A Parisian Pentecôte

Another French holiday (our last for this stint!) has come and gone, and of course I am left with plenty of photos to share and stories to recount.  This time two weeks from now we will have left Deauville for good and spending the night in Paris before catching our respective flights on the 2nd, but since we will be exhausted from lugging our (hopefully less than 50 pound) suitcases around it's doubtful that we will get to see any of the city on our last night in this beau pays.  It's a good thing, then, that on this latest visit of Paris I got to see everything that was on my list: the Catacombs, the Jardins de Luxembourg, the Opera Garnier, and the Sainte Chapelle, plus a little more.   

We arrived in Paris around 10 am on Saturday morning, and because l'Opera Garnier is right around the corner from Gare Saint Lazare we decided to begin with a visit to the Phantom of the Opera's stomping grounds.  

L'opéra nationale de Paris

Nifty and very grand staircase

the foyer

Cool ceiling

Speaking of neat ceilings, the auditorium itself has the coolest ceiling of all.  It was painted by Marc Chagall, has all sorts of neat Parisian images in it, and of course has a chandelier hanging from the middle.  


Our next stop was the Catacombs, the underground ossuary housed in the former quarries very far south in Paris.  Essentially, in the late 1700s many of the cemeteries in Paris were full to bursting and the system of mass graves was very unsanitary, so many new cemeteries were built at the outskirts of town while bones from the existing cemeteries were transferred to the former quarries.  Here they were piled along the walls and arranged rather artfully.  What's more, at some point between the opening of the catacombs and now, plaques inscribed with quotes from classic literature or the Bible regarding death were installed at intervals so that as you walked through the shadowy corridors lined with bones you were reminded of the seriousness of the place, just in case you had forgotten.  All in all, it was a very unique and somber place literally hidden out of sight in busy, glamourous Paris.  A few other notes from this experience: while the paths in the catacombs are such that it is impossible to get off the path, there are also access hallways that the workers use.  Before we even reached the bones a man emerged out of one of these somewhat hidden entrances and scared the dickens out of us.  He was very apologetic, and in retrospect it was hilarious.  Basically, I can understand why under 14s are not allowed in without an adult.  Also interesting is that, unlike most Parisian monuments, there is no sort of security check when you descend into the Catacombs, but upon leaving you are stopped so that workers can peer into your bags with a flashlight to make sure you haven't stolen any of the bones.  Speaking of which, here are some of them, in case you were interested.

One of the many inscriptions reminding us that life is fleeting.  About half were in Latin.

After such a cheery place (and after a lovely banana and nutella crepe), we decided to make our way up to the Jardins de Luxembourg.  We weren't the only ones with this idea, even if June weather in France hasn't been particularly warm or sunny this year, but we still managed to snag some of the nifty free lounge chairs that can be found in French parks.

This is the only time I've ever seen one of these little pavilions in use.  It seemed like a high school orchestra was giving a free concert.  They were a little squeaky at times, but it was still a nice surprise.

You can rent sailboats in many of the parks in Paris.  I think of Stuart Little each time I see them.

It seems that with each boat rental you get a free stick with which to push your boat around or whack your neighbor.  Brilliant.

For the rest of the afternoon we wandered around the Latin Quarter, gazed at some buildings, and then settled in at a cafe for a drink while we chatted and enjoyed some street musicians.  Demi peche, anyone?

More doors for my collection.

Couldn't get very close to this one.

La Sorbonne

La fac du droit, for a certain lawyer in our midst.

The Pantheon, where Great Men of the Republic are buried (including my street's namesake)

Day two of our Parisian adventure had an excellent beginning: I ate a bagel with cream cheese.  This may seem ridiculously pedestrian for many of my readers, but considering that a bagel, cream cheese, and a hot chocolate was my favorite snack for much of my childhood and I haven't had one in the ten months I've been here, I must say that yes, it is a big deal.  And for the record, it was D-Licious.  


Nearly as exciting was our visit to the Sainte Chapelle.  I'm not sure how I made it this long without visiting it considering I remember seeing photos in 4th grade that made me want to see it.  Anyway, it's quite remarkable, even without the relics Saint Louis brought back from the Crusades.  Just look below, if you don't believe me.

After the Sainte Chapelle it was time to visit the bouquinistes and their lovely wares one last time.  Cathya and I got engaged in a long conversation with two of the bouquinistes, which was fun since in a few weeks these sorts of conversations will be basically over.  The only less enjoyable parts of our chat were when our incredibly well traveled pals kept talking about how disgusting KFC is when I said I was from Kentucky and when they kept asking when the Americans were going to give DSK back and saying how it's ridiculous that an old man like him was being locked up.  Don't even get me started, messieurs.  

In case you were wondering who the bouquinistes are.

And what sort of visit to Paris would it be without a trip to Berthillon on Ile Saint Louis?  An ice cream-less one, of course.  We decided to live it up and get 2 dips each, which really isn't scandalous since each dip is tiny.  I got dark chocolate and fraises des bois, which is basically like homemade ice cream made with strawberries from your garden.  Excellent choices and an excellent final meal in Paris.

Lille et la ville de frites

As the day draws to a close on the last jour férié of our year here (unbelieveable...) I am reminded of the last break we had a little over a week ago...and of how I haven't shared my experiences from it yet.  So here goes.


Since Lilly is the macaroni to my cheesy traveling self, she and I decided to take advantage of our last mutual break here in France by exploring another corner of la belle France together.  After much discussion and ambivalence (it's amazing how spoiled we've become by living here for a year) we decided to head up to Nord Pas de Calais to visit Lille and discover a town with a completely different look.  Then once we looked at a map and realized how incredibly close we were to Belgium we decided it would be a travesty if we went all that distance without sampling all that fair country had to offer.  So Lille and Brussels it was.  


We found Lille to be a very pleasant, very walkable city and really enjoyed being lazy tourists here:  we did a lot of walking around the various neighborhoods and looking at shops (and doing some shopping) but we didn't go to any museums.  Instead we enjoyed the sun and the different architecture.  I don't know if I would chose Lille if I could live anywhere in France (other than Paris)--Toulouse may take the cake for me so far--but it was definitely a nice change of pace.

Lilly in the Grand'Place

Another view of the Grand'Place

I love French doors.  Lille was nice because it had tons of colorful doors and shutters.

Our trip to Brussels was a little less leisurely.  This may be due to the fact that it was almost cancelled because someone forgot to bring her passport, but the Schengen treaty and a nice SNCF worker named Aurélien rushed in to save the day (he confirmed that no passport is needed to pass between Belgium and France as long as your train is only going to countries that signed the Schengen treaty).  Anyway, we made it to Brussels and back without getting into trouble with the police.  Here are the highlights:

The strangely graphic and famous statue Manneken Pis.  Apparently he also has lots of outfits that they wears at different times throughout the year, ranging from Santa Claus to footballer to undersea diver attire. 

All the tourists flocking to see the little boy go pee-pee.  And this was in the morning, before things got busy.

Detail from the Town Hall in the Grand Place.  Pretty impressive.

Lilly in the Grand Place.  It's apparently largely considered to be the most beautiful square in Europe.

Me in another part of the GP.

Encore de GP.

Another detail from the GP.

Don't worry--we've changed locales.  I just thought the architecture in Brussels was strikingly different from anything you'd see in France.

Obviously we had to try Belgian waffles (gauftres).  Mine was with chocolat chaud.  YUM!

Lilly went with the classic fraises.

Les Galeries St. Hubert, large shopping arcades.

That doesn't make me want to buy the chocolate from this shop.

A lot of signs were half in Flemish and half in French.  We were only addressed in Flemish once, though, and when we seemed confused they speaker quickly switched to French.

Since Belgium is the birthplace of French fries we would be remiss to come all this way and not try any, right?  We hiked a good 40 minutes (mostly uphill, for the record) to the Maison Antoine, which Lilly's guidebook recommended.

We weren't the only ones to do so.

I though the little fork they gave us to eat them with was particularly cute and helped me feel dainty as I ate my cornet of frites.

Lilly's quite excited for her frites!

My sauce speciale (mayonnaise, onions, and some sort of sweetish sauce) before I knocked it on the ground just as I was exclaiming about how delicious it was.  TRAGEDY.

Still, I'm a happy camper.

Next stop: The chocolate museum for a demonstration of how Belgian pralines (truffles) are made.  And some samples, of course!

Chocolate pots.

These dresses are apparently dipped in chocolate and then painted.  I'm not sure why they did this, but I figured it warranted a photo.

So yes, in case you were wondering, we ate our way through Brussels.  We did see a lot of other interesting sights, though, including the European Union parliament and other administrative buildings (right by the Maison Antoine, in case you're ever called there for any reason).  Strangely enough, this area was full of huge, deserted office buildings that were for lease.