Hi all - well the long-awaited day has finally come. This evening Paris time (7pm, which is 6 hours ahead of US east coast and 9 hours ahead of US west coast), the ceremony to re-open Notre Dame will begin.
You can watch the whole thing on any of several YouTube channels. The easiest for English-speaking viewers may be French 24 English:
https://www.youtube.com/live/HSREjru-ZkY?si=2Ocvm8wqJUfvmsUr
(It may be that American channels are going to carry it live too, I just don't know. If you've heard word of that, please feel free to note that and /or provide additional links below.)
They have had to modify the ceremony a bit due to predicted bad weather here today from Storm Darragh (which incidentally caused SNCF to pre-emptively shut off all train traffic between Paris and Normandy for today and tomorrow). It’s a bit funny because this morning as I write this, the sun is shining. But the forecast is for something like 95% chance of rain, and winds.
None of the ceremony will now take place on the plaza in front of the cathedral - it will all take place inside.
And the concert that was supposed to start at 9 pm, after the ceremony, was all pre-recorded last night (some lucky folks in the vicinity got to see/hear Pharrell performing “Happy,” completely out of the blue !). It will be broadcast as if it is happening live.
The first mass will be tomorrow morning, 11 am Paris time. Again, broadcast live.