I can’t believe it’s already been 9 years!
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Monday, April 15, 2019
Up In Smoke
I wrote this post when visiting Paris and the beautiful cathedral known as Notre Dame...
My Last Day as a Parisian:
I debated about going to the Notre Dame cathedral because I could see it from afar the entire trip, and quite frankly, I was getting a little 'churched out'. But Ranco (my driver who became my friend and historian) picked me up and so my history lesson began. Did you know that little gypsy boys will spit on your ATM so that you get grossed out and they can steal your money... Notre Dame took 110 years to build! It started in 1293! When someone is being a 'slow poke' the French say, "what is it gonna take you 110 years to finish?" because of the church. The first thing you notice are the gargoyles perched on every corner. To the French, everything has meaning to it, even architecture. The gargoyles are perched above all the carved stone sculptures on the building to "protect" them, in more than one way. The top of the gargoyles are actually gutters that carry water away from the sculptures. There's a little coin in the front entrance from which all points in Paris are measured. The cathedral is gothic and huge and feels slightly cold inside. The church was built soooo massive so that the pope could see how good and Catholic Paris was. He agreed, so they decided to move the capital from Lyon to Paris. And it is the center of the city. Mass was going on and it said 'No Cameras Please' (see attached photos). And there was a huge smoking incense tub that filled the church with smoke. I told Ranco that the gargoyles look like crap and need to be fixed and he said that they can NEVER fix them because they are historic and someday they will just disappear. A man was playing an accordion outside. Across from the church is the island of Saint Louis (ill St. Louis). He was a King but they called him Saint because he ripped his jacket in half and gave it to a poor, cold guy. Now the island is tres tres expensive. The King of Qatar just bought a house there and it cost $20 million and he's remodeling it for $100 million. Anyways, the island used to be called Vache Island, or Cow Island cause they used to keep cows on it. Speaking of cows, when u order a steak they say "blood or no blood." Ummm ewww! I also went into the worlds oldest bar from 1526. I bet they didn't serve mojitos back then. Who knew mojitos were such a popular drink in Paris. A week in Paris goes by quickly. With every step I took in the city I thought about things my children would have loved about the trip. Hannah would have loved the desserts. Ashley would have definitely Instagrammed the Eiffel Tower. Parker would have loved the boats. Beau would have liked the skyline. They all would have tried to speak the language. And we all would have been together making memories. That's how you know you love someone, I guess, when you can't experience anything without wishing the other person were there to see it, too. I watched my last sunset from this side of the world. The most beautiful things in the world are waiting for me on a little street, in a different country, and they call me 'Mom'!
I debated about going to the Notre Dame cathedral because I could see it from afar the entire trip, and quite frankly, I was getting a little 'churched out'. But Ranco (my driver who became my friend and historian) picked me up and so my history lesson began. Did you know that little gypsy boys will spit on your ATM so that you get grossed out and they can steal your money... Notre Dame took 110 years to build! It started in 1293! When someone is being a 'slow poke' the French say, "what is it gonna take you 110 years to finish?" because of the church. The first thing you notice are the gargoyles perched on every corner. To the French, everything has meaning to it, even architecture. The gargoyles are perched above all the carved stone sculptures on the building to "protect" them, in more than one way. The top of the gargoyles are actually gutters that carry water away from the sculptures. There's a little coin in the front entrance from which all points in Paris are measured. The cathedral is gothic and huge and feels slightly cold inside. The church was built soooo massive so that the pope could see how good and Catholic Paris was. He agreed, so they decided to move the capital from Lyon to Paris. And it is the center of the city. Mass was going on and it said 'No Cameras Please' (see attached photos). And there was a huge smoking incense tub that filled the church with smoke. I told Ranco that the gargoyles look like crap and need to be fixed and he said that they can NEVER fix them because they are historic and someday they will just disappear. A man was playing an accordion outside. Across from the church is the island of Saint Louis (ill St. Louis). He was a King but they called him Saint because he ripped his jacket in half and gave it to a poor, cold guy. Now the island is tres tres expensive. The King of Qatar just bought a house there and it cost $20 million and he's remodeling it for $100 million. Anyways, the island used to be called Vache Island, or Cow Island cause they used to keep cows on it. Speaking of cows, when u order a steak they say "blood or no blood." Ummm ewww! I also went into the worlds oldest bar from 1526. I bet they didn't serve mojitos back then. Who knew mojitos were such a popular drink in Paris. A week in Paris goes by quickly. With every step I took in the city I thought about things my children would have loved about the trip. Hannah would have loved the desserts. Ashley would have definitely Instagrammed the Eiffel Tower. Parker would have loved the boats. Beau would have liked the skyline. They all would have tried to speak the language. And we all would have been together making memories. That's how you know you love someone, I guess, when you can't experience anything without wishing the other person were there to see it, too. I watched my last sunset from this side of the world. The most beautiful things in the world are waiting for me on a little street, in a different country, and they call me 'Mom'!
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