Assimilating

Amy and I did not get a really early start today. Our dinner with her teachers went to almost 11 and we had no reason to rush.

Our first stop was the Saturday open air market where you can get anything from chestnuts to olives to cheese to electronics. As a gardener, I always love seeing the produce. I got some of the locally famous green lentils and some raspberry honey to bring home. We got some apples to take on our journey to Berlin tomorrow and I got a chocolat orange for some vitamin C today.

Our next stop was a boulangerie where were got coffee and a pastry. Amy ate one of the apples and I had my orange. Now fortified we were ready to do some climbing.

Our first destination was Cathedral de Notre Dame to see the black Virgin Mary. It is believed she was captured during the Crusades, but the original was burned in 1794 during the French Revolution. Because she was such a symbol of faith, a replica was created. An additional one was also created for the prayer chapel.

Then church dates from 5th century but most construction occurred during the 11th or 12th century. It was originally built because the Virgin Mary said a church should be build upon a certain very flat rock said to have healing powers. Amy and I laid our hands on it for a few moments. The church is also one of the most popular starting places for the Camino de Santiago for this reason. I was particularly taken with some faded frescos and some wooden statues. And of course, the pipe organ looked amazing.

From there we started walking towards the huge statue of the virgin which required more uphill steps and once you reach the stature you can take the steps to the top. The tippy tippy top was disappointing considering the sketchy ladder I had to go up, because the plexiglass covering was fogged up. However, just below that was a spectacular view. I was curious about the cannons around the statue and research provided the answer. The statue was constructed from cannons captured from the Russians during the Crimean War.

Then it was time to find lunch. We ended up at Amy’s favorite place L’Adelaide and we had the same server as I had had the day before. This time I tried the crepe du jour and had another fresh orange/ginger juice.

Our next objective was the Crozatier Museum. The standing exhibits are Greco Roman, 16-18th century, and science and biology. Their special exhibit was about dentelle or lace making in Le Puy.

The lace exhibit was amazing. So many samples of different patterns, how it evolved over time, and how it was painstakingly done by women 12-14 hours a day for not great pay. Of course, someone invented a machine to do it and I found that equally fascinating because it was similar to the old punch cards for computers.

From there I spent some time In the 16-18 century before exploring the gift shop. While there I found a 1920s poster that intrigued me. I asked the woman at the front desk where I could find it and she said top floor in “mechanique.” It was part of a display about the inventions of Emile Reynaud. He created a way to project very short motion pictures prior to film movies. He was quite successful for while but then subsequent inventions did not pan out. He got frustrated and threw most of it into the Seine and died in an asylum. A very ignoble end for such a creative inventor.

Our last objective for the day was to meet up with Amy’s French friend Elise. She is a social worker at one school where Amy works. She was delightful. It was a bit of a franglais conversation although I’m happy it was much more French than English. It was great to see Amy really relaxed with her French speaking and doing so well. And I think Amy was a bit shocked I knew the French word for computer. :). Mais bien sur!

We were too early for dinner— most places don’t open for dinner until at least 7 — so we went back to the hotel bar to have an aperitif. I tried the local specialty Ricard which is similar to ouzo, but instead of adding ice, one adds water and then the light amber liquid turns clear and then cloudy.

For dinner, we tried a Thai place which fortunately was not too busy. Our meal was good, but it will not go down as one of the most memeorable. Time for bed because we have an early start tomorrow to get to Berlin!