An American (or six!) in Paris

In the interests of traveling light, we did not pack our laptops -- only ipads.  For me, they are about the most annoying thing ever on which to type, hence my lack of posting.  As a result, you'll get the whole experience in one post!

The kids & I left for Paris on Wednesday, leaving Michael behind to work on his Italian and his job.  For those who were confused, let clarity reign! Because I have so many days to post and don't want it to be boring, this will be a photo essay...

Georges, the candy man, had a great eye for incorporating the classroom into his sweetshop.

You can see the little 50's style school posters

He was just like Willy Wonka, handing out his beloved sweets for the kids to enjoy!

How could anyone resist his smile?

It's hard to show in photos, but the glass jars & gorgeous colors were such a treat for the eye!

At the top of the Eiffel Tower

Jeremy loves his cameras and has a lot of fun experimenting with them.

Eleanor, meanwhile, thrives on looking like a fashion plate.

I loved these shoes...shown in the vignette of Eiffel & Edison.

This is a job I would NOT like, although they did have a circus net suspended under them, and they were clipped in well.

This is a church where we stopped to light a few candles for folks on our prayer list.

The cemetery at Montparnasse

A carving in the catacombs in Montparnasse.

Okay, I have to break out of photos to talk about the catacombs.  They were fascinating!  Apparently, there are huge quarries underneath the city of Paris, dating from who-knows-when.  Much of the old stonework in the city comes from these quarries.  At some point, the quarries were (I think) forgotten, and later (when there was a greater building density & weight on the surface), there were a few sinkhole issues.  Perhaps coincidentally, with greater population pressures, the Parisian cemeteries were bursting at the seams.  Someone had the bright idea to remove the remains to the existing quarry space - et, voilà! A solution!  Over the course of around 100 years, over 6 million (either bones or skeletons; I'm a bit hazy) sumpin' were moved.

The workmen also did some carvings in the stone that remains.  This carving above was done by a workman who had been imprisoned opposite this palace for many years (the placard didn't specify why).  After having observed this palace so minutely over such a long time, he was able to reproduce it from memory in the quarries.

To give an idea of the extent of these quarries, we walked on a long path (1.8 km long) that was fairly wide.  That represents 1/800th of the entire size of the underground caverns.  One interesting thing was the opportunity to observe a sinkhole from underneath!  It was bell-shaped, and had been reinforced with concrete from below.

An absolutely gorgeous illumination in Notre Dame

I don't think I'd like to find myself on this side at judgment day...

These carvings (and the ones depicted above) were at Sainte Chapelle, which I'd never seen.  Absolutely lovely! For more information...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Chapelle

All 5 present and accounted for!  I can't tell you how many times I counted noses on this trip!

I asked the docent why they had so many H's on the ceilings of the Louvre (and in other monuments).  He thought they were for Henri IV, but wasn't sure.  After some conversation, he & I were in agreement that they were actually for Hook.

Pretty nifty spoon, huh?

I thought he was marvelous!

This is what I will do to stray cats in my garden (just kidding!)...the mummified animals in the Egyptian section of the Louvre were highly entertaining to all of us.

A different style of mummification

A mummified ibex.

I had never seen these bead-cloths used as funerary equipment...very, very interesting, and absolutely beautiful workmanship!

I couldn't get a closeup, but these are some beautifully crafted miniatures.

I loved the coloration in the sarcophagi

We wondered why gilding on roofs is uncommon -- it's so beautiful!

Quite a bed, but I wouldn't want to meet Marie Antoinette's fate.

Eleanor & James at Versailles, with Jeremy calculating the number of cobblestones required for the pavement.

James loved seeing the pigeons taking a shower!

A James's-eye view of Notre Dame

James's take on the Eiffel Tower

This is the dome of the church where we attended Mass on Sunday.  

The altar and baldaquin

The kids liked the taxi in which we left, because the seats faced each other.

If you look closely, you can see that this is an Italian light fixture...one of the branches is held up by a ribbon!

Other notable memories: goat-cheese flavored Lay's potato chips, the racial diversity of the city (lots of Vietnamese and Africans -- we discussed the effects of colonization on this diversity), the bathtub/shower in the apartment (open to the bathroom -- no shower curtain -- and about 3 feet long, with the base divided so that half was much higher -- you sat on it!), the pastries, and the sheer expanse of Versailles!

Love,

Alexandra