Our trip is winding down. But there are still a few things left to do in this beautiful city of lights.
A few historical things that is, as the delights of walking along the river, listening to music and eating fresh crepes could easily consume the rest of our time.
The big kids have heard about the famous Parisian catacombs and have talked their Daddy into taking them down there. As much as I love being around dead people, we decide to divide and conquer this one. I can only imagine the nightmares we'd be dealing with taking our little one's down there.
So off goes half the family to seek our the underworld of Paris and the girls and I do a bit of laundry and spend the morning playing in the little park in the Ile de la Cite, just behind Notre Dame. It's a precious time when you can sit in a beautiful park and watch the uninhibited joy of your children play. Sometimes you have to be completely out of your own environment to have this level of relaxation. I don't have any committee's to answer back to. I don't need to run to the bank or the grocery store. All the mundane little things are on hold (temporarily) and I can truly enjoy the roses. It's a gift, one that we don't embrace enough of. I wish there was a magic potion that could take you back to this simple peaceful place once in a while.
Meanwhile.... in a catacomb in the heart of Paris......
I'd say my three big kids (this includes my biggest kid) more than had their expectations met this morning, entering into the land of death. As in everything they do, the Parisians have created art out of death. Creating a fascinating, if macabre, cemetery under the city in the ancient mines that once would have produced the stone to build the beautiful buildings we see today.
By the end of the 17th century Paris had a real problem.
The cemeteries were full many times over, and the stink and putrefaction was causing disease, discomfort and death. Not to mention all sorts of malodorous fumes rising from the cemeteries that housed ten centuries worth of bodies! The crisis came to a head when the cellar of a respected Parisian collapsed in with the corpses of the nearby cemetery. So the Parisian government decided to transform the old mines under the city into a mass cemetery.
The bodies and bones of over six million souls were carefully exhumed, and artfully arranged in this mass grave. The skulls were arranged into symbols and figures while the rest of the bones made up the walls. The number of visitors is strictly limited to ensure the correct effect is had upon the visitor. Just enough somberness to make you reflect upon your own mortality, with a splash of the creepy, to keep the visitor numbers up. The catacombs were first visited as an "attraction" in the 1800's, and although I must say I would not be super keen to visit it myself, I think it was a real highlight for Randall, Liana and Liam.
After their experience underground the family was reunited in the little park by Notre Dame where the little girls and I were still happily playing. We walked slowly up the Seine River to the other end of the Ile de la Cite. Along the way Liana was thrilled to discover one of the many Wallace fountains to be found sprinkled around the city. I mentioned them at the beginning of my blog, and so you can imagine dear reader, the little squeal of delight that Liana made as she recognized one of these little gems. During our walk we were to discover quite a few of them, including the larger water bottle filling fountains.
Before leaving the Ile de la Cite I have to make a small pilgrimage of my own.
When I was a little girl, we visited Paris several times, and every time we came my dad would insist on buying some baguette sandwiches and sitting on the very tip of the Ile de la Cite, where it juts out into the Seine River like a sharp point, and we'd hang our legs over the side and enjoy our food while Paris would drift or motor past us. It's something that he so enjoyed doing and took such delight in anticipating as well as reliving once we got home.
Today, it was a strongly emotional place for me, I could feel the spirit of my parents in their happiest days still lingering on here. But then that is a lesson to be learned. The happy days come, and they are to be savored. We are all blessed with these days and we must make the most of them. And while I am pretty melancholy in my heart, I know it is because the wounds of their loss are still so fresh, I feel a sense of release that I can remember those happy days that they had together, and with me. And they were both people to savor their moments of happiness.
We walk slowly up to the Louvre Palace. It's a hot day and we are all a bit wilting. But we've come this far, so we decide to press on to observe the glass pyramid which fits so awkwardly into the center of the splendidly adorned Palace of the famous Louis' of the 18th century France. Liam has a bit of a tanty as he desperately wants to see the inside and all the famous artwork that the Louvre holds. "But Muuuuuum, the MONA LISA!!!" It must be one of the most famous museums in the world, and I must admit I do feel a bit bad that we are going to get this far and not actually go inside. But then, the Louvre is an enormous place, one that I am not prepared to do now. We've seen artwork and treasures galore on this trip, and to do the Louvre justice I feel that we should be fresh to truly experience it. And hey, it leaves them wanting more, which will make the next trip all that more easy to plan!
With tired and hot little people surrounding us we tuck tail and head back to our little island, to visit our favorite creperie and enjoy each other's company at one of the local restaurants. Our trip is winding down, and I take a sunset walk alone along the river after the kids have all gone to sleep and enjoy the changing colors of the sky silhouetting Notre Dame. Someday Randall and I will be able to travel and not tag team, and be like so many other couples walking along hand in hand. But remembering the chubby little hand that held mine in the park earlier today I realize that I can be patient. For these are the good old days.....
A few historical things that is, as the delights of walking along the river, listening to music and eating fresh crepes could easily consume the rest of our time.
The big kids have heard about the famous Parisian catacombs and have talked their Daddy into taking them down there. As much as I love being around dead people, we decide to divide and conquer this one. I can only imagine the nightmares we'd be dealing with taking our little one's down there.
So off goes half the family to seek our the underworld of Paris and the girls and I do a bit of laundry and spend the morning playing in the little park in the Ile de la Cite, just behind Notre Dame. It's a precious time when you can sit in a beautiful park and watch the uninhibited joy of your children play. Sometimes you have to be completely out of your own environment to have this level of relaxation. I don't have any committee's to answer back to. I don't need to run to the bank or the grocery store. All the mundane little things are on hold (temporarily) and I can truly enjoy the roses. It's a gift, one that we don't embrace enough of. I wish there was a magic potion that could take you back to this simple peaceful place once in a while. Meanwhile.... in a catacomb in the heart of Paris......
I'd say my three big kids (this includes my biggest kid) more than had their expectations met this morning, entering into the land of death. As in everything they do, the Parisians have created art out of death. Creating a fascinating, if macabre, cemetery under the city in the ancient mines that once would have produced the stone to build the beautiful buildings we see today.
By the end of the 17th century Paris had a real problem.
The cemeteries were full many times over, and the stink and putrefaction was causing disease, discomfort and death. Not to mention all sorts of malodorous fumes rising from the cemeteries that housed ten centuries worth of bodies! The crisis came to a head when the cellar of a respected Parisian collapsed in with the corpses of the nearby cemetery. So the Parisian government decided to transform the old mines under the city into a mass cemetery.
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| Liana discovers the Wallace fountains |
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| Clara enjoys the cool grass on the Ile de la Cite |
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| Thinking of Grandpa at his favorite spot on the end of the Ile de la Cite. We miss you Grandpa! |
When I was a little girl, we visited Paris several times, and every time we came my dad would insist on buying some baguette sandwiches and sitting on the very tip of the Ile de la Cite, where it juts out into the Seine River like a sharp point, and we'd hang our legs over the side and enjoy our food while Paris would drift or motor past us. It's something that he so enjoyed doing and took such delight in anticipating as well as reliving once we got home.
Today, it was a strongly emotional place for me, I could feel the spirit of my parents in their happiest days still lingering on here. But then that is a lesson to be learned. The happy days come, and they are to be savored. We are all blessed with these days and we must make the most of them. And while I am pretty melancholy in my heart, I know it is because the wounds of their loss are still so fresh, I feel a sense of release that I can remember those happy days that they had together, and with me. And they were both people to savor their moments of happiness.
We walk slowly up to the Louvre Palace. It's a hot day and we are all a bit wilting. But we've come this far, so we decide to press on to observe the glass pyramid which fits so awkwardly into the center of the splendidly adorned Palace of the famous Louis' of the 18th century France. Liam has a bit of a tanty as he desperately wants to see the inside and all the famous artwork that the Louvre holds. "But Muuuuuum, the MONA LISA!!!" It must be one of the most famous museums in the world, and I must admit I do feel a bit bad that we are going to get this far and not actually go inside. But then, the Louvre is an enormous place, one that I am not prepared to do now. We've seen artwork and treasures galore on this trip, and to do the Louvre justice I feel that we should be fresh to truly experience it. And hey, it leaves them wanting more, which will make the next trip all that more easy to plan!
 |
| Crepe Heaven |
With tired and hot little people surrounding us we tuck tail and head back to our little island, to visit our favorite creperie and enjoy each other's company at one of the local restaurants. Our trip is winding down, and I take a sunset walk alone along the river after the kids have all gone to sleep and enjoy the changing colors of the sky silhouetting Notre Dame. Someday Randall and I will be able to travel and not tag team, and be like so many other couples walking along hand in hand. But remembering the chubby little hand that held mine in the park earlier today I realize that I can be patient. For these are the good old days.....
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