Paris: Day 6

Monday was one of my favorite days in Paris. The morning was gray and overcast, much like the images of Paris in the fall that I had conjured up.

We woke up and enjoyed a leisurely stroll from the Marais, through St. Paul square, over the bridge, and to the Ile de St. Louis. I had an amazing nutella crepe for breakfast. Next we hit several fabulous little shops, including one that sold the most gorgeous Parisian scarves. We brought back a lot of gifts from there!

After we walked and shopped a bit, it began sprinkling rain, so we retreated to the Berthillon cafe to relax and have a morning snack. A nice hot tea and a croissant for me. A hot tea and an apple tart for mother. A cappucino for Ramy. Rebecca napped. Nowhere we had to be, all the must-see sights had been seen. It was lovely to just sit and be a part of Paris.

Our rest was rather short, however, and then we were walking again! We visited the Shoah shrine and deportation monuments recognizing all the Parisians who were victims of the Holocaust, rounded up not by the Gestapo but by their own people. We walked over the bridge between the Iles of St. Louis and de la Cite so gaze at Notre Dame from another view. Seeing it from the back is the best way to really view the stunning flying buttresses.

We stopped to admire all the lover's padlocks on the Pont des Artes bridge over to the Left Bank. Neither Ramy nor I had a padlock, so we didn't partake in this ritual. Interestingly, I read an article that Paris is going to be removing all of these signs of eternal love. What's up with that for the city that proclaims itself to be the city of romance?

We walked and walked and walked on Monday! We walked through a different part of the Latin Quarter than we had enjoyed before. Then we strolled into St. Germain de Pres and finally into the Luxembourg Quarter. We really enjoyed just strolling, taking in the many storefronts, darting into cute little shops that we fancied, and stopping for something to eat whenever we felt like it!

We briefly checked out the Sorbonne before deciding that we would head on over to visit St. Sulpice. (I did love The Da Vinci Code). This required some serious navigational skills, of which I am lacking. We also had to decide where to eat lunch. Ramy and I consulted and determined that we were on the right street to get us to St. Sulpice. To celebrate, we stopped and had an amazing Italian lunch!

Ramy and I laughed and thought this was a great name for a bar!

Indeed, we managed to find St. Sulpice. It's so dank and run down and so lacking in grandeur when compared to Notre Dame, even though it isn't too much smaller. The famous works by Delacroix and its magnificent pipe organ are in a pretty sad state. But there was something about this church that I found captivating. One of the interesting pieces of history from this church is that there is a calendaring system inlaid in the floor, where the sun strikes the brass line of an obelisk on the winter solstice and then touches an oval plate of copper at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. This helped them figure out when Easter would be celebrated. Apparently, this saved St. Sulpice during the French Revolution.

Apparently St. Sulpice was overwhelmed by the visitors that resulted from the Da Vinci Code. There is a

notice posted that refutes the book's claims about the church's involvement with the Priory of Sion and denying it was part of the Rose Line.

I loved this church and stayed for a long time (too long, according to my dear husband who had had his fill of French churches).

We left St. Sulpice and decided that we needed a completely secular experience to counteract the time we spent in the church. This was our chance to visit Le Bon Marche, which is probably Paris' chicest department store. Knowing she was in the midst of haute couture, Rebecca took the opportunity to do a bit of modeling in the LBM cafe! I thought that in this outfit, she looked like she was channeling a little Coco Chanel!

Speaking of the cafe, it was home to the best pastry I ever dreamed of. Millefeuille. How do you pronounce it? "Heaven."

Le Bon Marche was a shopper's dream. Every luxurious brand is there. I drooled over Longchamps, Le Baggerie, Gucci, Pucci, Isabel Marant, Jerome Dreyfuss, Cartier, Chanel, Caron, de Beers...

We had walked so much, and we knew that all means of public transportation would mean at least one transfer, so we decided to take a cab back to the apartment! After we got there, Ramy and I decided to walk up to Bazaar Hotel de Ville and did a bit of shopping there too. That night, we strolled through some of the fabulous little cobblestone streets of the Marais. Ramy ended up eating Chinese food, and we had pizza! Of course, we couldn't end the night without some yummy Berthillon ice cream for Rebecca and another apple tart for the apple tart connoisseur! I think that was the night that Ramy and I had some really amazing chocolate mousse, but it could also have been the night of the creme brulee or the chocolate eclair. I think there might have even been a midnight snack of croissants beurre and cherry jam. Lord help us, it was a good thing we walked so much. We shouldn't have taken the cab!