Turns out, midnight mass is a BIG THING at Notre-Dame. We showed up just before the "pre-game show", the choir concert and Veillée de Noël at 11 pm, had to wait in a line that ran the entire length of the esplanade out front, and STILL didn't find anywhere to sit once inside! And we were the lucky ones - they stopped letting people in the building not long after, from what I could tell.
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It was a mess of tourists clogging the outer corridors, people jockeying for position near the video screens or within viewing range of the chapel, families holding seats for each other or running to catch one the minute it got freed up. Mario and I found a little corner spot towards the back, in front of a column, so we could just lean back and listen to choir singing beautiful Christmas hymns, and the organist performing some rather wicked solos in the balcony above. Just before midnight, we walked around the outer corridor to catch glimpses of the front, and just happened to be in the right pace at the right time when the priest opened the massive holy doors to the church. This is done only ONE day a year, at midnight on Christmas, so it's pretty special. Lucky us.
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At this point, we had to make a run for the metro, so we would not miss the last one back to Abbesses, lest we want to take a LONG walk tonight! We made it with time to spare, but no midnight mass at Notre-Dame. Instead, once we made it back to our own neighborhood, we climbed up the Butte de Montmartre to Sacré Coeur Basilica, where we snuck in to see the end of THEIR midnight mass. The whole evening had come full circle, and we got to visit 2 churches!
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