Paris, Day 1: Traveling From Alsace

We left Alsace and Gries and headed east towards Paris. We stopped in Reims to see the two sights: the first was the Cathedral, which is the place where nearly every French king from 850 to 1780 AD was crowned. The cathedral is in the high gothic style, which means the vaulted arches and immensely high ceilings were beautifully overwhelming. Unfortunately, the great rose window in the center front is being renovated, but I was able to see it from inside the cathedral.

This site has had a Christian house of worship continually since the fifth century AD, and historians/archaeologists have identified the spot on the floor where Clovis, the first leader to unite the Frankish tribes and the first king to convert to Christianity, was baptized.

"Here Saint Remi baptized Clovis, King of France"

I was mostly moved, however by the stories about the stained glass windows. Many of them were destroyed during the second world war, and although some were replaced with plain-ish windows,

a number of them were replaced with windows donated by the German government and designed by a German artist, as a means of apologizing for the destruction caused by the war.

There were also replacement windows created by Marc Chagall that outlined Judeo-Christian history. They reminded me of the Hadassah Hospital Chagall windows in Jerusalem. Their blue color is stunning, and is apparently a recreation of the dye used in the 13th century when the original windows were made.

After the Cathedral, were went to the Surrender Museum, the site of the first signed surrender document of World War II between Germany and the Allied Forces, on May 7, 1945. Although another, more visible, document was signed the following day, and May 8th became the famous V-E Day, Reims is very proud of their moment in history. The museum was underwhelming, but the kids liked all the old mannequins decked out in various period uniforms.

We arrived in Paris at about 5 pm and found our airbnb house with no trouble. Our host, Jean-Jaques Vanier (he's quiet unassuming, but we later discovered that's he's a successful French stage and screen actor) was waiting for us with a wonderful 3 bedroom, 3 level house with everything we need to be comfortable. He has had two children so the house is also FULL of toys and games and movies, so the kids are thrilled to be here.

We got the kids settled, had some dinner, and then Ed insisted that he and I were going out. He informed me that while it is fine for me to take the kids out for part of the day and do kid things (while he works), Ed and I will be going out each evening to do grown-up things. And we should start right away. I was nervous about leaving our kids because we still had not been able to get our phones connected to the network. But they were just fine and fast asleep when we got home, and we had a fantastic time out. I wanted to go somewhere that made me feel like I was in Paris, so we went up to Sacre Coeur on Montmarte. The train ride took awhile, and the hike up the stairs winded me (boy, are we both out of shape), but we could see the Eiffel Tower and most of the city from up there. Sacre Coeur is also a beautiful church with interesting 19th century (conglomerated) religious architecture. We wandered around, found some (truly uninspired and disappointing) dinner, and didn't get to sleep until 1:30. It was a marvelous evening. I kept asking Ed "Aren't we too old to be acting this way?"

On top of Sacre Coeur: my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. It is really stunning at night.

Some of Ed's favorite youtube videos are called "Le Chat Noir," satirical commentaries on cat videos, existential philosophy, and French culture. We happened on this poster and Ed wanted a record of it.