I was in Paris in December of 2019. At that point the scaffolding around the building was pretty much holding the outer walls up at the part of the building had burned. Engineers were about the only people inside practically doing an archeological dig trying to save what could be saved piece by piece and determining just how safe it was to continue with restoration. The bridge was cordoned off, there were no barges holding material.
We were spending our last 3 days in Paris, had been from Narbonne on the shores of the Med clear to the beaches of Normandy and a lot of places in between. We had already turned our rental car in by the airport and our UBER driver filled us in on everything that was happening on the drive to Notre Dame.
I have thousands of pictures but don't know how to post them here.
I am glad they decided to restore it and when they are done, if Normandy is anything to go by, one will not be able to tell by looking at it that it was ever on fire. The building will survive but having been in at least 8 churches on our journey, the contents and history that were lost is a real tragedy. https://photos.app.goo.gl/oYZdyWq29AEMFxmNA
= new reply since forum marked as read