A Different Kind of Holy

Michelle tried to give me an out so that I wouldn't have to go to church in Paris again, but that was just craziness, especially since Max was giving his first talk in church.

The stairs in the apartment building.

I'm so bummed out that our self-portrait in the Metro is blurry, but I'd left my camera on manual focus and we were hurrying to get on that train.


I really like this picture (notice Max holding his talk in the window's reflection).

The view during our power walk down the street to church.

One of the cafes we passed.

These are the big blue doors they have to go through to get to the church parking lot. How's that for style?


I went to Relief Society with Michelle and hardly understood anything. My ears heard, French, French, French, Love, French, French, French, Mother, French, French, French, Frere Monson, French, French, French, Father.

I was very thankful for the hymns chosen that day, Because I Have Been Given Much (one of my great favorites), Press Forward Saints and We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet, even though I struggled pronouncing the French translations I still felt the Spirit while I was singing.

I understood even less during Gospel Doctrine, and ended up reading the Conference issue of the Ensign I'd brought with me and managed to read 3 talks before dozing.

Pretty much the only thing I understood during church that day was Max's talk. He did a great job, especially considering the Bishop had to translate on the fly for him after each paragraph. That meant Max had to stand up there twice as long.

I finally got a picture of Lucas' face!

Eva entertained herself by hopping on the stones of the parking lot. (Even the parking lot has character.)

The view of the other side of the big, blue doors.

One of the scenes on the way back to the Metro.

The Hôtel de Ville is right next to their Metro stop.

Eva didn't want to ride in the stroller on the way home and looked so cute holding onto the pole in the train.

We read and napped after church and relaxed for awhile before heading out in the late afternoon to the Jardin du Luxembourg for my last Paris outing and Sunday-friendly activity.

This was the beautiful view from the bus stop.

A man at the bus stop.

Two cute old ladies at the bus stop,
so bundled up though it wasn't cold at all.


We passed this cafe on our way after getting off the bus.

Do I even need to say how beautiful the Jardin du Luxembourg was? Oh my goodness, it was such a perfect day.


There were tons of people there enjoying the park and this girl seemed to have the right idea.

You're speechless right?

Michelle and Eva (in their cute scarves) fed the ducks and the fish.

{photo by Michelle}

After walking around enjoying everything, I sat down to write a bunch of my postcards.

Of course we had to have a self-portrait there.

This is where I was sitting.

I love it that they have boat rentals there.

Michelle took this picture of me and I'm including it because I feel like it captures the radiance of Jardin du Luxembourg and my happiness at being there.

Wow.

I love the outdoor cafes in the parks, this one had just closed.

I love this shot of Eva standing next to The Medici Fountain.

We had just sat down to enjoy the sunset when an annoying whistle blowing started. It was at a distance but got closer and turned out to be a man/officer? announcing that the park was closing. What the?

One last look back as we left the park.

We had some bus issues getting back home and did a lot of walking before finally conceding defeat and taking the Metro back to the apartment.

The rest of the evening was spent packing my suitcase and reading while Michelle made dinner (which I failed to take a picture of), then Michelle, Marc and I watched a couple episodes of The Closer (which is what we did every night of the trip, I'm officially hooked) before going to bed around 1:00am.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I've been out of my B-Complex vitamins for 2 days and have gotten a headache 2 days in a row...coincidence? I think not!

A Market of Fleas

Michelle and I got ready and out the door by 10:00 on Saturday and were very surprised that no one else wanted to join us at the flea market. It felt like we were getting away with something! We took the Metro to the side of town where the flea market is and I totally felt like "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore." Things were definitely less charming in this area and more real life and dirty.


We found an appealing-looking bakery on the way and stopped in for a couple almond croissants.


We were confused and amused by the ginormous baked goods on the counter...is that a gigantic English muffin or what? Sadly our almond croissants ended up being less than stellar, which was particularly sad for me because that was the last one of my trip!


We walked over to the rain-soaked flea market and immediately began snapping photos. I was totally content to take pictures and didn't care at all about buying anything...what the?


We were both quite taken with this group of men playing poker. Nothing like playing poker in the rain on a Saturday morning with some friends eh?

Oh glorious vision of happiness!

We visited the button man (remember my photo with him last time?) again but I found the confines of the tiny shopping area to be distracting and frustrating.


I ended up buying these two cards of buttons so that I wouldn't leave there with any regrets.


Michelle and I stumbled onto the best vendor ever and spent at least 15 minutes in the tiny space taking tons of photos.

Everything was so cool looking!

It was such a hodge podge of cuteness.

I felt guilty for not buying anything, but I was so happy to be taking pictures of it all that I didn't feel drawn to any one thing, plus the prices were kind of high so that was a deal breaker for me.


Michelle was looking at prints a couple vendors down the way and I happened to pick up a small, old book to see what it was and was completely thrilled to find that it was an Italian Baedeker!

A Room With A View is one of my all-time favorite movies ever and highly quoted by me, so I immediately remembered these lines (though I did a terrible job choking them out to Michelle).

"We residents sometimes pity
you poor tourists not a little.
Handed about like parcels
from Venice to Florence to Rome,
unconscious of anything outside Baedeker,
anxious to get done and go on elsewhere.
I abhor Baedeker. I'd fling every copy in the Arno."

Holding that book felt like holding a piece of the movie and poking fun of my own touristy ways (even though we weren't in Italy). I was ecstatic when I asked the vendor how much it cost and she said, 5 euros! I looked at her in disbelief and said "5??!" Weehaa! My joy was full! Between the great photo ops and this purchase our flea market outing was a success!


Here's our post-flea market self-portrait on the Metro ride back to the charming part of town...good riddance to the real part.


We returned to the apartment and hung out for most of the rainy afternoon. We felt completely spent by the flea market, which was weird because we were only gone for about 3 hours, and were happy to read and relax. I had finished reading The Zoo Keeper's Wife by that point and was engrossed in Case Histories so that was a big pull for me even though it was technically my last viable day in Paris.


Later we walked to a grocery store and then around a different way to get to the bakery. We passed more beautiful things, including this window display which reminded me of Missy Claudia.


We also passed this place which provided me with one of my very favorite photos from my trip.

This picture cracks me up.

What stroller hasn't carried a couple baguettes?

The perfect afternoon snack!

Another pleasing scene from nearby.

This one too!

Farewell Rue Cler!

We had a late dinner of a missionary-created meal called Wimmer Truc (not sure on this spelling). It was ground beef with onions and peppers served on a fresh baguette spread with a garlic cheese spread, and it was heavenly! I am going to make this at home for sure.

**Would you have been happy just taking pictures
or would you have been a big-time shopper?
Have you seen A Room With A View?
Do you love old books?
Do you get sucked into books even on a trip like this?**

Comment Window Tidbit: It's a totally beautiful day here today and the forecast is the same for the rest of the week, I feel super charged and productive, woohoo!