4 Days in Paris

Going to Paris was always going to be the hard one! Just four days and a lifetime of expectations to live. Yes, I had dreamed of this day, when I looked longingly in 8th grade (standard) at my french text at the etching of the Arc de Triomphe. Something about the spirit of the place captured me right then and I was in love with Paris and everything parisian.

In College, I did French Literature as a minor and was introduced to the writers; Guy de Maupassant, Andre Gide, etc and their description of the French and the countryside entranced me.

Now here was my dream, now a reality and I couldn't help but intellectualize it, just so that I didn't miss a thing and could just feel things through, when I was in Paris. I watched my teaching company course on the paintings of the Louvre, Watched French movies, the first one, "Amelie" (without subtitles and not getting most of it) with Elvi. Then some more; "Paris" and "French Kiss", I read "A Movable Feast" by Earnest Hemingway and watched a 6 part course on "The History of Paris" on Amazon Instant Video, which was surprisingly good and very interesting.

D-Day: We flew Finnair and I watched an episode of Classical Destinations with Simon Callow. It was about Paris and it's famous composers. Debussy (who I was learning with my piano teacher, Chelsea) and Ravel. I loved the musical perspective on my beloved Paris.

The moment we landed we were faced with a barrage of french. Very few things are in English and so in order to get the Roissy bus from the airport and make sure we were headed to the right stop, I started to speak to a native frenchwoman from Montmartre, Stephanie, at the bus stop who was as eager to talk to me in English as I was to her in French. The resulting conversation must be heard to be believed! We exchanged email id's and phone numbers and hope to keep in touch.

I then got my second opportunity to speak some french with the cabbie on our way to the Bateaux Parisien to take a night cruise on the Seine. Ethan said to me surprised, "Mama, I knew you knew a little french, but I didn't know you could have a conversation in it. Elvi had been saying "Non" and "Oui" for days and days, before we reached Paris, I suppose Ethan thought that that was all we could manage!

The boat ride on the Siene was fun! There was an audio guide we could use, which my boys refused to so I would update them off and on and gave them a humorous tour with my own impressions thrown in, the whole way back to the Hotel.

We began our celebration of our 'holiday of gratitude' with bordeaux and crepes. I had picked up a little souvenir music box of "La Vie En Rose" the tinkling music to which I went to sleep to, with images of the Notre Dame's gothic spires and two columnar towers on the Ile de La Cite astride a sparkling black Siene.



Day 2: We woke up at 11:00 am, which by US time zone was just in time to start the day. We walked and walked and then stopped for brunch at the Cafe de La Paix ('paix' meaning 'peace')
http://www.cafedelapaix.fr/ . The food was elegantly served and in small portions, just the way we like it. Ethan had 'wild boar' marinated in citrus fruit and served with chestnut paste, which he had first read about in the Asterix comic books and was dying to try. We had a cold crab together and Elvi had his favorite, salmon. The desserts were just fabulous! Elvi had a house sweet white wine. Everywhere I went I did the British thing, and had my the au lait (tea with milk) to keep warm.

Ethan asked us to take him inside the once Imperial Opera House (and for some reason he wanted to see an opera, after he heard that his dad had fallen asleep during the production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in German (with English supertitles on a screen) in Wolf Trap in VA. What his intention was, I couldn't figure, but I wondered whether he would be able to sit through one. The critical Debussy once remarked about this opera house that it was like a railway station on the outside and a turkish bath on the inside. In some ways he's not far from the truth! This is where the audience would have walked during intermission or before and after a perfromance (see pic). The unexpected jewel in the crown for me, was the ceiling of the auditorium filled with depictions of various famous opera by Marc Chagall. Though not on our iteranary, this was a delightful stop.

We then walked past the Jardin de Tuilleries and naturally made comparisons to our beloved Central Park. The manicured, fountain studded, statue bedecked park was gorgeous, all right. Vaux and Omstead's wilderness feel was more up our alley. I'm sure though, that come summer, this place has a whole other feel. It was missing the chortles of children playing. One also has to be very 'proper', the grass being largely for decorative purposes. What?? You can't play on the grass??? says my little boy. Hmmm, I see his point.

(to be continued)