Paris: Day 5
Day 5
It rained today, which was unfortunate. We'd gotten spoiled on the warm, beautiful weather of the past few days. We were visiting Saint-Chapelle first, a beautiful old chapel that was supposed to have great stained glass. I found out that most of the stained glass in Paris is painted, not real panes of stained glass. Almost all of it in Notre-Dame is painted - everything except for the large circles with points in the middle of the church. Anyway, we got lost on the way to Saint-Chapelle because we came out of the wrong subway entrance, so we wandered for half an hour in the rain before we came to the church. It was nice getting to skip the long line with our passes, although we incurred the wrath of some Italians and a little American girl. The church was really pretty. After Saint-Chapelle, we started for the Cluny Medieval Museum, but we didn't make it. There was a cute little bistro with a special - quiche and a tart for 9 euros! So we stopped for some nice French food, and it was really good. My ham and cheese quiche was perfect - really hot, great crust, perfect texture filling, ummmmm! Then there was my strawberry tart. I have decided that French pastry is the best in the world. They find the perfect balance between sweet and tart, not making things too creamy or sugary so that you feel sick when you finish. The crust is always good, and the berries are always wonderful. If French pastry isn't the best in the world, then it is better than Swiss, German, Italian, Danish, and American. And that's an accomplishment.
So we made it to the Cluny about two hours after we left Saint-Chapelle. The museum is fairly small, but it has some neat stuff. It's built over some old Roman baths, as well some other historical building. Everything in France used to be something else - not like Germany, where almost everything old has been destroyed. Anything in Berlin from before the Wars was in pieces. Anyway, I saw some cool wood carvings and wall hangings. The best stuff was the armour - they had chain mail and swords and the scary helmets! We happened to be going through the Cluny at the same time as a large group of school children, ages 4 to 14, I would guess. They moved about in 3 groups, and they were like hoardes of locusts. They moved into a room full of serene, unsuspecting musuem patrons; they destroyed every bit of peace and quiet in the area; they moved onto to the next room, leaving behind a group of shaken musuem-goers, starting with fear at every loud noise or sudden movement.
Next was naptime at the hostel, followed by dinner with family friends of Lee's. This mom and daughter were from Long Island, and they had lots and lots of money. They were soooo nice, and Randy (the mom) offered to take us out for dinner one night and lunch another day. So, we went to a ritzier part of town to meet them at the Hotel Murano. The place was really, really nice. We obviously didn't belong, but saying we were meeting Randy proved to be the magic words that gained us deferential treatment. Dinner was wonderful, and so new and different for me. I tried things I wouldn't have imagined - a soup made with oranges and cheese and scallops, and for my main course risotto with squid in it! I liked it all, but the atmosphere was even better than the food.
There was also a band - 3 guys with a string bass, an acoustic guitar, tambourine, and shaker things, moving around the restaurant singing popular older songs. They sang close to each of the tables in the place, but nobody was really having that much fun with them. They were wrapping up their performance with our table, and we had fun. We sang with them, took pictures and video of them and us, made requests, and Randy asked if they would play in New York. They let us play their tambourine and shaker things on some of their songs.
After dinner, we got a tour of one of the rooms. The cheapest of these goes for 350 euros a night, the most expensive for 2500 euros a night. I can't imagine having that much money. We had to take a cab home that night, and Randy slipped us money to pay for it. She's so generous, and not snobby in the least. It was a really nice evening, especially considering that it cost me nothing.
It rained today, which was unfortunate. We'd gotten spoiled on the warm, beautiful weather of the past few days. We were visiting Saint-Chapelle first, a beautiful old chapel that was supposed to have great stained glass. I found out that most of the stained glass in Paris is painted, not real panes of stained glass. Almost all of it in Notre-Dame is painted - everything except for the large circles with points in the middle of the church. Anyway, we got lost on the way to Saint-Chapelle because we came out of the wrong subway entrance, so we wandered for half an hour in the rain before we came to the church. It was nice getting to skip the long line with our passes, although we incurred the wrath of some Italians and a little American girl. The church was really pretty. After Saint-Chapelle, we started for the Cluny Medieval Museum, but we didn't make it. There was a cute little bistro with a special - quiche and a tart for 9 euros! So we stopped for some nice French food, and it was really good. My ham and cheese quiche was perfect - really hot, great crust, perfect texture filling, ummmmm! Then there was my strawberry tart. I have decided that French pastry is the best in the world. They find the perfect balance between sweet and tart, not making things too creamy or sugary so that you feel sick when you finish. The crust is always good, and the berries are always wonderful. If French pastry isn't the best in the world, then it is better than Swiss, German, Italian, Danish, and American. And that's an accomplishment.
So we made it to the Cluny about two hours after we left Saint-Chapelle. The museum is fairly small, but it has some neat stuff. It's built over some old Roman baths, as well some other historical building. Everything in France used to be something else - not like Germany, where almost everything old has been destroyed. Anything in Berlin from before the Wars was in pieces. Anyway, I saw some cool wood carvings and wall hangings. The best stuff was the armour - they had chain mail and swords and the scary helmets! We happened to be going through the Cluny at the same time as a large group of school children, ages 4 to 14, I would guess. They moved about in 3 groups, and they were like hoardes of locusts. They moved into a room full of serene, unsuspecting musuem patrons; they destroyed every bit of peace and quiet in the area; they moved onto to the next room, leaving behind a group of shaken musuem-goers, starting with fear at every loud noise or sudden movement.
Next was naptime at the hostel, followed by dinner with family friends of Lee's. This mom and daughter were from Long Island, and they had lots and lots of money. They were soooo nice, and Randy (the mom) offered to take us out for dinner one night and lunch another day. So, we went to a ritzier part of town to meet them at the Hotel Murano. The place was really, really nice. We obviously didn't belong, but saying we were meeting Randy proved to be the magic words that gained us deferential treatment. Dinner was wonderful, and so new and different for me. I tried things I wouldn't have imagined - a soup made with oranges and cheese and scallops, and for my main course risotto with squid in it! I liked it all, but the atmosphere was even better than the food.
There was also a band - 3 guys with a string bass, an acoustic guitar, tambourine, and shaker things, moving around the restaurant singing popular older songs. They sang close to each of the tables in the place, but nobody was really having that much fun with them. They were wrapping up their performance with our table, and we had fun. We sang with them, took pictures and video of them and us, made requests, and Randy asked if they would play in New York. They let us play their tambourine and shaker things on some of their songs.
After dinner, we got a tour of one of the rooms. The cheapest of these goes for 350 euros a night, the most expensive for 2500 euros a night. I can't imagine having that much money. We had to take a cab home that night, and Randy slipped us money to pay for it. She's so generous, and not snobby in the least. It was a really nice evening, especially considering that it cost me nothing.
posted by Lindsay at 01:15
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