gone, but I just read this morning, the Coque, one of the symbols of Paris itself, has survived the fall. Whether it will ever adorn the cathedral again is yet to be determined.
