Victor and Hugo

           Hi there!  Our names are Victor and Hugo and we are magician's assistants near Notre Dame.  The church is located on the Île de la Cité in the 4th arrondissement of Paris.  We love to entertain the hoards of tourists who visit Notre Dame everyday.  People come from all over the world to see the church.  For the most part, English speakers watch our show.  We hear so much English, we know it better than French!  Our person calls us his "assistants", but all we do is lay around, look cute, and attract tourists.  The tourists are in the area for the church, but we suspect most of them are there to see us.  Our person does magic and shapes balloons, but we entertain the masses.  Mimes are so yesterday.  Today, it's dog magicians.

That's us.  Victor is white and Hugo is black.

          However, our act would not get as much foot traffic as it does without the Notre Dame in the background.  The original construction of the church began in 1163 and did not finish until 1345, but there have been numerous restorations over time.  There was a famous book written about Notre Dame and the hunchback that lives inside, as well as a history of the city.  I've heard that the hunchback story isn't real, but we don't believe it.  He exists.  We know it.  

          Anyway, our favorite part of the church are the flying buttresses in the back.  Notre Dame was one of the first buildings to have flying buttresses.  Because of the Gothic style the church was built in, the walls were very thin and needed more support.  The whole look of Notre Dame is so cool and inspiring.  It's such a great place to be!

A view of Notre Dame from the front

A view at night and a good look at the flying buttresses