Day 2 in Paris

July 3 – day 2 in Paris

Today we all slept in – I walked Paris for an hour, down to the Seine and along its banks. Gorgeous day, sunny and warm. Paris was quiet this morning -- superb views of the bridges and water. Several joggers, walkers, cyclists about – rush hour was
just kicking in as I headed back to the hotel. I like to watch the business-attired Parisians cycling to work. They manage to look so elegant as they breeze along w/ traffic. Seems like a saner place to commute by bike than London. There cars seem to be number one, then motorbikes, then bikes and all the best to you if you’re on foot.
Here, where people drive on “our” side of the road, we’ve already had several drivers top to let us cross – not the norm in London.

After walking along the river I came back down the Champs Elysees, which was quite busy w/ foot traffic – elegant shops, touristy restaurants along the way.

For breakfast we headed across the street to Josephine’s patisserie – fabulous pastries. Mine had a delicious flaky/buttery crust and soft apple filling. Fabulous. Kids had pain de chocolate (it’s all about the chocolate).

We then made our way to the Metro for our first outing on the Paris underground. After securing tickets we headed to Notre Dame, hopping in a line that didn’t last long and wandered through the cathedral.

Claire and I did the audio tour to learn...

That Notre-Dame’s first stone was laid in 1163 and the building underwent four major construction campaigns.

It contains the “cathedra” or official chair of the Archbishop of Paris.

It was one of the first Gothic cathedrals and is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world.

Over the construction period, numerous architects worked on the site, evidenced by the differing styles at different heights of the west front and towers. The towers were completed around 1245, and the cathedral was completed around 1345.

There are five bells at Notre Dame. The great bourdon bell, Emmanuel, is located in the South Tower, weighs just over 13 tons, and is tolled to mark the hours of the day and for various occasions and services.

After we finished our tour of Notre Dame, we hunted down Sainte-Chapelle, which was closed for lunch, so we moved on to lunch ourselves – French fast food (delicious baguette sandwiches, wrapped in paper). We saw people everywhere eating them, lots of outdoor impromptu picnics.

We took ours to some steps along the Seine. How Paris, right?

Ok...does it lose some of the romance if the bag of chips gets whisked into the water by the wind? Oops. Thankfully for us only crumbs were left (gee how us to be more concerned about losing our chips than polluting). (Though judging by the water quality, we weren’t the only ones who’d lost a bit of trash in the river.)

At 2:00 we parted company, C and me to Galleries Lafayette, a HUGE dept. store w/ thousands of items to purchase. They boast the world’s largest lingerie dept, if that helps give an idea of size.

Claire and I were pointed to the 7th floor for our freebie fashion show, which I’d registered for weeks ago. After our names were found on the list we were escorted to seats in a small room w/ a few rows of chairs surrounding a runway. And for 30-40 min. we watched tall, thin, gorgeous (goes w/o saying, right?) models, 5 women and 1 man, showcase various summer outfits, each w/ a theme and set to specific music (white, western, etc.).

Lights out, spotlights on the models…fun to see these lovely people stride gracefully down the catwalk, stopping to pose in the corners of the room. The passed inches from Claire, who seemed to enjoy the experience very much, having watched models do the catwalk on TV. (I was just as fascinated; can we say shallow? YES and proud of it.)

The grand finale was a lovely African-French model (what’s the PC term?) walking down the runway in a stunning white western outfit, escorted by the male model in western hat and “faux” western garb (linen trousers). No John Wayne.

From the show we went up to the rooftop café for the view and ice cream as it was a bit warm. I had a lovely glass of wine in the shade looking out only Montmartre.
While all this was taking place Joe and Ava were checking out the stained glass windows at Sainte-Chapelle. We synced up at Montmartre – Basilique Sacré-Cœur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) (our original plan was to meet at the Louvre but it was simply too nice to be inside).

We found Joe and Ava in the bathroom after hiking up the steps and touring the church, located on the highest point of the city in Montmartre.

About Sacre-Coeur: The site of the 19th-century basilica is traditionally associated with the beheading of the city's patron, Saint Denis, in the 3rd century. According to legend, after he was martyred, Bishop Denis picked up his severed head and carried it several miles to the north where the city of Saint Denis stands today. The hill was later home to a large Benedictine abbey, which was destroyed at the French Revolution.

After France's 1870 defeat by the Prussians in the Franco-Prussian War and its aftermath, the Commune of 1871, the basilica was planned as a guilt offering and a vote of confidence to cure France's misfortunes.

The Basilique Sacré-Coeur was designed by the architect Paul Abadie in a Romanesque-Byzantine architectural style. Its foundation stone was laid in 1875. The basilica was not completed until 1914 and not officially opened for worship until 1919, after the end of the First World War.

The triple-arched portico is surmounted by two bronze equestrian statues of France's national saints, Joan of Arc and King Saint Louis IX. Even the great bell, the Savoyarde, has nationalist references: Savoy was annexed to France in 1860. Cast in Annecy in 1895, it is one of the world's heaviest bells at 19 tons.

The Sacré-Coeur Basilica is built of Château-Landon (Seine-et-Marne) stone, a frost-resistant travertine that constantly weathers out its calcite, so that it bleaches with age to a chalky whiteness.

Golden mosaics glow in the dim, echoing interior of the Sacré-Coeur. The mosaic of Christ in Majesty (1922) in the apse is one of the world's largest, and incorporates Joan of Arc as well as the Virgin Mary.

Ava had had too much Sprite (don’t tell the dentist) so she and I hung out while C and Joe went through the church (double dose for Claire).

Eventually A and I worked our way down the hill, stopping to play by the fountains and relax on the grass, then visiting a self cleaning bathroom at the bottom of the hill (I got an education on its use by an English woman: let door close after patron leaves, wait 2+ minutes while the thing flushes and hoses itself down). Indicator light turns green, then push the button, voila clean toilet.

Claire and Joe caught up w/ us, A got a 2nd wind and the kids hit the merry-go-round. Then we went in search of the artist area, were sent back up the hill…this time we used our handy dandy metro tix and the funicular to take us up. All glass, it’s a cool view as you’re sped up the hill by a train that seems ½ elevator, ½ train.

At first I was terribly disappointed, had memories of classmates getting Parisian portraits done by street artists when I was 15 on a weekend whirl through Paris. This time a few guys were wandering around with sketch pads. Not what I was envisioning, though one of them did say I was the sun, moon and stars…

We rounded a bend in search of a particular café and low and behold, there were 20 or so artists w/ easels seeking business. We decided to have the kids’ portraits done so wandered through, looking at art and hearing offers by various artists, got an idea of how much bargaining we could do, then opted for the first artist we met. A quiet bearded man whose young son hovered near.

We asked for a portrait of the girls together, Claire went first – it came out nicely, sepia tones.

We then ate in the same area, a little café w/ so so food. And fell into bed after a very big day in Paris.