Sunday, June 24, 2012

France Day 8: Paris (June 24, 2012)


We had an interesting view of Paris this morning as we walked around trying to find the church.  We saw quite a few homeless people just sitting around.  We haven’t seen many of them until this morning.  Then we saw the police escorting a man (I’m assuming he was a tourist) who looked like he had just woken up and was still really out of it.  He had no pants on.  They were ripped and he was holding them around his waist trying to conceal his lower half.  Thankfully, he was doing a pretty good job. One of the policemen was holding his jacket, which had a wet ring in the middle.  There are the facts of what we saw.  You can fill in the details of your own accord about how this man got into this situation.

We did find the church although we were a few minutes late.  It was a sweet little branch.  I love going to church in new places.  It is a testimony to me that this is the Lord's church.  As we walked in they were singing the opening hymn "Come Follow Me" and even though I didn't understand the words I knew the song and knew what they were singing about and so it didn't matter what the language actually was.  There is a universal language of the Spirit that we all speak. 

There are actually enough English speakers that attend that ward that they have translation equipment available, I just guessed my way through Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School but then had the translation for Relief Society.  That was very helpful.

After church we went into the Pompidou Centre, which is the modern art museum.  Neither of us are particularly fond of modern art, but we did see some original Picasso paintings.  The architecture of the museum is actually pretty cool and there is a great view of Paris from the top floors of the museum.  


We also went to the Sainte-Chapelle which is a gothic cathedral built in the 11th or 12th century.  Of all the cathedrals I have been inside of I think this one is my favorite.  It is smaller but quite breath taking.  It is famous for it's stained glass windows.  They tell the story of the world from Genesis to the Resurrection of Christ.  If you are in Paris I highly recommend it.

 This was carved into the wall on the outside of the cathedral.  The fleur de lis  and the little castle are all over the inside of the cathedral as well.  The fleur de lis on a background of blue being the symbol of the King and the castle and the castle on a background of red being the symbol of his mother, the former queen.  This cathedral was once part of a palace.

It was raining today and I decided that I don't like carrying around umbrellas so I just took my rain jacket and I wore my tennis shoes because I don't have any good walking shoes that can also be dress shoes - comfort won out over vanity...

But then I looked at Angela with her umbrella and sandals and thought maybe I should pay more attention to the voice of vanity and find some happy medium...like Angela...

We came home early and have had a quiet evening in our hotel.  We had another picnic on our bed.

 We found a really yummy fromage (cheese) at the grocery store down the street.  It is our favorite.
Say Cheese...

Tomorrow we leave Paris and go south to the Provence area.  Tuesday we start our bike tour.  I have no idea what our internet situation will be like this week, but never fear, I will eventually get it all posted.

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