Au revoir et enchanté

Le Sacre Coeur

Goodbye and nice to meet you~ Here we are, finally able to call ourselves “we,” a relatively cohesive group, sitting in an “autocar” (a large bus for travel) together, on our way out of Paris to Chartres, and tonight, to Rennes!  We didn’t end up going to the Sacre Coeur at night, but we did go in the morning, and it was just as beautiful as I remember.  It’s so interesting watching which moments touch which people in the group.  When we entered this beautiful white church on a hill, my new Catholic friend asked me if the candles there were prayer candles for people who have died.  When I answered I was pretty certain they are prayer candles for whatever prayer one may have, she said, “oh, this is perfect…perfect.  Today is the anniversary of my grandfather’s death, and I will light a candle for him.”  Later in the day, two of my other new friends discovered the free wifi network at the hostel.  We had been paying 3 euros for 2 hours for a network that stopped working while we were still staying there.  Desperate for contact with family and friends back at home, these two had been on the verge of homesickness, and the internet brought them back.  The way that a candle and a prayer and a few minutes of contact with the rest of the world can rejuvenate us is a beautiful part of travel.  I hope to be a part of many of these moments, for others and for myself during the journey of this semester.

the unique garden at the museum

            Yesterday was not all light and ladybugs though (but ladybugs played a surprisingly large role; I had been attempting to cement the word for ladybug—coccinelle—since the day before, but I needed some kind of practical application.  So we were way too enthusiastic about the truck, labeled “coccinelle,”  that drove by us, and I then found a children’s bookstore, called “le géant et la coccinelle.”  But I digress).  We also discovered the Moulin Rouge and the surrounding area, full of English words (“sex shop…”sexophone,” “video shop”) and suggestive pictures (especially on the façade of the “musée érotique…I’m not going to translate that one).  It was quite the interesting experience, but I certainly do not want to end up there at night.  Close to this museum is another, less risqué one called the “musée de la vie romantique,” the museum of the romantic life.  The former house of George Sand (a female author from the romantic era), it was a pleasant stop, although I think the group as a whole would have enjoyed it more if we were not so mal aux pieds (if our feet didn’t hurt).  I was quite intrigued, not only by the unique flower garden but also by the museum’s contents, the life and works of George Sand, her love affairs, her time period, her aristocratic upbringing and her free thinking tendencies.  

La Seine...a boat tour through Paris during sunset!

Crèpes with friends!

          I finished off the day with a couple of crèpes (nutella/banana and ham/cheese) and a boat tour on the Seine (from which one can see most of the important sites of Paris).  Now, in our “autocar,” many people are asleep, but I am awake, overflowing with excitement for the unknown and for being known, watching the French landscape pass us by, and letting the music of a friend’s ukulele flow through and around me.  Bonne journée!