Discover the beauty of Notre Dame Cathedral with lights and congestion

Quynh Mai lives in Tan Son Nhat ward, it took 20 minutes to travel on the 500 m long Le Duan street to reach the church area on the evening of December 19. She described the line of cars moving every meter, the density equivalent to the A50 holiday when people go to watch military parades and parades. Taking photos becomes an experience of “struggling” to escape the crowd.

Two weeks earlier, a series of photos and videos on social networks recorded the moment Notre Dame Cathedral was lit up in the evening, attracting hundreds of thousands of likes and shares. Because she was curious and also wanted to take photos before Christmas, Mai arrived about an hour early, before the church lights up at 6:45 p.m. Near 6:00 p.m., the beginning of Le Duan Street, about 500 meters from the church, was packed with people and vehicles, even though this road has four traffic lanes.

Mai said she moved little by little to move, but could not turn around because it was too crowded. She witnessed people pouring over the median strip to take photos, buses and cars continuously honking their horns.

I don’t know where to stop because the roads are almost full of pedestrians and all kinds of vehicles. Mai had to turn further onto Paris Commune Street, next to Han Thuyen Park. Here, tourists and people flooded April 30 park. The sidewalks around the Notre Dame Cathedral area were filled with people sitting with coffee on the ground, phones in hand, waiting for the moment the church lights up.

In the park, there are services that rent mats to sit and drink water while waiting to see the lights come on. Authorities must continuously coordinate vehicles to keep traffic flowing.

When the lighting system started to turn on, many people held up their phones and cameras. The church lights up in each area, taking more than a minute to complete. Mai also chose a spot next to the park to observe.

“Feeling tired because it’s crowded, disappointed because I can’t see the scene clearly, only seeing people,” Mai said. After standing for about five minutes, she got in the car and left.

Normally, running around the Paris Commune around the church only takes about 5 minutes, but it took Mai more than 30 minutes to get out of this area. The section of Nguyen Van Binh Street – Ho Chi Minh City Book Street and Post Office area, almost became a walking street when people and tourists flooded down to occupy more than two-thirds of the street to take photos. Coming to the roundabout in front of Diamond Plaza, the congestion continued, only when crossing Hai Ba Trung street did traffic gradually clear up.

The area around Notre Dame Cathedral, since it was first lit on November 29, has always attracted a large number of visitors every day. From about 4:00 p.m., people and tourists gathered at points with panoramic views of the church such as Nguyen Van Binh Book Street, the 5th floor balcony of Diamond Plaza shopping center, 30/4 park, Ho Chi Minh City Post Office and neighboring cafes.

On the 5th floor balcony of the shopping center overlooking Notre Dame Cathedral, many people showed up 4-5 hours in advance to reserve a spot. Thu Trang, from Binh Duong, said she had been in the center of Ho Chi Minh City since morning and arrived at the church viewing spot at 4:00 p.m. because she was afraid there would be no place left.

She brought a tripod and waited until 6:45 p.m. to capture the moment she had been waiting for for 4 hours. Trang said she wanted to preserve rare memories of the year.

Some tourists who arrived close to the lights said they encountered many difficulties because they did not anticipate the level of crowding. Ms. Tran Thi Thu Ha and her family went from the Suoi Tien area to the city center for the weekend. About 15 minutes before the lights went up, she arrived at the shopping center near the church and was surprised by the number of people standing on the balcony.

“I thought few people knew about this place, but when I got there, there was no place left,” she said.

When the church lights turned on, Ms. Ha had to weave through the crowd and hold her phone high to record a few scenes. The crowd thinned out after 15 minutes of the lights turning on, so she had space to take photos. Parking is also “difficult” when the parking lot in the shopping center is full, so she has to park it at the Youth Cultural House, a few hundred meters away. The line of cars waiting to be sent is long, taking about 15 minutes to complete.

“The festival atmosphere is very bustling, but the crowds are quite tiring,” said Ms. Ha.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, an employee who has worked at the shopping center for 5 years, said that from the second week the church was lit, the number of visitors increased dramatically. The balcony area on the 5th floor is always full of people from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. On weekends, the number of visitors increases 2-3 times compared to weekdays.

“I have never seen such a large number of visitors coming just to take pictures of the church. I usually only see this scene on holidays and Tet,” she said.

The manager of a coffee shop on Paris Commune Street said that the shop has always been full of customers even on weekdays over the past two weeks, and on weekends it is overcrowded and there are no empty tables left. The number of visitors around the Notre Dame Cathedral area is busy until 2-3 am. On the evening of December 24, the number of visitors is expected to be many times larger.

After nearly two hours of “struggling” to escape the crowd and taking a set of photos that were not as expected, Quynh Mai said she would not return to the Notre Dame Cathedral area until the end of December. According to her, the church, whether during the day or when the lights are on, has its own beauty, but being crowded and potentially endangering traffic safety just to take a photo is not an experience she wants to choose.

“This Christmas, I will choose a quiet restaurant or stay home to watch movies instead of going out,” Mai shared.