SUNDAY IN PARIS

Sunday, April 14, 1996 Paris, France

Everyone had a good nights sleep. Up about 9 am, breakfast in the hotel (included). Took the Metro to Notre Dame and walked in just as the high mass was beginning. Another great experience as we’d hadn’t checked on the times of the Mass. Now we’ve gone to Sunday Mass in Germany, to the Cathedral in Florence for Palm Sunday, St. Peter’s for Easter and now Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. After mass we walked over to Sainte-Chapelle to view the stained glass windows in the palace chapel. Originally built by Louis IX in 1242 to house the Crown of Thorns and other religious relics. Best known for windows which make up ninety percent of the walls in the chapel.

Then we took the Metro for a short distance and then walked along the east bank shopping our way to the Musee d’Ossey. Once we’d arrived, Jim went off to the art; Barbara and I located the Cafeteria and had lunch. Then we went to see Touslouse-Lautrec. Only had one of his paintings that we really liked. Shopped for prints for Barbara and I purchased a book on the Musee. Met Jim at the statutes as pre arranged ninety minutes later and we were off to find Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre (the white church on the hill) by the Metro.

When we got off the Metro we had an elevator to the top. Biggest one I’ve ever seen, more like a room than an elevator. Jim picked up a sandwich, I ate a candy bar and Barbara had a drink on the walk over to the church. Huge hill to climb but they’ve put in a Funicular so we were able to use tickets from the Metro to ride to the top. Tons of young people were sitting all over the steps watching the artists perform their dance/music/art and whatever. We wound our way between them and entered the church just in time for the end of benediction. At first we all though they were doing a play in the Sanctuary. But then we realized that they were having Benediction. There were about eight nuns and two priest. Beautiful singing.

We walked around the inside of the church afterwards and Jim bumped into a nun and they had a very nice conversation in English. We weren’t sure if she was “working the crowd” to get people into the shop or just wanted to practice her English. Back to the Metro and hotel. Jim feels that he has mastered the subway system and made the decisions going back….we did three transfers but he got us back to the station only about a block from the hotel.

Barbara needed to call John and we needed to take medicine and get rid of some of the packages. Heather still hasn’t had her baby. Maybe the baby’s waiting for Barbara to arrive home! Decided to walk the Ave Champs Elysees to see if the Arc De Triomphe Etoile is still open for so we can climb to the top. Jim plotted the route, Barbara wanted to ask for directions from the hotel desk clerk, but Jim insisted he knew the way. Well, to make a short story, he walked us in the wrong direction! It made for a very long trip. But we did find a small Pharmacy that was opened. I bought cold medicine and Barbara bought some nicotine gum. Showed them her current supply to get around the need for a prescription.

The Arc was closed so we only walked under and around it. Found a very nice restaurant that Barbara and John had eaten at on their trip called Chez Clemments which was a brassiere on the Ave Champs Elysees about a block from the Arc. It was English in style and they’d used spoons in all their decorations including on their lamp shades and coat racks. Nice dinner but Jim had anticipated chicken with a small spinach salad but got a large spinach salad garnished with some slices of cold chicken. So much for the English Menu that we ordered from. But I really enjoyed my spinach salad. Went to the McDonalds for Carmel sundaes afterwards before we went to the Public Drugstore for a small bottle of water to get us through the night. Since we’d had such a long walk there, we took the Metro home…only took two transfers and we were back at St. Phillips du Rooso the stop next to our hotel. Barbara washed her hair and I ended up awake most of the night probably due to the amount of medicine I'm taking!