It has been the best of weeks. I had so much fun with my family here. I loved guiding them around Paris and showing off Poitiers. I'm pretty sure they had a good time too! (I'll warn you now, this is a really long post.)
The craziness began for me two Fridays ago. Their plane was scheduled to land in Paris at 10 am or so on Saturday, but there wasn't a train from Poitiers that would get me there early enough to meet them when they landed, so I had to stay in Paris for the night. It was quite the ordeal just getting there. So many things went... not exactly wrong, but definitely not as planned. By the time I got to my hotel room, I was exhausted mentally and physically.
Early the next morning, I set out for the airport. Paris Charles de Gaulle is incredibly, overwhelmingly huge. However, the place makes for some darn good people watching (one of my favorite pastimes). I arrived quite early so I had plenty of time to observe my fellow man.
When they finally arrived, we hit the ground running. From the airport we had to catch a bus to take us to Gare Montparnasse, then took the Metro, then walked the rest of the way to the hotel. I told them before they arrived that it would be a hectic day, but I'm not sure they were expecting all of that. (I also warned them about the many millions of stairs they would encounter, but I'm not entirely sure they took me serious about that either. They learned.)
After we stowed our luggage at the hotel, we started with Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris. Of course it was beautiful. This was the first time any of the three had been in a church that old or that ornate. It was a good place to start.
From there, we went to Sacre-Coeur. Even though they had just seen a church, I wanted them to see this one. The views from the top of the hill are incredible and the inside of the church is exquisite.
Montmortre Cemetery is not far from Sacre-Coeur, so we walked in that direction. Even on my second visit, this place amazes me. It's completely surrounded by loud city streets, but it's situated below ground level, so it's like entering a whole new, quiet, peaceful place.
We ended the day at the Eiffel Tower. I took them to a Metro station across the river from the tower so that we had to walk around a building before we could see it. Turning that corner and seeing the tower for the first time is the most wonderful thing. Gracie was so excited to see it. Like me, she expected it to be so much smaller than it actually is. We stopped to take the customary pictures as we walked closer and it loomed over our heads.
When we made it to the tower, we decided to get in line to go to the top. I don't know how long we stood there, but it seemed like ages. The line was moving so, so slow. When we finally made it to the elevator though, it was worth it. I hadn't been to the top yet, so I was experiencing this for the first time with them. By the time we got to the top, it was dark. This didn't dampen our spirits. The city is beautiful at night-- especially from that high up. It was really windy and cold up there, so we didn't stay on the outside deck for long. (Also, Gracie and I are mildly afraid of heights. I say mildly, but I mean that I was a shaky mess and could barely bring myself to even touch the railing to look over the edge.)
On our way to the bottom, we stopped at both the second and first floors. On the first floor, there are glass floors over the area directly under the tower. It was cool to look down on all the people, but walking over them took a certain amount of willpower on my part.
After a pizza dinner at a lovely little restaurant, we went to the hotel to turn in for the night. They were absolutely exhausted. Quite honestly, I'm proud of them for making it through the day without a nap.
The next day we set off for the Louvre. (I think Annie might have been very angry with me if we had not visited the museum.) We went through the Egyptian exhibit and the halls of statues. Annie loves mythology of all sorts, so she especially enjoyed seeing the old statues of all of the gods. I thought we were going to have to leave her there. My dad, Gracie, and I would walk through the room, stopping at a few interesting things, only to look back and see Annie stopping at every. single. statue. This is fine of course; I'm glad she enjoyed it. (For some reason she has a thing against Aphrodite, so she was a little perturbed at how many statues there were of her.)
Of course, we went upstairs to see Mona Lisa. This time, I was feeling much better about life, so I'll say that I felt a little more appreciation for the masterpiece. We walked through a couple halls of paintings before heading to the Decorative Arts exhibit.
The Decorative Arts is such a vague name. Last time, I walked through part of it that was mostly furniture and trinkets. This time, we went through the other part and it was much more interesting. There were rooms of tapestries, bronze, silver, and gold rooms, and my favorite-- the Napoleon Apartments. The apartments were very ornately furnished. It reminded me a lot of the palace we saw in Madrid. The chandeliers in the this place were magnificent. Each room we went through, they got bigger and more striking.
It doesn't sound like it should be, but walking through a museum for hours like that is exhausting. I know why they say you can't see it all in one day. I think next time I visit, I'll turn on the pedometer on my phone to see just how far I actually walk.
We had one last stop to make before we had to catch the train to Poitiers, so we took off towards Arc de Triomphe. I realized this time around, that I really don't know much about many of things I see. From this point forward, I will try to be more informed on the things I am visiting.
Even though I was seeing nearly everything for the second time, I didn't mind one bit. I loved watching my sisters and dad experiencing everything for the first time. Paris is a wonderfully magical place.
We caught our train to Poitiers that evening. Gracie was excited about riding the train. It was a first for all three of them. When my dad was younger, his school would take the third grade class every year on a train ride to Abilene. He was so looking forward to taking that train ride, but by the time he made it to third grade, they had discontinued the line so he never got to ride a train. Last week, he finally fulfill that dream.
We only spent two days in Poitiers, which is plenty. I had class all day Monday and Tuesday morning, so they were on their own exploring. Monday we had lunch and dinner with Lizette and Joe. I'm glad my family got to meet the people I spent most of my time with here. We had a good time with them.
Tuesday evening, we took another train to northern France. We based our travel out of Caen, Normandy. Caen had quite a bit to offer. We visited an incredible church with ceilings like I had never seen before. (Yes, I realize that I have a strange obsession with ceilings.) They were stunning. This one also had an organ like I had never seen before. Instead of being over the entrance, it was hanging on the wall in the main aisle.
We had an interesting discussion on what it meant to be an architect back when these churches were being built. Can you imagine the kind of pressure they must have felt? They had to have known that their buildings would be standing long after they were dead and gone. I bet it's an incredible feeling to leave a part of you behind to be shared with so many people and to know that they will marvel at your creations. It seems that modern architecture is not meant to last for generations like it was back then.
We visited Caen Castle, which houses two museums-- Musee des Beaux-Arts and Musee de Normandie. The fine arts museum was only so-so. There were some beautiful pieces, but it was quite small. The Musee de Normandie was interesting. There were many old artifacts from the years. It started with the vikings and made its way through history. My favorite part was a small display on the making of lace. Have you ever wondered how it's made? Go watch this. It is an incredible process. I have a new-found appreciation for lace to say the least.
My dad decided to go take a nap at the hotel, so the girls and I went shopping that afternoon and then went to tour the women's abbey. The Abbaye aux Dames has a very interesting history. Our tour guide was very informative. It goes like this-- William the Conquerer and Mathilde were in love. Unfortunately, they were cousins five times removed, so it was illegal for them to be married. They sent a man to negotiate with the Pope to get permission for them to marry, but there was no luck for eight long years. Finally, the Pope agreed that they could marry if they would construct two abbeys-- a men's and a women's. Of course, they agreed and construction began.
The women's abbey was used to house nuns for many years, but then the Hundred Years War broke out and it was overtaken by soldiers. They damaged much of it. The towers were destroyed and later rebuilt. Today many of the rooms are empty of any furniture or art because the soldiers took these things to sell. After the war, the abbey was used as a hospital for many years. Today, it houses government offices. I enjoyed walking through it and learning of its previous inhabitants.
Many of the rooms that are in use today had to be covered in tapestries because the echoes are too loud without them. When the nuns were using these rooms, the echoes were never a problem because they were in a silent order. Can you image not talking ever? There was one room (I believe it was the library) where they were allowed to talk, but only to confess sins or to resolve disputes. They lived interesting lives.
The next day, we hopped on a train to Bayeux, where the buses run from town to the beaches. Once in Bayeux, we stopped at Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux. It was a wonderful church. Outside, in the courtyard, there was a a ginormous tree called the Tree of Light. It was beautiful with the cathedral in the background.
We also sought out the famous Bayeux Tapestry. The tapestry tells scenes from the life of William the Conqueror. What makes the tapestry so magnificent is that it is nearly 900 years old and is around 70 meters long. (That's 30 meters short of an American football field.) In the museum, we were given an audio guide that told us the story as we walked the hall. (Which was convenient, because I could never have deciphered what was going on.)
From there, we took a bus to Omaha Beach and the American cemetery. I was in absolute awe of this place. To look down at the beach and imagine our troops fighting on this hill hurt my heart. The cemetery sits right on the edge of the hill so you can see the ocean from there. The graves are very uniform and beautiful, with two American flags flying over them. (Very similar to Arlington.) The memorial was amazing. We were there at noon, so we got to hear the bell toll twelve times and a few minutes later, the National Anthem played loud throughout the cemetery. It was a sobering moment.
There was a path down to the beach, so we took that. The girls had never seen the ocean (except from the plane) or been on a beach before, so that was fun for them. We looked for shells and touched the water and everything. (It was cloudy and the water was really, really cold, but we had a good time down there.) I couldn't image running up those slopes, I was out of breath just walking to the top. All I can say is Thank You to every one of the troops who have served our country so bravely.
When we had seen everything, we went to the Visitor Center and watched a short movie about some of the people who were buried there. It was touching and I'll admit that I cried. It told of these young men who left their families and wives and children to fight for the freedom of people they had never met.
We went to the Overlord Museum next. This museum had uniforms and personal belongings of the men who had fought. There were also many tanks and other vehicles used in the war on display. It was neat to really get a feel for what it might have been like to live in that area during the war.
All that day, as I was walking through the museum and cemetery, and the streets of Bayeux, I was struck by how recent the war really was. This year, they celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings. This isn't some ancient war fought by ancient peoples. The remnants of the war are still there today. The people affected by the war are still alive today. I've never been in a place where I could see the effect of war so clearly. This whole day was one of my favorites because of everything I felt and learned. (It should be noted that this was Thanksgiving Day, but we did very little to actually celebrate it. The closest I came to a turkey was the ham in my omelet at lunch.)
The next morning we left our hotel in Caen bright and early for Mont Saint Michel. We arrived in Pontorson and then took a bus to the Mount. (I won't even get into the frustrations I had that entire morning. I could write a book about everything they're doing wrong at that place.)
We got to Mont Saint Michel at around 11:30 and set out to explore the the town. Mont Saint Michel is situated on a large rock in a bay that has the largest tidal ranges in Europe. The first buildings were built in 709. From there, many buildings were added to the rock including an Abbey church and a monastery. It was used as a fortress during the Hundred Years War and was at one point used as a prison. Today, it serves as a major tourist attraction, as it is "The Wonder of the Western World," but also, it is once again used for its original purpose where monks and nuns live.
We began our time here in a small church. It was tiny, beautiful, and old. Through the back door there was small cemetery. We continued on and stopped for a visit into a Viking's residence. It was three stories tall-- a common room, a room for the wife, and a room for the Viking. The ceilings were low and the beds were short, so we came to the conclusion that this particular viking was a small man.
The roads kind of spiral upwards towards the abbey and we eventually found ourselves there. We had to climb several sets of stairs to enter the church, but it was worth it. The views from the top of the mount were breathtaking. We entered the church right at noon. I tell you this because we entered to find a small crowd watching something in the center of the church very intently. Immediately, I saw what held their attention and hurried over to get a better look.
A monk had just entered and was standing directly under the dome with a long rope in his hand and black robe and hood covering his head. At first, he pulled on the rope a little at a time gathering momentum to ring the bell. After a few tugs, the bell began ringing. It was a beautiful moment. I stood in unbelief at what I was observing. I was so excited to have taken part is something so wonderful.
When he finished ringing the bells (I wish I had counted the tolls, but I was fairly busy being mesmerized), he hung the rope on the wall, donned a white robe over his black one, and exited the church through a side door. It was quite the experience. Everyone was watching with rapt attention to what he was doing.
We were then able to walk through the many rooms of the abbey. We saw the crypt, the cloister, the kitchen (with enormous fireplaces), and the Knights' hall. The whole place was very large-- we probably didn't even see half of it.
When we made it through the whole thing, we took the path that led us around the tops of the walls that surround the town. It was windy and cold, but the views were amazing. Since the walls were erected for protection, there were holes every so often where one could look out and fight the enemy if necessary. The rock was fortified very well as it was never taken by its enemies.
We found lunch in a small restaurant along the wall, then continued on in our exploration. We made it to the end of the wall and descended into the streets once more. We stumbled upon a narrow alleyway that led to more alleys. I cannot resist something like this, so we climbed to the top and spent a little time sitting at the top of the stairs. (It was so narrow, my dad had to shimmy sideways to make it all the way to the top!)
We then made our way back to the mainland to catch our final train of the trip. It took us to Charles de Gaulle airport where we then went to our hotel.
Their flight left at 9:20 the next morning which meant we needed to be at the airport at around 6:30. Our day started with a very early alarm. We made it to the airport with no problems. They checked in with no problems. I said goodbye to them right before they went through security.
I am so thankful they got to come to France to see me. I had so much fun with them and I hope they had a good time too. It's a little funny-- they were here for the 3 month mark of my stay in France. From here, I only have 6 months left. Tomorrow will mark 100 days of my living in France. I'm encouraged by how quickly the first three months have flown, but also a little scared that I won't have time to do everything I want to do. There is very little that scares me more than the uncertainty of my future.
In other news, I got my schedule for next semester (finally) and am so excited to begin planning future trips. The rest of this semester will be spent finishing up group projects. Woohoo.
99 days down, 178 to go!
Je t'embrasse,
Sarah
Here's the link to this week's pictures!
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