Paris is Paris

It's my second time to Paris and I feel like I'm really gonna know this place well when I come again in October with SCAD. My mother and I took a slow regional train to Montpellier (South Central France) which was a beautiful trip, stopping in beautiful Mediterranean coastal towns. In Montpellier we took a high speed train to Paris. The trip was also beautiful. We saw so much of France in just 3hrs. You could see the landscape change from drier Mediterranean to the French Alps to hilly forests to massive plowed field in Burgundy that didn't have a tree for miles, to suburban Paris. The architecture morphing by the hour. The train is perfect for reading a devotional book, taking a Selah moment to lookout at the wonderful God-created landscape and reflect.

We have been doing quite a lot for our short visit. We cruised the Seine, strolled through Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle, took a walk from the Louvre through the Jardin des Tuileries and down the Champs Elysee. Sacre Coeur, Montmarte. Eiffel Tower. We walked the underground Catacombs and have been enjoying great french food like crepes and duck. So far the best places we have found to eat, Tribeca on Rue Cler and Paul on Rue Buci. Good Mediterranean food at Chez Marianne in Marais. I will be returning to all of them. All three places had a crowd and took a bit to order but it is worth the wait. Sunday morning we went to mass at St. Sulpice on the left bank, especially to hear the famous 7,000 pipe organ played by Daniel Roth. After the service, Daniel plays the organ for 30 or so minutes until the next service. The secret here is that you can go up to the organ chamber in the back of the church by waiting at the rear back door and see Daniel play and talk to him about the organ. It's air used to be pumped by 5 men on these stair master type mechanisms to fill the organ's bellows. The views of the church from up here are incredible. It's amazing how much music effects me. I love the organ. Chills running down my body. It is so powerful. I can feel the Almighty God in every note from every pipe.

First sight when we arrived in Paris, Gay rights demonstration at the Trocadero in front of the Eiffel. I don't know much about French politics but I'm sure this has something to do with the current conservative French President Sarkozy.

Inside Saint Chapelle

Sculpture in the Jardin des Tuileries next to the Louvre

On the Champs Elysee, this particular Louis Vuitton store is the largest single brand luxury store in the world.

You can still easily see a contrast of culture and lifestyle on the generally upper class Champs Elysee.

The crowded Tribeca on Rue Cler

skulls in the catacombs of Paris. An official ossuary since 1786.

Priests led 5ft high piled carts of corpses from Parisian cemeteries into the catacombs to make room for more buildings, chanting songs for the dead. The entrance to the ossuary says "Arrête, c'est ici l'empire de la Mort" ('Stop, this is the empire of Death'). There are over 6 million bodies here, around 30 generations of Parisians.

Daniel Roth talking about the incredible 7,000 pipe organ at St. Sulpice

The Nave of St. Sulpice

In the Jewish Quarter in the Marais district. Fallafel's everywhere.

Hebrew/French signs on store fronts.

The Basilica of Sacre Coeur

 
I'm slowly learning and practicing french. It's not just the language but the culture needs practice too. I'm sure I'll be fine by November. Tomorrow morning I'm headed to Brussels to see the European Union Parliament among other things, but especially to get some Belgian chocolate. It's going to be quite a culinary treat. I'm anxious for school to start and can't wait to be settled in Lacoste.