Our second day
in Paris and we were off and running. Brandon went to a bakery he knew about
(won an award for the best baguette in Paris) and brought us back croissants
and real French yogurt. Reagan picked out chocolate and caramel yogurt because
she knew “Grandma likes chocolate and caramel.” It was really good.
I have
absolutely no idea how we crammed so much in this day, but we did. One of the
places I really wanted to go see was a bit out of the way, but it was important
to me so we went. The Pere Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the
city of Paris. There are too many famous people (especially to the French)
buried in this cemetery, but here are a few: Edith Piaf, Georges Bizet, Marcel
Marceaux, Maria Callas (famous Italian opera singer), Oscar Wilde, Balzac,
Proust, and believe it or not, Jim Morrison. But the reason I wanted to go to
this cemetery? My favorite composer of Romantic period music – Frederic Chopin
– is buried at Pere Lachaise. My advanced students all play Chopin at one time
or another, or many times, so I wanted to find his grave to post the picture in
my studio. It was pretty cool. I could tell Brandon was not at all interested
in being there, neither was Reagan, so I didn’t ask to see any other graves.
Next time.
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| Chopin's grave and tombstone |
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| Very cool old cemetery in Paris |
On this day we
also went to Montmarte. Montmartre is a large hill in Paris's 18th arrondissement
(district). It is 130 metres high and gives its name to the surrounding
district, part of the Right Bank in the northern section of the city. At the
bottom of the hill we saw Moulin Rouge and at the top is the beautiful Sacre
Coeur church.
Construction
began on the Romano-Byzantine style Basilica of Sacre Coeur in 1875 and was
completed in 1914. The mosaics, stained-glass, and beautiful view of Paris make
this a must-see on anyone’s Paris attractions list. My memory of this
experience though will be that we lost Reagan in the church. She has such a
tendency to wander off. She gets distracted or bored and just goes. She doesn’t
think about letting anybody know. I was opening my bag for a security check and
she was right next to me. By the time the five second security check was over,
she was gone. Brandon and I frantically searched for her in the church. I
panicked. One of the employees of the church found her and hung on to her until
Brandon got to her. I broke down and cried when I heard she had been found. Way
too much stress. And Brandon wondered why I was a little “paranoid” when it
came to Reagan not staying close to us.
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| Sacre Coeur from a distance |
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| The mosaics were exquisite - some of the best I've seen |
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| Beautiful stained-glass windows throughout the church |
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| Singing provided by some sisters - it was calming after the ordeal with losing Reagan |
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| All happy again. View from the church looking down on Paris |
Part
of our journey to Paris included “must see” art work of Picasso and Matisse
since Reagan had learned about these modern artists in her school class. I
guess that’s what kindergartners in a French private school learn about! Pretty
cool. Neither Brandon nor myself are particularly excited about modern art, but
this was for Reagan. We actually ended up enjoying it. We went to the Centre
Georges Pompidou. This center houses the BibliotequeIt houses the Bibliothèque publique d’information (Public Information Library), a vast
public library, the Musee National d’Art Moderne (our destination), which is
the largest museum for modern art in Europe, and IRCAM, a center for music and acoustic research. There
were also two special exhibitions going on when we arrived, featuring two
modern artists. After going up one too many escalators, we finally found the
museum. And we proceeded to find Picasso and Matisse and let Reagan go crazy
with the camera.
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| Matisse |
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| Matisse - I kind of liked this one. |
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| Matisse |
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| Reagan finally found a Picasso |
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Picasso
I found a Marc Chagall . . .
. . . and I painting I probably could have done . . .
. . . and I'm just not sure.
The Pompidou Centre (not my picture) |
Our last stop of the day was the Arc de Triomphe and to
see Champs Elysees. Brandon and I kind of wanted to take the “lift” to the top
for the view, but Reagan was having none of that, so we left. Brandon had never
walked down the Champs Elysees, so off we went, with a half a million other
people. Lots of very nice stores (luxury cars, expensive clothing, jewelry and
perfume), and, to my surprise, more than a couple of multiplex movie theatres.
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| The Arc de Triomphe |
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| Under the arch |
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| The eternal flame |
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Sculpture work on the Arc
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| World famous Champs Elysees - shopping mecca |
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| Arc de Triomphe from down the Champs Elysees |
By the time we were done shopping (Brandon) and walking
(me and Reagan) we headed back to the apartment, stopping at a little grocery
store to take something home. Reagan and I also asked to stop at a crepe vendor
so we could get a crepe. Yummy!
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| Crepe makers on the street - Paris street food! |
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| My crepe being made |
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| So messy - so good! |
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