Land of Lights, Lovers, and Lines: Paris Days 1 & 2

One chilly morning in late December, I logged onto my Gmail to discover that my family’s flight had been delayed but that they wanted me to go to Paris anyway to keep hotel rooms for our reservation special. The train had a slight delay, but was pretty pleasant. Once at the station, I hopped onto the métro and found my way to the hotel without a problem. A quick nap and a kebab later, I was ready to see more of the city. Knowing that Le Musée de Cluny wouldn’t appeal to other family members, I went there by myself and took advantage of their free entry day. I had taken a course in French medieval history at my university and was excited to take pictures of St. Barbe (she of the mal-mariées signing for a chevalier to rescue them), Lady with the Unicorn tapestries (the monkey is key to understanding it all), and the lovely fragments that characterize so much of medieval history. On the way back, I got off at the Opéra Bastille stop, walked around for a bit, grabbed a salad and a beer and headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, the wireless internet wouldn’t work with my laptop and I spent some time at an Internet café.

Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early to fetch my family at Charles DeGaulle airport. I arrived 30 minutes after they did and helped them buy our museum passes (VERY useful). We took the RER (Réseau express regional) back to Paris, where my family experienced their first ride en métro to the hotel. After check-in, we went to see the Deportation Memorial and the difference in French fluency was quite noticeable as there were no English explanations. Next, we blazed through Notre Dame without stopping to buy a candle and the towers closed due to snow. Then, we traipsed over to the Centre Pompidou, the innovative modern art museum. My family was a little weirded out by 4th floor conceptual, but I really enjoyed a lot of the 5th floor (Matisse, furniture). On the way back, we stopped at Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre – a very moving experience with silence and prayer service. I became quite frustrated at my family’s inability to realize that a) I hardly ever translate in day-to-day life and b) I can’t practice this skill when one of them is hovering over me while a service person is trying to give me instructions. Back at the hotel, I watched an episode of the Tudors while my family collapsed. Look forward to an update per day of the trip!