After sleeping in today, we ate a simple breakfast of baguette and eggs scrambled with yesterday’s leftover steak. Jim bought a few delicious apples that we all enjoyed as well. Once everyone was ready, we set out for the Metro, on our way to Sunday mass at 12:30.
Since we are in Paris, we felt that it is only fitting to attend mass at Notre Dame. We made the short walk from the Metro stop to the square outside the cathedral and got into line. The French have established security fencing and checkpoints around all of the major monuments. We actually went through two different checks on our way to mass. The first was at the edge of the square. A second check was performed prior to entering the church proper. Once inside, we were quickly ushered to seats before the mass began.
It’s always interesting to attend mass that’s being said in a another language. We were able to determine the different parts of the mass as they happened, and follow along with the readings, but we certainly couldn’t understand much. Since it is Palm Sunday, the entire Passion was being read, in French! Yikes! As Kristi had predicted, the everyone’s attention wandered a bit. We decided to visit the small chapels and look at the ancient artwork during the long reading and the homily. There are some beautiful examples of medieval Christian art represented. We returned to the pew to participate in communion though. :)
After mass, we visited the Musee Archaeology Crypte which is located under Notre Dame’s square. The museum showcases the archeological excavations of structures from early settlers (ad 300ish) of the Ile de la Cite (island upon which Notre Dame is built). There are many examples of artifacts that have been recovered during the digging such as coins from ancient eras and various vessels for storing food and water. It always amazes me that stone and clay vessels can survive hundreds and even nearly 2,000 years of burial like that.
After we left the museum, we took a leisurely stroll through the neighbor on the right bank of the river. We had lunch near the cathedral. Kristi has regretted not having onion soup when we were here 12 years ago so she chose the Gratinee de l’oignon. The rest of us enjoyed a mix of hamburgers and lasagna. We capped it all off with hot chocolate and cafe noisette.
We continued our walk and came across a carousel in the square in front of a lovely old hotel. The girls wanted to ride so we sent them to buy their own tickets. Their fledgling French was not strong enough for them to tell the attendant “trois billet,” when she really wanted to sell them “six billet.” So, Kristi took a carousel ride with the girls, and Jim surprised two happy toddlers’ parents with the other tickets.
After that, we spent a while window shopping. The girls enjoyed a trip into a cosmetics shop while the rest of us people watched outside. Jim, DJ and Kristi all participated in a survey given by two university students who are interning with a large department store as part of their MBA work. The survey focuses on Parisian visitors and their shopping habits while in the city, specifically related to that department store. Since we aren’t really here as shoppers, I’m sure our data will be thrown out as outliers. :)
By this time, it was 5:00. After some discussion, we decided to hop back on the tour bus and make our way back to the Eiffel Tour to take pictures of it lit up for the night. Jim and I picked up pizzas “deporter” (to go) while the kids hung out and relaxed in the park on the Trocadero hillside.
What is so amazing ... there have been absolutely zero fights, disagreements, moments of sibling rivalry, rolling of eyes, or even one hurt feeling; it has been sunshine and lollipops every moment of the trip ... NOT ... but it’s been mostly a great time.
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