Notre Dame

Devastating, shocking, heartbreaking-- there aren't enough adjectives to describe the loss. The external masonry was mostly spared by the fire, but the entire interior wood frame, built with ancient French oak, was destroyed.  Firefighters and others risked their lives to save many of the cathedral treasures.

John and I have both been inside Notre Dame on past trips to Paris, so we decided to skip the long, long tourist lines in September and just admire it from the Seine river boat. It is stunningly beautiful from any angle, but now in retrospect, I wish we had gone in one more time.

If there's a bright side to the catastrophe, millions of euros have already been pledged to rebuild. The ancient building, slowly crumbling from urban pollution, will no doubt be stronger and more beautiful than ever. But that will take decades.