around Paris, part 1

It was my cousin’s wish to visit with her uncle, the one who took care of her mom back when they were much younger and before he left to start a new life in France. Sight seeing was secondary to a good visit with catching up, sharing family histories, and eating together. My uncle’s wife only spoke French, my uncle spoke mostly French but retained quite a lot of Vietnamese, his kids spoke French and a smattering of English, my mother’s French is stiff but understandable, my cousin spoke Vietnamese and English, my Vietnamese is quite bad and my French is next to nonexistent. So you can imagine the hilarious chaos that accompanied just about any conversation longer than a minute. How often my uncle would translate for his wife only to realize that he was not using a language she understood.

To add to the chaos, no one had done any itinerary planning. It was all I could do to squeeze in time enough to purchase two books on Paris (both turned out to be excellent). We had vague ideas of sights to see, but mainly pegged our schedule around a couple of specific appointments. What made scheduling our outings into math word problems were these facts: Some stores/museums were closed on Sundays, some on Mondays, and others on Tuedays. Thursday was the first of May, France’s Labor Day when almost everything would be closed. There was a trip to Orly scheduled for Wednesday. And we had shifting weather to contend with. My uncle decided that Sunday’s warmth and sunshine should not be wasted! We walked through Jardin du Luxembourg, toured Notre Dame, shopped near the Sorbonne, lunched near the narrowest street in Paris, peeked into St. Séverin church, bought souvenirs along the Seine, window shopped on rue de Rivoli, enjoyed the glass pyramids of the Louvre, dropped by the Centre Georges Pompidou, drove up the Champs-Élysées, elbowed our way around the Arc de Triomphe, and while we waited until the Tour Eiffel lit up, ate our jambon and fromage paninis.

These are some of the major scenes around town. Sometimes I liked to capture a scene that didn’t include a monument. Just something to remind me of what it felt like walking around Paris.

We’d arrived on Saturday around lunch time and drove home to my uncle’s flat (after getting lost with the many “déviations”, an adventure we came to describe as “Tour de France”). After a lunch of Thai chicken curry and rice, we crashed for a few hours and relaxed until dinner and bedtime - anxious to get on the new time schedule.

The next morning was sunny and bright. My uncle drove us out to the Jardin du Luxembourg and we walked around, soaking in the early morning sunshine and fresh air, careful not to get into the paths of the myriads of joggers - a rare sight: Parisiens in athletic wear.

A frequent and lovely scene: quiet rest among the broad trees. My mom noticed the statues which seem ubiquitous to her eyes.

Can’t you see yourself sitting here with the morning paper or a book you’d stayed up reading the night before and a cup of coffee?

These little box-like houses turned out to be the Orangerie du Luxembourg’s beehives.

I don’t know what the trees are that line this walkway, but I fell in love with the marron (chestnut) trees and their scalloped leaves (in the foreground).

Towards the end of our walk, we came across a smaller scale of the Statue of Liberty, so beautiful here in this natural setting of greenery. “This is a bronze model that Bartholdi used in designing the New York statue.” (wikipedia)

To be continued…

spring in Paris, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7

~ by nikkipolani on May 12, 2008.