Paris - 2,000 years ago

I was too tired to get up and I missed my train.  I had arranged to meet a friend, another Michele I knew.  When I arrived at the north portal of Notre Dame, there was no sign of her.  I was about to give up when she drove by! She parked the car and we walked to the Rue de la Huchette.  

Long ago I had found the street quaint. It is narrow,
paved with cobblestones, and filled with pedestrians.
Now it looked more like a tourist attraction.
Michèle chose the same Greek restaurant
we had been to several years before,  a nice place;

too bad that this time the food was disappointing.

We walked back to Notre Dame and Michèle left.  Before me was a sign leading to the archaeology museum of the cathedral.  Steps led down to the Roman foundations under the pavement in front of the cathedral.  They were discovered when the esplanade, known as the parvis, was excavated to make room for underground parking.

A hint of what lies below is an inlaid line dividing the parvis and leading to the central doors of the cathedral.   This line marks the main Roman road that led to the temple, the site now occupied by Notre-Dame.

The museum, established by the City of Paris guides visitors around the preserved ruins.  On either side of the Roman street are baths, houses, shops, and intersecting streets.  A walkway is built over the ruins in such a manner as to allow a clear view of the stones below.

Small areas built out from the walkway describe what can be seen from that spot.  The descriptions and accompanying drawings make it possible to visualize the rooms below; they were so detailed and so fascinating that I spent two hours there. http://www.crypte.paris.fr

On the way back to the bus I passed the flower market and decided to stop at a café to think about all that I had seen.  For a few minutes I could imagine what it might have been like to live in that little Roman settlement.  I left the café and stepped over 2000 years into the Paris of today.