9-14-19 - D'Orsay, Notre Dame & Fireworks
/Day 90. Leanne and Kyle joint blog.
Ashlynn has long awaited for this moment. The moment she will be stepping on the soil of Paris (Frederic’s house and Versailles are both outside actual Paris), a place she has far and away labeled her number one choice.
On Saturday, we make our way to Paris! First up is Musee D’orsay, the French impressionist museum which Kyle and I would label one of our top (if not the top) museums we’ve been to. As we ascend the stairs from the Metro, the Eiffel Tower, the Obelisk, and the Tuileries Gardens all come into view! Wow! The eyes widen on the teens especially Ashlynn as we are here in the heart of Paris!
We spent a few hours enjoying the Impressionists at the D’orsay. The group gets split up and some of the kids miss the 5thfloor main impressionist paintings so we have to extend the visit so the kids can take in the likes of Monet’s, Manet’s, Von Gogh’s.
Having gotten our fill of paintings (for the moment at least), we head over to the Tuileries Gardens. The weather is absolutely gorgeous; sun shining but no too hot with some puffy white Charmin clouds thrown in for good measure. Our plan is to buy sandwiches for lunch and sit out in the chairs by the fountains while eating them. Perfect plan only problem is that all we can find are sit down places with massive lines. Then one of the kids eagle eyes identifies a food truck on the horizon near one of the fountains. Perfect we think until we get in range and see that it is actually a gelato ice cream truck. All five kids look pleadingly at us. We don’t put up much of an argument; well actually we don’t put up any resistance at all as we want the ice cream just as much as the kids.
The ice cream is presented in a cone that looks like a rose. It takes a good 8 minutes to scoop each come just so. When you see this artistic creation, you know why you just paid $9 for a scoop (and why you had to wait 40 minutes online) and the last thing you want to do is lick it and destroy this masterpiece; but we dig in. Yes - Ice cream for lunch and no, we won’t be winning any parent of the year awards while in Paris but the ice cream is damn good!
Kyle and I enjoy our ice cream while sitting in two recliner chairs by a fountain surrounded by white sand soaking in the Parisian sun. Ah, relaxation! Ah, Paris! Even a moment to hold hands. Do we dare? The teens are supposedly around here somewhere, but we are in no rush to rush them. This is vacation! Our moment in the romantic Parisian sun doesn’t last long. Within minutes, John appears to start moving us along to our next destination — Norte Dame Cathedral.
As the clan approaches the recently-damaged cathedral, we are impressed how good held up by scaffolding. We are hopeful the restoration is successful, as over $1 billion dollars have been pledged for a rebuild. We are told it will take more than 5 years (maybe well more) and it is already delayed due to safety issues. Notre Dame is technically on an island within Paris with lovely cobblestone streets and outdoor cafes. As we walk down the main street, we notice postcards (Kyle is both sending and collecting them are 2 euros (~$2.20 USD) each. Ouch! That is way steep. John who spent the summer in Paris with Frederic a couple years ago steps in and leads us down a side street one block and points to post cards at a souvenir store with a sign for 30 cent euro. 30 cent euro vs 2 euro for the same postcard. For those of you that were told there be no math in this blog, the main street is ~7 times more expensive than one block in. Good thing we have John of Big Sauce Tours guiding us.
Although we can’t see the inside of Notre Dame, we find Saint Chapelle within a couple blocks. The line is out the wazoo (I’m not really sure what a wazoo is but I saw the e-trade commercial from 1999 so I make a note to send an e-mail to their customer service seeking the answer). It seems that we are not the only ones who visit Notre Dame and find this church. We debate and decide to brave the line as we have not seen a Catholic Church in Paris yet. We are glad we slogged out the wait on the line out the wazoo as we are rewarded with the most incredible stain glass window churches we have seen. What makes them extraordinary is that almost the entire four church walls (I would say 90 - 95%) are stain glass windows from floor to ceiling. It must have been one heck of an engineering feat to build this. It looks like it one windowpane broke, the entire church would fall shattering to the ground.
The rest of the day consists of walking around Paris to reach the Pantheon. However we have miscalculated this one. We arrive at 5:42 thinking we are in great shape since it’s open until 6:30 pm. As we approach the gate, a woman holds up her hand and says…you guessed it “No!” “But it’s open until 6:30pm,” Kyle says. “Last entry 5:40,” she responds. “Please, please, please let us in – it’s only 5:42 and it’s just us (although just us is the equivalent of 3 smaller groups),” Kyle pleads. She seems to be contemplating it when two other groups of 4 people walk up submarining any small glimmer of hope we might have had. Upon seeing that she would have to left in 15 people now, she reverts to the all too familiar “No!”
Despite some grumblings, we pivot, right over to a special church, Eglise Saint-Etienne du Mont dedicated to Saint Genevieve, the Patron saint of Paris. She dedicated herself to the church at age 15 (around 400 AD.) and worked throughout her life to help the poor in Paris through times of war and starvation. The large cathedral is full of beautiful religious artwork but what stood out is the massive stone structure in the middle of the church. In the dozens of churches we have seen thus far on this trip, not one has such an impressive stone structure right in the middle.
A church specifically dedicated to a female (with noted exception to the Virgin Mary) is a relative rarity. In other words, a Big Sauce big deal. So we dig deeper. Apparently, 1200 years after St. Genevieve’s death, King Louis the 15th contracted a serious illness and prayed to St. Genevieve for healing. When he was cured, he vowed to build a large church in her honor.
We stop at a café to rest and get a snack before heading back to Frederic’s house. We are looking for a café with outdoor tables but most are configured for tables of 2 and on a beautiful Paris day; but nary seven seats are sitting open. We see a café with a section of empty tables that are inside but with wide open windows. Perfect we think as we file and start moving tables together to fit 7 of us. “No! You can’t move the tables,” the bartender says. We’re not sure why since there are 10 empty tables and no-one else sitting there but we comply and split up to sit in three existing tables. I tell the kids only order a drink and an appetizer as Frederic will be serving one of his epic dinners. Upon hearing this, the bartender says, “actually this section is closed, you have to sit in the back of the café.” I tell the bartender that the open window tables are the reason we choose this café and that if we can’t sit here, we’ll leave and keep looking. The bartender relents and says we can stay and sit there. We place our order with our waitress and receive our drinks.
While we are waiting for our food, another waitress comes over and says “my colleague is not assertive but I am and you must move to the back section.” Phwow, where did this come from. I try to explain that the bartender said it was ok as I point to the bartender. The only problem is that I am pointing an empty bar. The bartender apparently picked an apt time to take a break or he is in collusion with the waitress to punk us. After a few back and forth exchanges, she says the have a reservation for a big party coming. I tell her than we’ll be done as soon as the food comes out. Exasperated, she throws up hands and storms off muttering something in French which I’m pretty sure is a safe bet was not “enjoy your meal.” To note, after we finish and are walking to the exit, she comes up an apologizes.
We arrive back at the chateau for dinner and Frédéric tops his earlier hospitality. On his day off, he has prepared a seven course meal for the clan. The highlights being cheese popovers, escargots, a French delicacy, and ice cream cones. Frederic brings out a huge plate of small snails. The kids warily eye the garden creatures but in the end Justin, Corey and Ashlynn brave it out. We joke that Ashlynn’s taste was so small it looked like her smelled the snail instead of eating it. Justin downs a healthy number and we proclaim Corey the “Snail King” as we lost count of how many he ate. After the main course, the kids are digging the fromage too.... and I have images of me having to track down French cheese shops back at home in the future. You just can’t compare the freshness of these cheeses compared to those that journey far to reach us in California. It’s another magical fun night of catching up conversation about business, family, politics, travel and art.
All of the sudden, Frederic hears the distinct sound of fireworks and leads us to the rooftop to catch the display. In the back of my mind, I think how this stop in France is just magical thus far — and fireworks confirming my thought. Perhaps in a past life, I (Leanne) was French. Kyle enjoys Paris immensely but claims no such past French ancestral lives as he is deciding if he was Croatian, Estonian or Latvian.
After the fireworks, we head to bed knowing we seized this day - from museums to churches to walks to cafes to a 7 course meal - we have seized it all in a very French way.
Vive la France!
