Another beautiful day in Paris...

Well, it's late (here) and I'm throwing a few words and pictures together for sweet family and friends who've been so kind to at least appear interested in the tiny details of this wonderful trip!

 (Thanks for that. Sincerely.) 

Today's agenda included finally getting up close and personal with that little tower we've been admiring from our apartment this week. The Eiffel Tower is so huge, it appears to be pretty close, but we just kept walking…

…and walking…

…and walking...

and walking…(you get the idea!)

…till we were finally there! We got to the Tour Eiffel (as it's called here) early, and the lines moved quickly and before we could think too much about it, we were on an elevator headed to the tippy-top on the clearest day we've had in Paris. Beautiful views!

(You can always tell when Jesse frames the selfie -- he crops himself almost out of the picture)

Hey, y'all!

And, as we were walking away, I couldn't resist one last shot. What an amazing feat of engineering!

After all of this, naturally it was time for espresso! (And, thanks to a recommendation from our friend Kevin, a chocolate croissant! (It's amazing how many of our friends' recommendations are food-related. We are doing our best to eat our way through Paris!)

Then it was off to Musee D'Orsay, based in a gorgeous old train station and home to fabulous impressionist masterpieces. I didn't take many pictures here, although we loved seeing paintings we've admired by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Manet and more.

This mama and chubby baby made me miss my Abram.

This lovely girl reading made me miss my Maranda!

The train station clock -- with a view of Paris!

The gorgeous gallery...

Just a couple of tortured artists...

Okay, this is a crazy bit of serendipity. My dad had a picture one of my first cousins sent him of a store in Paris named Florence Martin (the name of his mother -- our grandmother). I would not have been able to find it if I searched the city, so I didn't try…we just happened to run into it! 

We next headed to the artsy neighborhood on a Paris hilltop -- Montmartre! We enjoyed a delicious lunch -- I had roast chicken and Jesse had a chopped steak topped with an egg. And what is it about the French and those fries? 

I'm so happy to be walking all over ancient streets in Europe with this guy!

I finally heard a street musician play "La Vie En Rose" in Montmartre! *sigh*

Another espresso? Why not! Make mine en creme!

Crowds thronged the stairs and grounds of Sacre Coeur high on Butte Montmartre to enjoy gorgeous views of Paris and street performances by a variety of entertainers...

Selfie - Jesse-style. 

Sidenote: My parents were married in a church called Sacre Coeur (well, it's called Sacred Heart)…almost 53 years ago!

Crazy performer with an amazing backdrop...

A beautiful walk in Montmartre...

Fantastic musicians…(made me miss my Mikey!)

Another reminder of family -- Hi, Madeleine!

We ended the evening in the beautiful Cafe du Commerce -- another recommendation from the source of all things Paris -- Elisabeth Grant-Gibson! Our anniversary is tomorrow, but we started the celebration early with a beautiful meal a l'etage. (that means on the upper level -- another great suggestion from Elisabeth!)

Semi-subtle selfie in the mirror at Cafe du Commerce!

Entree (what we could call an appetizer) -- crumble d’aubergines au chèvre frais (eggplant and goat cheese crumble -- too. good.)

And the main course, a house specialty recommended by our waiter Gregory, was the L’exceptionnelle de notre boucher Pascal (an exceptional creation by the restaurant butcher, Pascal, featuring limousine beef, four beautiful sauces, and French fries (again) served with bone marrow. After Gregory rolled us down the stairs, we limped back to the apartment! What a lovely meal!

So tomorrow, we're going to road trip outside of Paris and we're pretty excited about seeing some countryside. (You know us farm-types -- we've got to get to the country!) We're taking a train to Rouen and renting a car and we plan to tour Normandy a bit. We want to see some D-Day sites (Wig Hatton has told Jesse a story or two and we want to soak in some important history). We also plan to visit the gorgeous Mont St. Michel and wherever else the road takes us! I'll be sure to post from the road! Thanks for following along! 

A few quick things...

I keep forgetting to mention something important: 

French people are really nice. 

I mean, without exception, they have been warm, friendly -- kind. 
Waiters, shopkeepers, folks in the street and on the metro. Being somewhere and not knowing the language creates complications, but the folks here have helped so much.

Another thing -- I got a Fitbit a few weeks ago (kind of a glorified pedometer) and it's been fun to keep up with "our steps" the last couple of days. The Fitbit "goal" is 10,000 steps a day (roughly five miles) and 30 "active" minutes.  Even on our big travel day (with all the plane-sitting) we logged 10,873 steps and 43 active minutes. Yesterday's sightseeing hikes totaled up 17,540 steps (7.55 miles!!) and 62 active minutes!

Another thing -- we're on the sixth floor (top floor!) of our little apartment building, which features the previously mentioned world's tiniest elevator. It's actually the seventh floor, because the ground floor is called "0" and the second floor is 1, etc. I mention this, because the elevator has decided to just park on the fifth floor. Which means we've tromped up and down seven flights of stairs several times. Which probably accounts for those "active minutes" on the ol' Fitbit. 

Another random thing -- every menu we've studied featured ouef et mayonnaise (translated as eggs and mayonnaise) as an appetizer (although here, the appetizers are called "entree" which makes sense). Anyway, curiosity won out last night and we ordered the ouef appetizer…(J.H. Martin would have been proud!)

Basically, it's beautifully boiled eggs on homemade French mayonnaise which has a light Dijon flavor, with lettuce and tomato. It was delicious!

All the beautiful things...

Brace yourself friends -- this post is full of pictures and more minutiae from our Paris adventures! We woke up to blue skies this morning and the sun was shining on the lovely Eiffel!

Then, while we drinking french press coffee prepared by Jesse and leftover bread, cheese and grapes, some clouds rolled in, which was lovely also…

 (Basically, you can't go wrong with this view!)

We headed out this morning to see Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle and the Louvre, with a few bonus sights thrown in. It was a big day and surprisingly emotional for me.

Construction began on the Notre Dame Cathedral in 1163, with the dedication mass taking place two centuries later -- in 1345. Just looking at the massive exterior -- the stonework, the sculptures, all rich with meaning…it's hard to imagine the commitment it took for the workers to build a church in hopes that their grandchildren might one day worship there.

(one of the many groups of statues on the facade depicting Biblical characters and early church figures -- including St. Denis, who was beheaded for his faith. Legend has it that Denis picked up his head, tucked it under his arm and walked away, pausing to wash it in a fountain before determining the right spot to "meet his maker." )

When we went inside, I was moved to tears by the beauty of the place. This is holy ground, consecrated to worship over 850 years ago. We paused to light a candle and pray (specifically for my mother-in-law's heart and my father's back, and generally for all of our family). No photos (certainly not any taken with my iPhone!) can capture the beauty or the feeling of the place.

The same is true of the much smaller Sainte Chapelle, apparently regarded as having the finest stained glass in all of Europe. This church was built by King Louis between 1242 and 1248 and is almost entirely composed of huge stained glass windows depicting 1100 different scenes, mostly from the Bible. In the time we were there, the light itself highlighted one window, then another as the sun moved across the sky. 

Again, my camera could not begin to capture the beauty of this cathedral. I think part of what struck me is that in recent years, I've been fond of saying that I'm not as much for "bricks and mortar" spending by the church. I admire some of the newer churches who just meet in schools or storefronts and put their money to use to help people, rather than build buildings. This is a good thing, but being in these magnificent places of worship made me appreciate the fact that this beauty was created as an act of worship and devotion to God. These buildings represent the commitment, creativity, workmanship, brilliant engineering and artisanship of people in the service of God. 

Well, after all of that, it was time for a break -- so we found a little cafe and had an espresso (Jesse's new favorite thing) and a cafe creme (pronounced "krem" - thank you, Elisabeth) along with a lovely trio of tiny desserts. Delicious!

We also took a few pictures on a couple of the wonderful bridges that cross the Seine (including a smoochy one at Loretta's request, but Jesse didn't want me to post it on the blog!)

Another fun stop was Shakespeare and Company -- a bookstore originally opened for the "Lost Generation" who came to Paris after WWI to "find themselves." It's room after funky room crammed with old books, new books, beat-up typewriters, crazy winding staircases, well-worn sofas and chairs…basically a book-lover's heaven! It made me think of Maranda -- she would love it! (All my kids would, actually!) 

We found a little brasserie for lunch in the vicinity of the Louvre where we had some delicious vegetable soup (not like mine -- more of a puree of vegetable soup) and a croque-monsieur -- a traditional French snack of grilled cheese and ham sandwich.

(grilled cheese daddy)

And, in anticipation of taking on the Louvre, we had another espresso. The teeny-tiny cup prompted me to ask "Does this cup make me look fat?"

(Is anybody even still reading this? Sheesh. We haven't even gotten to the Louvre yet! 

I'll try to wrap this thing up!)

Okay - the Louvre. It's enormous and we couldn't begin to see everything but there were a few things I really wanted to see, and other things that were wonderful and striking and others that struck us as humorous because when you've been walking all day and you've had too many espressos, you sometimes get silly.

Here are a few highlights: 

Winged Victory. Breathtaking. From the 2nd Century. B.C. 

Oh, you know, just hanging out with Mona. 

Jesse said, "Are you sure that's the real one?"

I loved this DaVinci painting - The Virgin and Child with St. Anne. The expressions are beautiful.

The Venus de Milo. Ancient, Beautiful.

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss. How sculptors create these masterpieces is inconceivable to me.

Michelangelo. Yes. Michelangelo. These statues, Slaves, are remarkable. 

And now, on a much lighter note, did you know ancient Romans were fond of selfies? 

 And apparently, ancient ladies were also fond of pedicures...

Last one, I promise -- this guy made us think of Trent Williams…and all the wrecking crew.

Okay, Okay, I'm done. Unless you're just dying to know what we had for supper. No? Okay. See you tomorrow, friends! 

Hello from…PARIS!

Bonjour from the beautiful city of Paris! Jesse and I arrived yesterday in this amazing city and have been trying to balance his practical, responsible side (Seriously, we do not need to announce via social media that we are out of the country!) with my unquenchable desire to communicate every single thing (If I don't share it, it's like it isn't really happening!) I thought I might scribble in a journal and take pictures and put together some sort of album after, but then daughter Jess suggested I blog as I go - just letting close friends and family know where to get the photos and updates about our adventures. So -- here's a quick(ish) post on the trip over and first day's events.

Warning: if you're not into minutiae, these posts probably won't interest you!

We took off from Monroe Saturday afternoon after a whirlwind packing job that actually included me packing for a week in Paris in a small carryon bag. I know! 

(Full disclosure -- I packed most of my "toiletries" in Jesse's canvas carryon bag and brought a backpack for my "personal" carryon -- which included my computer and a Kindle, among other things. So, light, sort of, and we did manage to get on and off of two planes, through customs, a bus, the Metro and the streets of Paris and onto the world's smallest elevator with our bags, so, all in all, not too shabby!)

The Air France flight from Atlanta to Paris was crowded and fun. We were determined to sleep on the overnight flight, but that was easier said than done. We watched a movie (Guardians of the Galaxy) enjoyed a surprisingly delicious onboard meal (soybean and corn salad - delish - roast chicken with mustard sauce, rice and veggies, cheese and bread, fruit and dessert!) then attempted to go to sleep. Jesse ended up watching two more movies and I surfed a few comedy TV offerings. By the time we landed, (I don't know, six, seven hours later? So confused!) we were pretty tired. We wandered around the airport looking for the Air France shuttle to take us to "Etoile" so we could then get on the correct Metro line to take us to the apartment we rented in Paris' 15th Arrondisement. It took some searching (and we almost opted to share a cab with a nice couple we met from Montenegro) but then the right bus pulled up…then circled the airport for what seemed like forever before finally heading toward Paris. The Sacre Cour was the first "sight" I spied as we approached the city. Then suddenly -- rooftops, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower…we were here! We found the right Metro line, bought our tickets, got off at the right stop and found our little apartment building! (This felt like a huge accomplishment!)

And when we got to the top floor (via the world's tiniest elevator) we were rewarded with this view from our new home away from home:

We'd been warned by globetrotting friends (Thanks, Kevin!) NOT to take a nap on the first day, so we were determined to push through the jet lag and headed out to an open market on our street that is only open on Sundays. (Thanks, Elisabeth Grant-Gibson for this and many, many other tips!) Okay, here's the part where I post an obnoxious number of pictures of produce -- completely unedited and unfiltered, right out of my phone. The fruits, vegetables, cheese, bread, meat, seafood…all absolutely beautiful! And fresh flowers! Parisians love their fresh flowers!

We bought some grapes, strawberries, Camembert, pain aux cereals (yummy grainy bread), olives and enjoyed an early-afternoon snack back at the apartment!

Then we decided to get "oriented" to the city by getting on one of the "hop on, hop off" open top buses that circle through, with recorded commentary, for an overview. The problem is, by this time we were both so sleepy that we could barely keep our eyes open! We did get our first glimpse of many of the places we plan to visit this week -- the Louvre, Notre Dame, Musee D'Orsay and more -- but we finally decided we had to get off and get coffee or we wouldn't make it through the rest of the day. We popped in a cute cafe near the apartment and ordered two coffees -- teeny tiny cups of espresso were delivered to us. After the first sip, we both thought "Oh no. Too strong. We'll never be able to drink this." After the third sip, we decided we really liked it and may become espresso converts! We topped off this bit of fuel with a visit to a neighborhood patisserie where we got an eclair au chocolate and a couple of macarons. We gobbled them before I could get a picture -- shocking, right? We returned to the apartment, where I did my nesting thing -- unpacking, getting situated, puttering around -- and Jesse took a super-short catnap. Then we were off in search of an early supper so we could finally give up and go to bed. We wandered around our new neighborhood, perusing menus and peeking in windows. And what did we choose for our first actual meal our first actual night in Paris?

(don't you dare judge us!)

 

To be fair, it was a delicious hamburger - wonderful beef, topped with sharp bleu cheese, a beautiful salad and wonderful frites! (Hey, when in France, eat…French fries?) Don't worry, friends, we promise to be plenty experimental in our dining choices the rest of the trip! This night, we needed comfort food! So we walked back to the apartment, where this lovely nighttime view awaited us:

Ah. Paris is always a good idea…