After our late night we all woke up late and had a slow morning in the flat. We'd read about the Institute of Monde Arab previously and wanted to see the building so we headed towards where I thought it was, but it ended up just being a mosque that wasn't open to the public. Ah, well... instead we walked toward the Seine but got distracted by the grand entrance to the Jardin des Plantes so we decided to head in and see what there was to see. Bella immediately saw a monkey puzzle tree and was nearly speechless she was so excited. We took a look at the map and realized that this grand Jardin was actually got amazing- its been around for a few hundred years, housing multiple scientific museums, a menageries (zoo), a greenhouse, and public gardens. We walked through the ground and tried to go to the geology museum (closed) and instead decided to go into the zoo for a bit. The zoo is pretty unique- it was set up as a 'royal menagerie' and even now feels as such- its home to some quite endangered species and pens are set around some beautifully-made (functional?) buildings. We enjoyed walking around but we were very chilled, and quite saddened by the trembling pink flamingos and the monkeys with their feet on the heating grates, and the forever pacing lions.
Bad day- see foot under lion's mouth.
To warm ourselves up we decided to go get some lunch and seeing as how Bella is so obsessed with couscous, and Naomi is a lover of the middle east as well (her and her boyfriend had done almost exactly the same trip to Morocco as we had a couple years back), we headed to a Moroccan restaurant to eat loads of lovely aromatic and soft tagine mixed with couscous. Yum! After lunch we decided to head to the famous market street down from our house (Rue Mouffetard) to get some stuff for dinner, before heading home for some down time as we wanted to go out and see the evening lights of Paris a bit later. We picked up some fruit and a rotisserie chicken and went home to play and relax. The girls loved their Nadja play time!
After dinner, around 7, we headed towards the tourist heart of Paris and the half mile length of Christmas markets on the Champs Elysees. Our first stop was to get nutella crepes for our girls and Sven, and mulled wine for Naomi and myself. Sven and Bella went on some sort of creepy caterpillar ride while the rest of us just looked amazedly around us at the multitudes of lights and decorations everywhere... The Parisiens sure know how to put on a Christmas party! We walked the length of the Champs, dodging tourists at every corner and eventually made it to the Arc de Triomph where Sven scampered up to the top and the rest of us just enjoyed the amazing view... The feeling of being under a 160 foot high arch in the middle of a crazy roundabout looking up at the lights of the Eiffel Tower was both calming and exciting for all of us. I don't think we got home until at least 10:30, and we all climbed happily and willingly into our warm beds.
Rue Mouffetard
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Under the Arc de Triomphe
Saturday- Since today was our last full day with Naomi and Nadja we plotted out our route before leaving the house so we wouldn't get distracted by little shops and various other sparkly things. We went first to the church of St. Sulpice which I'd read about in a guidebook as the organ player gives a weekly concert there for the public, then his organ loft is opened up to tourists who'd like a closer look. We walked through the Luxembourg gardens and to the church where we were able to catch three (not necessarily good-sounding but very impressive) organ songs. The church was filled with the amazing sounds of the organ and we laughed at how this (our last Sunday in Europe) was the first time we'd actually made it to church on Sunday. I'm glad that we did because we wanted our kids to be able to experience how these grand old stone churches are absolutely filled with the sounds of music during services. After the recital we got in the line to go see the organ, then trudged up the 60 steps to the organ room, which was absolutely stuffed with pipes and equipment connected with the huge organ. We admired the view over the parishoners to the altar and peered in confusion at the eery room lined with images (and a very true to life bust) of past church organ players. The church of St. Sulpice is a huge, baroque edifice in the middle of the 6th arrondisment. The church has some interesting features, but the overall impression is one of simple-white-austerity. We were clueless of why everyone was wandering around staring at the floor until we read later that this is the church featured in the Da Vinci Code and is the home to Dan Brown's 'Rose Line' (gold line imbeded in the floor that leads straight to an Egyptian obelisk). It does indeed, but a note posted in the church says:
The "meridien" line materialized by a brass inlay in the pavement of this church is part of a scientific instrument built here during the 18th century. This was done in full agreement with Church authorities by the astronomers in charge of the newly-built Paris Observatory. They used it for defining various parameters of the earth's orbit. Similar arrangements have been made, for the sake of convenience, in other large churches like the Bologna cathedral, where Pope Gregory XIII had preparatory studies made for the enactment of the present, "Gregorian" calendar. Contrary to fanciful allegations in a recent bestselling novel, this is not the vestige of a pagan temple. No such temple ever existed in this place. It was never called a "Rose Line." It does not coincide with the meridian traced through the middle of the Paris Observatory which serves as a reference for maps where longitudes are measured in degrees East or West of Paris. No mystical notion can be derived from this instrument of astronomy except to acknowledge that God the Creator is the master of time. Please also note that the letters "P" and "S" in the small round windows at both ends of the transept refer to Peter and Sulpice, the patron saints of the church, not an imaginary "Priory of Sion."
So there, Dan Brown! Anyway, after we had a look around the church (and the early, rather unexciting Delacroix painting in one of the side chapels) we headed to the Christmas market in the courtyard where we had loads of samples and all got a yummy lunch to eat on a park bench. Afterwards we headed towards the Seine (stopping just as we go there for a cafe creme-me-, a cafe noisette- Naomi, a cafe- Sven, a chocolat chaud- Bella and a the de menth- Eilidh.... poor waiter) and a foot warming session. Just as Nadja dropped a menu board on Sven's head we dashed out, giggling, into the beautiful afternoon light of the Seine river.
Walking through Luxembourg gardens on the way to church
Room dedicated to past organists.
"Sorry, Sven... I didn't mean to drop that big menu board on your head"
We got some wonderful photos from the Pont Des Arts Bridge (where lovers/ honeymooners put locks on the bridge and throw the keys into the river to preserve their love) and then again in the awesome Notre Dame Cathedral where we were pleasantly surprised by the modern art (and modern nativity scene) that adorned the walls of this historic and important church. After wandering through Notre Dame with a few hundred other tourists we walked to the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA).
The IMA was established in 1980, when 18 Arab countries concluded an agreement with France to establish the Institute to disseminate information about the Arab world and set in motion detailed research to cover Arabic and the Arab world's cultural and spiritual values. The IMA has the most amazing windows-240 moucharabiehs, whose diaphragms open and close according to the light. As for the "tour des livres" (book tower), it reproduces the spiral shape of the ancient minarets of the East. The Institute houses a temporary exhibition hall, a panoramic restaurant, a shop selling handcrafted objects, a bookshop, the Museum o
We grabbed a quick dinner at a Moroccan restaurant afterwards and on our way home picked up a couple of delectable pastries from a patisserie. At home we enjoyed wine (and tea- Sven) with the goodies while calling the Simplers and catching up on college friends before finally we headed to bed.
Charlemagne's statue in front of Notre Dame Cathedral
Notre Dame
Notre Dame's rose window
Notre Dame
The nativity scene at Notre Dame
Under the nativity scene....
Bella writing a message of peace ("I love you from Bella")
The rooftop of the Institute Monde Arab
The windows at the IMA
A couple on a rooftop.
Monday- Naomi figured that we had until about 2:00 before she had to be on the metro towards the airport so we decided to walk towards the Pantheon in the morning with an ultimate goal to send Naomi back to Scotland with French crepes in her belly.
The Pantheon, (meaning "Every god"in Greek) was just a 5 minute walk away and is a strange combination of science and religion. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve (who saved Paris from the barbarians), but after many changes now functions as a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens. It is an early example of French neoclassicism and is an interesting interpretation of Rome's more 'pagan' Pantheon, but made classically Greek and 'balanced' by the neoclassicism that was sweeping enlightenment France (and what fills Washington DC).
The foundation was laid in 1758 and the building was finished just as the French Revolution was beginning and just as it was consecrated a church the National Assembly ordered it to be changed to a mausoleum for the interment of great Frenchmen (this stuff is crazy!). Twice since then it has reverted to being a church, only to become again a meeting house dedicated to the great intellectuals of France.
One of the most visible elements in the pantheon is the pendulum in the center.... In 1851, physicist Leon Foucault the rotation of the Earth by his experiment conducted in the Panthéon, by constructing a 67 meter Foucault pendulum beneath the central dome. Basically, the pendulum demonstrates how as the pendulum swings on a free axis back and forth, the Patheon (and the earth) rotates around it, demonstrating the rate of the earth's rotation. And here it remains, in what was designed to be a church but now sits as a testament to great men and great scientists. Among those buried under the Pantheon are Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Huge, Emile Zoa, Jean Moulin, Marie Curie, Louis Braille, and Soufflot, its architect.
Another interesting element, connecting with our increasing interest in the French resistance (from Wikipedia):
"In January 2007, President Jacques Chirac unveiled a plaque in the Panthéon to more than 2600 people recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel for saving the lives of Jews who would otherwise have been deported to concentration camps. The tribute in the Panthéon underlines the fact that around three quarters of the country's Jewish population survived the war, often thanks to ordinary people who provided help at the risk of their own life. This plaque says :
Under the cloak of hate and darkness that spread over France during the years of [Nazi] occupation, thousands of lights refused to be extinguished. Named as "Righteous among the Nations" or remaining anonymous, women and men, of all backgrounds and social classes, saved Jews from anti-Semitic persecution and the extermination camps. Braving the risks involved, they incarnated the honour of France, and its values of justice, tolerance and humanity.
After the Pantheon we headed towards a creperie where we enjoyed various things folded in between pancakes (goat cheese, walnuts and tomatoes, ham and cheese, fried eggs, caramel, stewed apples, coconut flakes and chocolate) then we very sadly saw Naomi and Nadja to the metro. Eilidh... "it's way more fun with Naomi and Nadja here." Bella, "Can we go to Scotland too?"
The Pantheon
Painting dedicated to St. Genevieve (love the dirty feet in the foreground!)
After haircuts and a little shopping, we headed back to the flat for reading, writing, painting and baths before going over to our friend Paz's house for dinner.
The Pantheon
Painting dedicated to St. Genevieve (love the dirty feet in the foreground!)
After haircuts and a little shopping, we headed back to the flat for reading, writing, painting and baths before going over to our friend Paz's house for dinner.
Some afternoon Christmas shopping
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