Wednesday, March 6, 2024
This morning we all slept until after 9am. It meant we got out of the house later than we had hoped (11am), but it was worth it to rest.
Dinah and her daughter Hann made us some amazing crepes and mango smoothies. And we got to meet David. He seems like a really great guy. We are so grateful for them. This house is perfect for us.
Our first stop of the day was the Louvre. It was amazing and we had way too little time for everything. We did get to see the Mona Lisa, and a ton of Jacques-Louis David paintings. Betty really like the Greek and Roman sculptures. I think my favorite was Winged Victory. We were there for 2.5 hours and barely scratched the surface.
Just one thought on the Mona Lisa. The amount of attention it gets is absurd, and sparked a good discussion with Betty and the kids. Why, of all the beautiful masterpieces in this incredible museum, does it get the attention it gets? Masses of people. You can barely get close to it. It's certainly not the best or the most beautiful. It's just the most famous. And honestly, it's famous for being famous. In that way I guess you could say it's the Kardashian of paintings.
After the Louvre we did a long walk down the Tuileries and then along the Seine to Trocadero, where we got some great pictures of the Eiffel Tower.
From there we hopped on the metro and popped out to see Notre Dame. I wish it was open, but it was damaged in a fire a few years ago and is still being restored. But we got a picture.
Then we grabbed a croissant and a muffin and some banana bread and a cookie from a shop on the corner. And we hopped back on the train up to Montmartre.
Train travel has been a bit of a mixed bag so far. I’m so used to it, but the kids definitely aren’t. On the first train of the day Alicia had a hard time getting off at our stop, and she ended up having to push a lady out of the way to make it. A later train was so packed I thought I'd lose someone. Wall to wall people pressed hard body to body. We were literally squeezing on and a guy was stuck in the closing doors.
But we also had some really great experiences. One lady was super nice and let Betty and River sit in her spot. Then later one of the kids let another guy sit down -- he had a sore foot. So then when we got to Montmartre that guy showed us the way to get to the train. It was a nice circle of kindness thing. When we left that train the lady gave us the warmest smile and made a heart shape with her hands.
I had a vision in my mind of what the view from Montmartre would be like, and while the sunset was amazing -- it wasn’t quite what I had imagined. But it really was beautiful. We took a few pictures and we poked our heads in to the church, which is amazing, but they were in mass so we ducked back out. In many churches I’ve visited, they won’t even let you in if they are in mass, but there were lots of tourists around snapping pictures and just milling about. I didn’t love that, and I didn’t want any part of it. It's just too sacred a thing.
On our way back down the hill toward the train station Betty spied a Lebanese ice cream shop called Bachir. It was amazing. I had rose petal and a special kind of ice cream called fleur de lait, which is what mozzarella cheese is called. I have no idea how they made mozzarella cheese ice cream (if that’s even what it is), but it was super delicious.
River ended up having a little accident in her pants at the ice cream place, and since there are practically no public restrooms in Paris, we just decided to head home.
Oh, and on our way our kids got to see a bit more of crazy city night-life -- including a drunk lady who randomly stopped traffic and was yelling “Je n’aime pas!” (I don’t love!) and a sketchy guy who was getting ready to grab at Anahi before we noticed.
It was an exciting day!
Just before sleep I read these couple of verses from Isaiah in Book of Mormon:
2 Nephi: 22:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.
I have such a tendency to freeze up when I face challenges. Whether it's paying a bill or making a tough phone call as bishop, or planning this adventure. Right now I'm a little stuck on what happens for us after London. But I'm trying to learn to lean into the challenge. So tomorrow I'm going to push forward and make more plans.