The Paris Recap

Hello and welcome to a graduation-filled Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is May 24th.

This morning, I've been doing all kinds of household chores as a way to prolong answering a difficult question: How was Paris?

Paris, in a word, was wonderful.

When I set out on this touristic journey, I had shared that what I was most looking forward to was "a sense of place." In this respect, Paris (and all of the other places we visited) did not disappoint.

It was already one Saturday ago (last week!) that our adventures kicked off in a cafe in the airport, as we waited for the last person of our traveling band to join us. The café allongé and fresh, flaky croissant prepared our mouths for the food adventures that awaited.

While we waited to get into our Airbnb, we strolled along the Seine, glimpsing the posters, art, books, and bric-a-brac at the green-boxed bouquinistes. I felt regret that my French wasn't better as I admired the covers of many titles en français. The Seventh Grader took shots of the Seine - garbage, birds, barges, and dead rats catching her photographic eye. With nowhere to be, we stepped into the long, long, incredibly long line to visit Notre Dame, immersing ourselves into the pedestrian flow of fellow sojourners curious to see the newly reopened, renovated church. We noted the festival of bread set up in the square in front of the church. Surprisingly, it didn't take long to move through the line, and suddenly, we were in the church. This was the moment I felt I had truly arrived. Hello, Paris.

The Louvre would be our home base throughout the week. In the mornings, I walked through its courtyards, fresh with anticipation and vigor for the adventures to come, then drag my weary butt back across its vast cobblestones at the end of the day. 

I did my best to maximize my 4-day Paris Museum Pass, which got me through the pearly gates avec un billet. Even though I didn't have a reserved time to enter the Louvre, to my delight, my pass got me into a line of waiters with the pass but no reservation, and at 4:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, I was ushered in, free to roam and absorb all the art I could in a 2-hour window. I raced to The Experience of Nature: Art in Prague at the Court of Rudolf II, sending WhatsApp messages to my Czech father-in-law. With my limited time, my mission was to keep my eyes up and go up, up, up each flight of stairs. I enjoyed a sculpture walk back in time from the 19th to the 11th century, pondered Impressionism and Realism paintings, and marveled at the opulent apartments of Napoleon III (the nephew). 

At Musee d'Orsay I feasted on a special exhibit, "Art is in the Street." From the museum website, "Through an exceptional collection of nearly 230 works, "L'art est dans la rue" explores the spectacular rise of the illustrated poster in Paris during the second half of the 19th century. Organized in partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the exhibition is the first of its kind on this scale. In fact, no major event in Paris has ever been devoted to this social phenomenon, bringing together so many outstanding works by the "Masters of the Poster". Bonnard, Chéret, Grasset, Mucha, Steinlen, Toulouse-Lautrec..."

I also tucked visits to Musee Rodin, Pantheon, and Saint Chapelle under my traveler's belt.

Views were a theme, as the Seventh Grader and I went up, up, up the Eiffel Tower, where we got our Paris bearings on Sunday - a literal "view from the balcony." We spotted the Czech flag flying over its embassy. When we paused to gaze up at Arc de Triomphe on Monday and saw this monument, too, could be scaled, we thought, Why not?

Three guided tours were lovely charms on the chain of our adventures. Our first stop was to Claude Monet's home and gardens in Giverny. I felt a thrill of recognition when I saw the Japanese-style footbridge spanning the water lily pond. The blooming roses, irises, peonies, and tulips alone were enough to make my heart happy - a spring sight that rarely happens in Wannaska before June 1st. It was in Monet's home that I saw a replica of a Camille Pissarro painting. It was in Alice Hoffman's The Marriage of Opposites that I came to know about Pissarro. Seeing his work - even a copy - on the wall of one of Monet's bedrooms felt like a pilgrimage stop.

The second was a chocolate tour in the 6th Arrondissement. Our bellies rumbling, our guide started with a thorough history lesson and a taste of chouquettes on the side. We also tasted calissons, macarons, artisan caramels, and a unique sourdough bread from the shop Poilâne, whose claim to fame includes bread furnishings fashioned for Salvador Dali.

The third tour took us to the outskirts of Paris, where we had a Hiking Adventure in Van Gogh's Footsteps with 6 miles walk. This walk started in Pontoise with a nod to Camille Pissarro and his home, where he gathered the second generation of Impressionist artists, of which Van Gogh was one, then along the river to Auvers-sur-Oise, the last place Van Gogh lived. I highly recommend this trip, as our tour guide not only knew the sites and history, but he had delved into the academics behind the Impressionists and shared the new theories regarding Vincent's cut ear and shot to the chest which ultimately ended his life. It's worth noting that we visited Van Gogh's last home on earth three days before the 135th anniversary of his arrival in Auvers-sur-Oise on May 20th, 1890.

A mad dash daytrip to London added a spark to our Paris visit. TootBus London thoroughly did the job of showing us the sights as we shrieked and pointed from the top of a bright red double-decker. Big Ben, Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, Mamma Mia marquis, and the Lego store, along with hearing English for a day delighted our souls.

The large diamond pendant adorning my metaphorical travel necklace was Mont Saint-Michel. This centuries-old massive abbey perched on a rock outcropping in the Atlantic Ocean beckoned me months before the trip. I knew I had to make the trek, and when I arrived, my soul sang, and I knew that this was a spiritual homecoming.

This sense of home was pervasive throughout our time in France. I became not only immersed in a sense of place, but in a sense of home. And that was the biggest surprise and gift of this trip. Even the Seventh Grader remarked on how incredibly comfortable she felt. Even when we got separated on the metro - me on the train and her stranded, left behind on the platform - she knew it would be all right.

My only regret on this trip was Sacre Coeur. Every day, I sketched a plan in my mind to get up to the shining Basilica on the hill. Alas, like the Bremen Town musicians, I never made it at all. 

C'est la vie, mais aussi une bonne raison de revenir dans la belle Paris.

Mont Saint-Michel in the evening

Here lies Vincent Van Gogh