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Day Four: March 7, 2000
I woke up this morning with a song in my soul and a pain in my shoe. I ate my usual breakfast of pineapple and hot chocolate in the bar, then Amale took our group to the district of Paris called "Le Marais," the old swamplands around the city. Formerly the Jewish Quarter (The Nazis regularly conducted sweeps in this area), the Marais is now home to huge old mansions, eclectic shops and a thriving feeling of independence. Amale showed us the Picasso museum, but unfortunately, it was closed. We passed by the National Archives, then headed towards le Place des Vosges. This square is unique because Henry II commissioned all of the buildings to look the same. Napoleon renamed the square for the Vosges, the only people who paid thier taxes on time. The square had a lovely stature in the middle with trees and benches surrounding it. Amale took us to Vicotor Hugo's house, a small apartment in one of the faces of the square. My favorite room was the "Chinese" room with dozens of plates on the wall. We looked at an art exhibit downstairs, consisting of paintings that portrayed scenes from Victor Hugo's work.
Katie, Nici, Nadine, MLB, Sarah, G, Madame, and I ate at lovely sidewalk cafe for lunch. I had veal and pasta, a very yummy choice. The sauce was beyond exquisite.
Next, we headed towards the Musee Carnavalet, Madame Sevigne's home from 1677-1696. Now it is a museum concentrating on the history of Paris and the Revolution. Even though I felft horrible during my visit, I loved this museum. Amale told us interesting stories about Napoleon's "little finger" which garnered raucous laughter from a German group standing nearby. About an hour and a half into our visit, Madame P decided that were were just too exhausted to continue. We split up to go shopping, but I stayed behind to look over more the museum with Sarah and Madame P. The house was huge, filled with beautiful paintings and artifacts which leaped out from every corner.My eyes were treated by all of the gorgous period furniture, and Madme P explained many of the paintings to us. I really liked a beautiful Chinese dresser from the 1700s, but I decided that it was too big to fit into my backpack.
We had about two hours of free time, so I decided to go shopping with Mary Louise. I bought a lovely matching beaded necklace and bracelet. Then we headed to a local grocery store and bought Coke, cheese, and crackers. We sat in the Place des Vosges, talking and watching the passerbys. We met up with the group and heard about Why, a fun little store devoted to an alternative lifestyle. Evidently Taylor hooked up with a fine Parisian guy, and we all giggled over that prospect. Sahar and Maryam were really late, and were were about to be late to dinner, so we left Madame P at the corner and headed to the Brasser Parc Rivoli. It was a nice low key dinner, and Sarah S. shared her illicit cheese with me! (It was some really good cheddar, I believe) We walked back to the hotel, stopping to see the Ritz, then I went to my room.
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