Paris - Day 3

After a long pause (on my part, that is) I'm finally getting back to finishing up our Paris trip. I'm finding that the harder the grammar gets, the less ambition I have in the afternoons for anything besides checking email and napping......but I hear that is normal.

Let's see, where was I? Okay, on Sunday we went to church with Rolf and Catherine at their French-speaking church. It was small (about 15-18 people including the 3 of us as "visitors") but the presence of the Lord filled that small apartment on Easter Sunday! The pastor is a lady who is originally from England, married someone from Eastern Europe and they raised their kids in Paris. So, that meant she spoke French that I could understand - slowly, without an accent, and simple vocabulary. I actually understood about 50-60% of the sermon. Afterward, we visited and met the other people there and had "coffee time." (I had tea.)

So, after church we took the train, well, maybe it's actually the "metro" since it's underground most of the time......back to the apartment. If you have problems with people being in your personal space I would suggest staying away from the metro system in Paris. For some reason people enjoy playing "sardines" in the metro?

We had a delicious lunch and then headed back to the city to visit the Sacred Heart Chapel on top of the hill. It's very impressive to see and apparently everyone and their brother wanted to see it that afternoon also! It was Easter Sunday, I guess. We walked around inside (even though they were having a mass at that time) of the building and they herd people around the inside perimeter of the building - this is similar practice all over Europe I'm finding. We sat in on the service for a bit too.

Then it was outside to stroll around the Artisan's Market and then head back home. We relaxed that evening and planned out our last day there. We forgot it was a public holiday but thankfully the Louvre was still open. (We were hoping many people would think it was closed so it wouldn't be as busy - wishful thinking!) The weekend was really catching up with me at that point and I was exhausted and my legs were pretty sore. Sleep came quickly!

Monday dawned a bit cool and overcast, but we headed back to the train station. The nice thing is that there is a stop right by the Louvre and then the trick is to find the entrance. I had read about an "alternate, secret entrance" and Maralee went looking for it while Mandi and I stayed in line by the glass pyramid. Apparently it wasn't too secret since there was a line of people there too. Oh well. We had a good spot in line and were some of the first people in the museum - pays to be "Dutch" and enjoy waiting in line!

So, we had sort of planned our course of attack on the ride there and we confirmed our plan once inside. First stop, the Mona Lisa. Not that any of us were "chomping at the bit" to see it, but there is so much "hype" about it that you HAVE to see it when you are there. Here's a synopsis for you: it's a little painting on a huge wall of a lady with a grin on her face. However, the painting on the wall opposite her is gigantic and has much more of a "wow factor" in my opinion.

We pretty much did the "speed tour" of the Louvre. It's huge and after awhile I began to notice a theme for most of the paintings in the main halls. The artist either painted the Virgin Mary, Christ's crucifixion, royalty, or someone who had died. We also noticed lots of those cherubim (angel babies) too. A painting got maximum points if it had 3 or more of those components in it - such as the Virgin Mary in the background of a person who had died with cherubim overhead. Not that I am making fun of the art, it just got a bit repetitive at times. Most of the paintings were amazing to see up close and you could feel the emotions on the canvas.

Then we moved on through the sculpture area and that was amazing craftsmanship to see also. The detail is phenomenal in some of the marble and stone pieces! I especially like the horse ones, surprised? And personally, some of the statues actually looked better with arms or heads missing - strange but true. We made it through most of the museum (minus a few time periods), had lunch, finished the rest of what we wanted to see and then stopped in the gift shops on the way out. Mandi wanted to see The Bastille so we headed that way for a quick look at the monument. The actual building isn't there anymore, just a monument in the middle of the road (in a round-about). The girls managed to find a Starbucks in that quadrant of town so we had a quick rest there. I bought a cream puff pastry from the bakery across the street and ate it in there.....shhh, don't tell Starbucks. It was delicious!

After that stop we headed back to the house, got our stuff and headed back to the metro to take the TGV (bullet train) back to Neuchatel. We were in 1st class on the way home since they didn't have any of the other tickets left when we bought them. Not bad. However, it's not exactly like 1st class on an airplane......basically you just have a bit bigger seat that reclines more. No free food or beverages or anything special, sorry. So, that was our "whirlwind" Paris trip in a nutshell. Maybe I'll make it back there later this year - I found out there is a huge horse show in Lyon this Fall..........