Paris, France: Day 17

It is so exciting to wake up or arrive in a new city, wondering what you will do and see that day while exploring. Paris, although not new, still held the same excitement for me on Monday morning. In school (middle, high school, and college) I took French; just kept going with it for no particular reason. I like speaking another language, listening to other people speak it, watching people move between two languages. The last time I was in France, around 1998 or 99, I spoke really well (I remember an old snooty lady on a train telling me that).

After I graduated from college, I never spoke much French, and always felt like I had forgotten most of what I knew. I was both excited and a lot intimidated about trying again to speak it while in Paris.

We had a plan about how to do everything we wanted to while in Paris and so set off Monday towards Sainte Chapelle, a church originally built by French royalty in the 13th century to house the crown of thorns. A few blocks from Notre Dame, it is now completely housed within the Palais du Justice. This hulking structure now encompasses a large part of the island in the Seine, houses the French government, and used to be the royal palace (the towers, which are still a part of it are really neat looking).

Anyways, we got to Sainte Chapelle after walking along the Louvre and strolling across Pont Neuf (Bridge Nine, the oldest and prettiest bridge in Paris) only to discover that the line was about a hundred people long to get in. Husband and I followed the theory of--- the line will be shorter in the afternoon. We moved on and walked over towards Notre Dame (we did not go in, but wanted to walk along the outside.)

Upon getting the square in front of Notre Dame, we came up on a huge group of tents and a big sign that read La Fete du Pain, or party of bread. It was literally a exposition for the artisan boulangers and patisseries, bread and pastry makers of France. Inside the large tent, people where making bread and pastries for people to watch (and then handing out samples). In the smaller tents, they were selling their wares, including des sandwiches du jambon (ham), or petit chocolates. We stopped there and had a picnic while looking at Notre Dame.

After lunch, we headed North off the ile de la cite and headed for the Modern Art Museum, Centre de Georges Pompidou (which Kat describes) on the Left Bank. After a couple of strange, but interesting special exhibitions, we spent our time looking at works of Klee, Kandinsky, Picasso, Matisse, and a lot of others. There are also great views of Paris from the top floor of the building, looking North.

We headed south, back towards Saint Chapelle, determined to get in to see the over 1100 stained glass windows in the church, but first we stopped for an afternoon Caffe Au Lait and Crepe at a Café. The weather on Monday was partially sunny, but very windy and somewhat brisk, so sadly we sat inside.

We made it into Saint Chapelle, and the wait to go through security was well worth it. The windows were beautiful and their true ability to take your breath away could not be captured no matter how I tried with my camera. We sat for along time, trying to make out all the stories from the bible.

Even though we were tired and our feet were a bit sore, we headed South to the Right bank for a city walk. Recommended to us by my cousins D & D, these small cards that come in a set lay out short walks in cities around the world (with a map). Each city has up to 50 “city walks” that you can go on while reading the history or points of interest about the area. I was a bit skeptical at first, but after we wandered through an area of the Latin quarter, looked at historic cafes where the likes of Voltaire and Hugo gathered, and found a great area of town to eat, we were true believers. I will never travel again without some city walks in my pocket, perfect for seeing average people living and working in neat places.

After we stopped to sample some local fare for snacks, we headed back to Rue de Bac via a short ride on the Metro. We hung out with the family for a short while before setting off for dinner with them. We went out for Fondue and had an adventurous evening with the wild Kaelin (who I can’t help but adore) and talkative Cameron. We didn’t get home until close to 11 pm but had had a great night.