Final Day Approaching

Anniversary Day

On Wednesday Keith and I celebrated an official two years married. We had a light no pressure day starting out with breakfast and mimosas. We improvised and made pouched eggs in glass yogurt cups and found béarnaise sauce (pre-made) in the store. All we had to do was boil the béarnaise sauce and it was ready. Imagine that - pre-made sauces in the local market. We went shopping. We shopped for each other and for some gifts to bring back home.

Later in the afternoon we returned to a restaurant that we had eaten at in 2004. We had broken from the pack (we were traveling with APM and needed some time away from the group) and found an outdoor cafe. We had a leisurely lunch and really enjoyed the time alone. We felt that it was fitting to return to that place for another meal.

In our ordering somehow we ended up with a seafood appetizer that could feed six people. There had to be 36 oysters, 24 shrimp and more than 36 snails. It was really tasty, but we feared that we would not be able to eat the rest of our meal. Somehow we managed and had a wonderful meal. Here are the remains from our seafood feast...

Later that night we took a boat ride on the Seine. We were blessed with a gorgeous sunset as we left the dock. For 10 euros it was worth it for an hour long voyage up and down the Seine. The trip was narrated in French and English by a student. She was a little dry in her delivery, but very informative. It was a lovely end to a perfect day.

Marie Antoinette

The next day we started off late. We walked up to the Grand Palais to see the exhibition on Marie Antoinette. Picture were not allowed in the exhibit. The number of artifacts remaining from this period are impressive. Paintings, furniture, jewelry, letters and other written artifacts from her lifetime are presented in the exhibit. The exhibit was in French, so I could only make out small pieces of it. In the period leading up to the French revolution, Marie Antoinette blamed for many of the ills of society. She was accused of having affairs and personally bringing the country to financial ruin. The official charges included orchestrating orgies in Versailles, sending millions of livres of treasury money to Austria, plotting to kill the duc d'Orléans, declaring her son to be the new king of France, orchestrating the massacre of the Swiss Guards in 1792 and sexually abusing her son. Most of the charges are thought to be completely false, but she was and she was declared guilty of treason and executed on October 16, 1793.

I was amazed at the intense interest that most of the French had in the exhibit. They all seemed to each have a romantic relationship to this historic figure. Despite her excesses, she seems a victim of the radicalism of the revolution.

La Madeleine

After the exhibit we set off for lunch and a visit to la Madeleine. We found a restaurant that Carol had eaten at in a prior year behind la Madeleine. We all had pizza (one of the specialties of the place). It was really filling and good.

La Madeleine is dedicated to Mary Magdalene and has a Roman look to it. It is surrounded by tall Corinthian columns with a large pediment sculpture of the last judgment. It has a different look and feel from most churches.

There was a rehearsal for what looked like a first communion going on so we could not get close to the altar.