Paris - the final installment

It's time to wrap this French adventure up, don't you think?

Tuesday was the final non-travel day of our trip. I'm so grateful our trip was extended beyond my original plan, or I'm sure this day-trip/pilgrimage to Rouen would have gotten scrapped after we lost time to the bed bug debacle of 2017, as it shall henceforth be known. Actually, no. That's not going to be the name. Probably it'll be something like, "Remember the bed bugs in Paris?!" in the vein of "remember the Alamo". On a recent quick trip for a conference, Nathaniel called me from his hotel and realized halfway through the conversation that he'd failed to immediately check for bed bugs! This will be a very real part of our travel routine going forward.

I digress. But let's be honest. I'll never talk about Paris again without digressing into bed bug jokes.

Tuesday! Actually back up a few hours to Monday night. On our way home post-Arc de Triumph, we had to wait ages for a train and learned that there'd been some incident and the RER (commuter train) line that serviced the station by our hotel would be heavily affected that night. The problem was at the far end of the line from us, so we were able to get home, but we knew there could be residual issues come morning. Sure enough, there were!

We waited ages for the first RER toward the city to arrive, the platform loading up with people, and when it did arrive, you could see it was PACKED to the gills. Nathaniel was encouraging me to move forward and just cram on, but I had terrible visions of only part of the family managing to get aboard and us getting separated. It hardly mattered, because I don't think more than one human body managed to smoosh itself into that sardine can when the doors opened. Ten minutes later or so, another train arrived. This time I knew we were dangerously close to missing our train to Rouen, so I grabbed the hands of two little people and shoved my way in. Happily, I managed to find a pocket of space off to one side. It was very... cozy, to be sure. But we all made it on. When we got off and half-ran the maze of the subway to the train station, though, we were losing hope. It was a few minutes past the departure time for our train and we didn't know how to find the platform we needed. We were just about to turn toward some ticket booths to ask for help when I spotted the train number on a sign at a platform with a train still in it! I ran toward it and flagged down an employee to make sure they saw us coming. Phew! We were late, but so were they. God is good!

There is nothing like starting your day with a mad dash through the Paris subway and train stations, believe me!

~ We stopped in the most beautiful bakery in Rouen to get coffees. Their display case was gorgeous, filled macarons and choux in rainbow assortments, as well as a huge variety of croissants with flavored fillings. It was dreamy!

~ We enjoyed our pastries and coffee at a park with a playground, so of course when it was time to move on, the younger crew burst into tears as though they believed we'd traveled two hours by train just to play at a new playground.

~ The Church of St Joan of Arc is just... really ugly from the outside. Inside, while it's still not to my architectural taste, it was wonderfully peaceful and simple. Stained glass and bright open space. And a beautiful abstract statue of Joan that I loved! I could have spent a long time resting in silence there (except, you know, kids).

~ A towering cross in the gardens outside the church marks the place where Joan was burned for heresy. The whole day was a strange mix of fun, touristy activity, and trying to wrap our heads around the beautiful/horrible story of this girl who died in the service of God and country. A lot of emotional highs and lows.

~ On the other side of the Church of St Joan there's a grassy park area with low stone walls that are the ruins of an old castle. The churches all closed from noon till 2pm, so we spent most of that time in this park, the kids running and leaping along the walls. Only one minor injury was incurred.

~ We walked through an open air market in search of lunch and were reminded that Rouen is near the sea - all manner of fresh fish and seafood were for sale! There was a tuna the size of Rachel in one ice chest. Also, a bowl of tiny, whole fish, battered and fried, for sale by the pound, beady little eyes staring out from under the breading. Hungry yet? We ended up ordering takeaway pizza from a restaurant and eating it in the park by the church. Nathaniel is always disappointed in the rest of the family's lack of gastronomic adventurousness.

~ The city of Rouen, from the little bit we walked through it from one religious site to another, was darling. It's "the heart of Normandy" or some such, so gets a lot of tourism. I wish we'd had more time to wander through the ancient streets and soak it up. The buildings and cobblestone streets are just so charming and old.

~ We were in Rouen on Halloween. Our kids were very chill when I told them we were essentially skipping Halloween this year. No one put up much of a fuss, though there was a lot of discussion of what they want to be next year. It was interesting to see, though, that there were kids trick-or-treating in Rouen, midday, through the shops! The costumes all were of a gruesome nature. Even the girls dressed in princess dresses tended to have ghoulish face paint. One small child, maybe four years old, dressed as a very passable Chucky from Child's Play cracked me up (and creeped me out) since obviously a parent had come up with that idea.

~ Oh boy, you guys. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Rouen... words cannot describe this church. I'm not usually a fan of overly ostentatious design, but you can't help but be in awe of the beauty of the Cathedral when you see it, and even more so when you go inside. Old Gothic, late Gothic, "flamboyant" gothic, indeed. I cannot imagine how someone could dream up this plan, and even less so how it could be executed. Around the exterior of the main church are numerous side chapels honoring various saints, including, of course, a large one for St. Joan. Nathaniel found the Cathedral especially moving, and spent a long time moving slowly through it after the kids and I had moved on to soaking up sun (three girls and me) and chasing pigeons (the little two) in the square in front of the church.

~ Our last stop in Rouen was the Historial Jeanne d'Arc, a museum housed in the archiepiscopal palace in which Joan actually stood trial. It's an audio/visual tour from room to room, with a presentation of projected images in each, telling the story of the trial from perspectives of various historical players of the time. We had to leave as the presentation ended in order to catch our train, so didn't have time to explore the rest of the museum, but it was a really interesting concept, and for the most part kept the kids' attention. It was very moving. Tears may have been shed...

*****

Since All Saints' Day is a holy day at home, in Sweden, and in France, we figured we'd better do our best to find a mass that we could feasibly attend before catching our airport van. I was ready to give up, after the first few nearby churches showed their only masses offered too late in the morning, but Nathaniel found one within a reasonable bus trip from our hotel, offering mass in a mix of Portuguese and French. Because, why not? It was interesting! There was a lot of processing with candles that I couldn't follow the meaning of. Then, when the gifts were carried up, several people also brought up baskets filled with sliced and torn pieces of bread, that were placed in front of the altar. After communion the baskets were retrieved, and on the way out of mass, women were standing at the door encouraging everyone to take some, I guess to eat right then? We took a few, and the sweet little women pressed the kids and us to take more. Grandmas are pretty much the same in every culture, no?

*****

The trip home was mostly uneventful. If felt good to get "home" to Sweden. It has made me appreciate how well we've settled into life here, and learned to navigate our surroundings, after a week of being newbies in a city again. Simple things like understanding how the cross walks work, and knowing where to find a nearby grocery store, are a huge relief.

There are a million small things about the trip to Paris that I'm sure I've already forgotten because it took me a month to take notes. The chiming music that played as a train approached, that reminded us of the Harry Potter theme from the movies. The way the recorded voice on the trains always changed tone from the "approaching" to "arriving" announcements, and Marianne and I would laugh about it and mimic it to each other ("Val de Fontennay" and "Bry sur Marne" among our favorites). The handfuls of "kaboom berries" the kids stuffed in their pockets to ambush each other with on the walk from the hotel to the train each morning. The bag of groceries Ruth left on the train ("the only thing we lost in Paris"), that a kind gentleman chased us down to give back.

We bought almost no souvenirs - just the kids' "5 for 1€" eiffel tower keychains, a Joan of Arc coffee mug for Ruth, and a rosary Marianne bought at Notre Dame (in Paris), but we have so many great memories that we'll carry with us always. "We'll always have (bed bugs in) Paris!"