Sensory Overload

Walk # 12  Time Travel, Tricks and Treats Around Saint Suplice

This walk was by far my favorite one so far!  It might have something to do with the pain au chocolat, the bread, the treats from whats considered the most innovative chocolate and pastry store in Paris, the chicken and thyme flavored potato chips,  or it might have been the very cool bookstore, the music on the street, or seeing Dan Brown's favorite Parisian church, Saint Suplice.  It's really hard to say, but what is easy to know is that my brain was on overdrive for a good part of the day.  

We actually started the walk by checking out this famous hotel.  Picasso, Matisse and even Charles De Gaulle have stayed here.  De Gaulle chose it for his honeymoon.  But with rooms going at 2,500 Euros a night, have no idea how you can enjoy yourself.  That's over $140 an hour!!  I couldn't sleep at that price!

 But now things start getting good.  This boulangerie has been making bread for nearly 80 years, which really is no time in France, but for the rest of us it's nearly a century.  This is called Poilâne's and is famous all over the world-and we were not disappointed.  I love this group I've been walking with because they are totally willing to buy one of each thing in the store and then share, so we get to taste so much more!  It would be hard to say what was the best thing we tried, but if pressed I think I would have to go with the pain au chocolat.  I've had pain au chocolat before, even here in France, but this was honestly a trip to heaven.  The butter, the dark chocolate center, the flakiness, it all added up to stunning taste treat.  But the Walnut bread was pretty good too.

What would you choose???

And there is something so charming about the street; I'm pretty sure it makes it all taste better!

And the bread.  This is just your not so average dinner roll...

....but this was heaven.  I barely remembered to take a picture of it before it was gone.  I will be back....

And apparently they call this art!

But then, 15 minutes later, the pastry/chocolate boutique.  It looks like it could be a jewelry store, doesn't it?  And inside, the treats are presented in glass cases like a jewelry store.  I had my camera ready to take a picture and nearly got assaulted by the help, so sorry,  there is no picture of the inside, but below is our collection of amazing treats.  

There are flavors on this bench I couldn't even begin to describe, simply because I don't know what they were.  That strawberry pastry in the middle is not filled with vanilla cream, it was two kinds of cream (one hidden inside) and they each tasted different and as if they were suffused with some kind of sweet herb or something.  The red raspberry macaroon in the front that has a rose petal on it, it actually tasted like roses, but it was so good-I never would have guessed that was possible.  The chocolate wedge in the middle was wrapped in a specially designed cellophane sleeve, and the chocolate sat on a delicate wafer that was "glued"with sugar to the gold colored cardboard.  Each small macaroon had an incredibly distinct flavor and the "muffin" was...we aren't really sure what...but it was delicious and left sugar on your nose when you ate it.  The chocolate bar in front cost 8 euros, but was worth every penny.

When we stopped taking pictures and started to eat, all our efforts to speak french went right out the window because none of us knew enough french superlatives to describe the experience.  We were straight up tourists who were oohing and aching like crazy.

Kelli's pretty happy

And I'm feeling pretty good myself

In fact, we were so enthralled with our taste bud experiences that it took us 20 minutes to look around and realize we really were at the feet of some fantastic architecture.

Saint Suplice.  The cathedral made famous by The Da Vinci Code.  This is the 2nd largest cathedral in Paris and was not at all famous until the book came out.  There is a sign that says "Go ahead and take pictures like all the other tourists, but please, don't go knocking around for hollow tiles hiding clues to the Holy Grail.  (It's hidden under the Louvre pyramid anyway, remember?)"  Apparently the docents have learned to be very famous and to enjoy the notoriety, even though the catholic church is still sort of annoyed with Mr. Brown.

I always love a pretty organ.

And doesn't everyone love the guy playing the piano on the corner?

I forgot to mention that we also stopped by Eugene-Delacroix's home that is now a museum with his works in them.

And then we were off to the Abbaye Saint Germain which was founded in 495.  The Vikings built the original one, and so this tower only dates back to the eleventh century!  

I loved these painted pillars.  So different from ones built earlier

And the ceiling.  That's way up there, and you have to thing their scaffolding wasn't as good as ours. Notice all the gold stars painted on it.

So, there you have it...sort of....I left out the world famous (if you're into this sort of thing) Vintage Clothing Shops, Figurine Shops, Cafes and Bookstores. Aren't you glad! And I also forgot to take a picture of the Chicken and Thyme Potato chips which honestly tasted like a rotisserie chicken, and were addicting!  

The problem with a day like this is that it really is so much.  (If you are still reading this, you deserve a medal!)  My brain really is racing just reliving it, and it's a bit exhausting to realize that it all starts over tomorrow.  But I'm not complaining!

And I did manage to notice this pretty little window on a long wall of windows....

....and if you're wondering, this is your run of the mill garage door!  It of course has an automatic garage door opener, and very expensive looking cars that drives into it.

So it begins....

DISCLAIMER:  Some of this blog will contain entry's about the City Walks we do.  For our culture class we are required to take at least 16 city walks and create journal/blog entries about them.  To be honest, the walks are the part of this school experience that might be the most exciting to me  you just can't beat the "textbook." Just know, I won't be offended if you just skip those parts.

But first, odds and ends.

We met our families and moved in on Thursday. The family includes the parents Patrick and Veronique, and two teenage kids, a 15 year old girl Ludwin, and an older boy who's name I haven't figured out yet! We live in a fabulous old house in a nice suburb of Paris, called Choissy, house is over 150 years old and is in a beautiful neighborhood.

My bedroom is in the basement and I have a shower off of it.  In France the bathrooms are typically split up with the shower and sink in one room, and the toilet in another; the shower we use is off of my room and our toilet is actually under the stairs.

                                              Don't you love the stone walls!

Said bathroom off the room.  Notice the closet doors on the left.  They are very old and beautifully carved.

Under the stairs!

 Here are my roommates on our way to the subway to go to school.  Kelli is on the right, she's from California, is studying journalism and french; and Brittany is on the left, she's from Texas and is studying Psychology and French.  I couldn't ask for better roommates, they both speak great and are very patient as I just keep trying!  Not a bad walk either!

So here we go:

                                                *******Walk #1-Paris in Layers*****

This walk is intended to introduce us to the city, to give someone a flavor of the richness of the history and culture.  It is contained largely on the Ile de la Cité, or the Island of the City.  This is where Paris began centuries ago when the Goths settled here, choosing this spot because an island was easier to defend.

Notre Dame, what else do you say!  Maybe something like "stunning."

 
 This is the French Supreme Court, along with my tour junkies.  The guy on the far left is Aaron McMurry, his brother Peter served with, and is a friend of Mark's from his mission in Slovenia-it's a small world!

Just your run of the mill government building in Paris!

                                                                           

More Notre Dame

Avery beautiful and sobering Memorial to French Holocaust Victim's

Notre Dame Rose window.  (Sorry I can't yet figure out how to move pictures in order-will do that by tomorrow!)

Saint Chapalle.  I made this picture big on purpose, you just have understand that this, or any other picture could not do justice to this small, but exquisite  Chapel that is in the heart of Paris.  This is the apse of the church, but all the walls are filled with this stained glass.  There are over 1,100 frames, all depicting a story from the bible.  I could do 10 blogs on this alone, but I won't make you wade through all that.

We're back to the Supreme Court:  The Grand Hall

Under the grounds of Notre Dame is a small museum that surrounds the excavations that have been done on the Ile de la Cité.  Because this is where Paris all began there are layers of early civilization that have just been covered up over time.  Even with this kind of evidence, it's hard to get my brain around how old this all is.  This is where being an American just doesn't prepare you for the rest of the world, since nothing around us is more then 250 years old, except for our Indian Ruins, but even those can't often be found on such a grand scale. Again-Aaron McMurry

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What I loved about this walk was the shear breathtakingness of it.  Look at the pictures of Notre Dame and remember that this enormous and grand structure, built over several centuries, was built by poor, barely civilized people who's belief in God was motivating enough for them to build something so much bigger then themselves.  They committed every resource, often their own lives to raising the magnificent cathedral.  It reminds me of the picture of the Manti Temple in my dining room, with the temple in the back ground, and a log cabin in the foreground; except Notre Dame is bigger and older.

Success!!!!

I've had success!  When I've dreamed of coming to Paris, I've really had only one dream: to walk into a patisserie and order some wonderful french something and get out without excessive pointing.  Well, I did it yesterday!!  Yea!  It will only get better from here!  Of course, I couldn't understand anything the lady said to me after I ordered, but hey, that gives me something else to dream about!

Me: "Je voudrais un croissant s'il vous plaît."  And voila!

(I know, there are two there, my friend ordered one after me and they were put in the same bag!)

Airplane Ramblings

Thursday April 26  If I had any pride I wouldn't post this, but, what the heck!  You tell me if it sounds like panic!

Tuesday April 24:  I’m sitting here in my seat waiting for take off, what a strange feeling. Is this really happening??  Jenni says this feeling of bewilderment sort of stays with you the whole time, and it doesn’t feel real until you get on the plane to come home, and as you sit there you realize, “wow, I really did it!  It really happened!”  We’ve been talking about this for so long, and now here it is. 

So far there is no one in the seat next to me.  I don’t dare get my hopes up, but how great would that be for sleeping tonight!  I guess we’ll see about that too.  Ten minutes and counting before take off.  

Jim just called and I got to say good-bye one last time and hear his voice.  I think that was good, but it hurts my heart a little every time.  There’s no way to spin it-being away from him is NOT the part of this that I like! I’m suddenly having vivid memories of Jacob Lake and thinking how unfortunate it was for him to fall in love with someone who was so young, with a list of things she wanted to do in her life…I can’t believe the cosmos provided me with such an amazing husband.

It does look like I get the extra seat!!!  Awesome! 

Take-off:  Taxing down the runway I watched the mountains the whole way, thinking again of all my kids, siblings, nieces and nephews etc. who had watched that same thing as they flew out of Utah for parts unknown. It’s a very sobering feeling.  Michael keeps reminding, “you’ll only be gone one transfer Mom.  You can do anything for one transfer!” 

But modern day missionaries don’t leave husbands, kids, and grandkids behind!  What am I thinking!

Paris awaits...

I have a love-hate relationship with the french language. Never in my life have I tried to learn something that has always seemed just out of reach.  It doesn't' matter how much I study, or how much progress I make I always feel like I'm a step behind; a step behind the others in my class, a step behind the text book since I start understanding Chapter 1 somewhere in the middle of studying Chapter 2, and a step behind my thoughts-barely unable to express even the most simple ideas even though I know I've studied all the necessary concepts. I have often been found driving to Provo gearing up for another morning of class wondering if my self esteem is up to another battering.

On the other hand, it is a beautiful language, and even a barely successful experience in studying  it has been important.  I was telling some good friends the other night that I will never be impatient with those I meet who come to Salt Lake looking for a different life and have the courage to take jobs that put them in front of those of us who have been speaking English all our lives. I honestly cannot imagine how frightening that would be.  I don't think I've ever been a very mean person, but now when I encounter these people, where ever it is,  I am always filled with a true sense of respect, and a wish that there was a way to honor them for their courage. For that insight alone, I will always be grateful.

I have also, obviously, gained a greater appreciation for my children, my husband, my siblings, my nieces and nephews, and all their friends who have jetted off to foreign worlds, either as missionaries or just adventure seekers and have fearlessly embraced new languages and cultures and been successful.  Oh, to have the abandon of youth!

But here I am, at the age of 54, living my life a little backwards. It's my children giving me the advice, checking my luggage to make sure I have the right wardrobe, and most importantly, giving me the encouragement I need to not chicken out on this adventure.  It's my husband making sure I have the right credit cards and electronics for two months away from home, and insisting that I call home on a regular basis--daily he says! I'm pretty sure I have no idea what's ahead for me and I'm pretty sure there will be plenty more ego shattering moments, but like the past two years, this will also be good for me.

The french language as all languages do, has a set of it's own idiomatic phrases and ways of saying things.  One of the phrases I like is "Paris awaits....," fill in your pronoun.  "Paris awaits you, me, us, them..." I think it's such an elegant phrase, and when a real french speaker says it, it is even more beautiful.

So, here I go, Paris awaits me! Or as they say in France, "Paris m'attend!"