"Everything ends this way in France - everything. Weddings, christenings, duels, burials, swindlings, diplomatic affairs -everything is a pretext for a good dinner." -Jean Anouilh
Well here we
are...I mean were... in Paris.
Just the two of us.
Did I mention it was just the two of us?
Mitch was sent to Paris for a week with his company and it was wonderful.
We found Paris to be absolutely beautiful and loved every minute of it.
This is the gorgeous Opera House where his company's gala was held. First time in the history of the Paris Opera House that it was rented out for a private dinner affair (not to mention the private ballet and opera).
What girl doesn't like to dress for a black tie affair?
The interior of the Opera House was amazing...just breathtakingly beautiful.
and dinner was elegant with strolling violinists.
Our hotel pictured below was directly across the street from the Opera House. When we came downstairs to head across the street for the gala, it was pouring down rain. There were men in formal dress with umbrellas to escort us across the street.
We found Paris to be so beautiful...a fabulous city to see on foot! ...and "on foot" we went...for hours on end. No matter where you look in Paris, everything looks very much the same. The entire city was redesigned by Napoleon the III (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte). All the buildings are made of white limestone, six stories high, with the wrought iron gates at every window. It all looks very neat and orderly.
We tried to cram as much into one week as we could, not wanting to waste a minute. We did alot of sight-seeing, which for my history-loving self, was fascinating.
The Venus de Milo. Notice the tastefully far distance from which I chose to take this photo. Mitch, on the other hand, ended up with all kinds of *ahem* questionable photos seeing as how he would just swing around and snap photos of everything.
and the most fascinating thing about the Louvre...the fact that this former palace, which was replaced by Versailles, sits atop the foundation of a medieval palace...the foundation of which is now IN the Louvre, as pictured below.
...and, of course, the Mona Lisa. She is quite small. I was surprised. I bet she is no more than about 11" x 14".
The beautiful Church of Madeleine
This is the square where the guillotine stood during the French Revolution.
And Bastille Square
Little cafes line every street, and the Parisians sit out at them even in the coldest of temperatures. We noted that the cafes have little radiant heaters hanging from the canopies and pointed towards the tables.
Some shots on the Champs-Elysées (pronounced shonz-e-le-zea), at the end of which stands the Arc de Triomphe.
The Arc de Triomphe
The Palace of Versailles. Yep, that's solid gold!
It was interesting to me to hear a French person's perspective on Marie Antoinette. Different from the tyrant some history books paint her to be, a French woman spoke of how she was a young mother who had to suffer through the death's of all her children. Yes, selfish, but during the Revolution realizing she needed to care more...but it was too late. The story goes that at 38, her hair turned completely gray in one week out of fear. Here is a painting of her with her children.
The painting of Louis the XIV that always graces the pages of history textbooks hangs on the wall in Versailles.
The Hall of Mirrors
The House of Invalides, former military hospital, now the burial place of Napoleon.
It was a sort of eerie day to visit the Eiffel Tower. The entire top disappeared into the fog. Of course, we saw it on other days too because it can be seen from quite a distance. However, on this morning devoted to touring it, it looked so mysterious where it disappeared into the fog. Like you couldn't get a perspective on how tall it was.
Late Saturday night, I wished I could figure out a way to get to a church on Sunday morning. After being in Paris for a few days, I was longing for a tad bit of Christian fellowship. I searched the internet for a church and was reminded that Hillsong has a satellite church in Paris now. It didn't start till 12:30 pm which was great since Mitch had a morning meeting.
So we decided we could take the Metro. Unfortunately, we are not very fluent in metro. We got on the right line...going the wrong direction. A few stops later we got off and got back on again, this time in the right direction. However, by the time we arrived, it was nearly 12:30 and we were several blocks away. As we were exiting the metro, a girl turned around and said something to me in French. When I told her I only spoke English, she repeated her question in English.
"Are you looking for the Hillsong church?" she asked.
I said yes, and she told us to follow her.
As we walked the several blocks to the church I asked, "What would make you think we were looking for the church?"
"Because you are American," she said.
We walked several blocks, finally ending up in an old theatre in a back alley. We never would have found it. It was one of those beautiful reminders to me that God is in control at all times...even in the little things, because just before we left the hotel - a little nervous about our lack of sufficient time, and our lack of experience with metro travel - I prayed, "God, just get us there, please."
It was God who led this young woman to make contact with us...obviously God.
Church was great. When the band began, the entire theatre just erupted with excitement, and I was reminded that God's Spirit is universal. He transcends races and nationalities and even languages. To stand in the midst of a people pouring their hearts out to an all-knowing God...in an old familiar tune...but in a language you don't know...what an incredible experience.
The sermon was actually in English with a French interpreter. Their pastor is from the sister church in Sydney, therefore he preaches in English. We marveled at how the Parisians would not really need an interpreter anyways because they all speak English as well as French.
My very favorite thing we saw in Paris was the Orsay. I did not choose to tour it when I planned our tours. However, all week I kept wishing I had chosen it, but there just didn't seem to be time to add something to our schedule. The Orsay is a museum of the Impressionists. I am a HUGE fan of Impressionism. On our last full day in Paris, my husband insisted that we take the metro out to the Orsay. He did it for me. I am so grateful. It was incredible. To stand right in front of these gorgeous Monet's and Renoir's and Degas'...all these gorgeous paintings that I've admired in books for years...it was incredible. They are so much more beautiful in real life. The colors are so much more vibrant in real life and the textures just make you wish you could reach out and run your hand across them.
We rounded a corner and there was my favorite Renoir...so big it took up an entire wall and the colors were incredible...much brighter than I had imagined.
To have seen the actual train station Gare St Lazare, and then to see the original painting of the Gare St Lazare station that Monet painted while looking at it...well, it kind of gave me chills.
My wonderful, loving, yawning husband snagged this quick, secret photo with his phone for me...just so I could prove I'd stood in front of an actual Degas. Thanks, honey. Thanks for loving me enough to insist on enduring the Impressionists gallery just for me.
The beautiful, little bistro where we had dinner our last night in Paris. The lighting was actually orange, making it impossible to get a photo that was not.
Just some night shots out on the streets...mostly just experimenting with settings on my new camera which I have not even begun to scratch the surface of learning to use yet.
Dinner in the beautiful ball room of the Paris le Grand with my best friend...and some other great folks from his company.
I wanted to blog while we were in Paris, because there were so many things I would think that I wanted to write down so I didn't forget them. But, alas, the aforementioned best friend wouldn't let me. He said I'd have plenty of time to blog once we got home. The fact that it has taken me weeks just to get my photos posted proves him wrong but...oh well.
One thing we did while walking the streets of Paris every day was talk about:
"Here's what I noticed about Paris today..."
Sadly I forget a few, but here are those that linger in my brain:
Paris never sleeps. You can go out at 2am and the streets are still full of people.
People don't look strangers in the eye.
Older couples ALL hold hands. Didn't see one older married couple walking down the street without holding hands! Not one.
Parisians all dress in solid black.
People at dinner together lean on the table towards each other to get their heads closer together and just chatter away....the food is very secondary. It's more about the company than the dinner.
There's definitely not a "church on every corner" and there's an odd sense of scarcity of the Holy Spirit of course because of the scarcity of believers. Odd..something that is not "known" just "sensed". I remember distinctly feeling this same way in China.
People readily kiss in the streets. You know, you're just walking along and all of a sudden you stop walking and start kissing. :)
...and then it was time to head home....and believe it or not, we saw something incredible on the way home. It happened as we approached here:
Greenland!
I knew we were getting close, because I am a map following, GPS watching kind of a gal. So, I was watching, and all of a sudden, there it was...in all its glory. Photos absolutely cannot even offer a hint of what it looked like. Huge icebergs and fjords, rugged snow covered mountains, it was breathtaking. We all sat with our jaws dropped and our faces plastered to the windows. Oh, Praise the Lord, that it was a crystal clear sky that day! So thankful to have experienced that!
So thankful. Loved, loved Paris. Wow.
...did I mention it was just the two of us?
