Our Lovely Paris Vacation: A Poetry Reading, Burning at the Notre Dame Cathedral, and a Midnight Picnic on the Left Bank

There are pigeons and love-birds all around Paris' famous Notre Dame Cathedral. Oh, look, here's a couple of love-birds snuggling in front of the wood and calligraphic metal door of the cathedral. Can you hear them cooing? Can you hear the mighty organ reverberating ecstatically through the stone walls of the gothic cathedral?

Inside, the cathedral is glowing with candles and faces turned to god, burning passionately. Everything rises. Far above us, in the pocket of heaven tucked into the angles of the cathedral ceiling, our prayers took wing in the dark warm spaces. A little bit of this hallowed atmosphere entered our lungs, then released itself back into the respiratory system of the cathedral, each of our bodies a minute bronchi in the breathing in and out of this great stone spirit.

This was a brilliant day and night! Oh man, it's the stuff of dreams! We spent time at the legendary Shakespeare and Company English-language bookstore, where we saw a poetry reading and where the kiddos curled up on an old couch with the resident puppy. Then, just literally a hop, skip, and a jump across the river and voila! We were at the Notre Dame cathedral!

We visited the cathedral in 2005 too, but it was closed...so we hung out with backpackers, tourists, and all sorts of colorful characters late into the night watching street artists and fire jugglers. This time, though, oh man...not only was the cathedral open, but there was a midnight mass in progress (serendipity - my true religion!!!) when we entered, replete with organs and the sound of many voices raised like wine to god. After this heady experience, we had a scrumptious picnic while watching a street performer juggle and blow fire. Every time I look at this picture (above), it evokes these memories.

On a sophomoric note: in this picture (above) Phil's backpack looks like a futuristic jet pack, the twin "jets" of the French bread about to propel them across the Seine. It cracks me up!


With full hearts and souls and bellies we strolled around the Left Bank as long as we could before collapsing. It's a sacrilege to waste time sleeping in the city of lights...so we traded a bit of sleep for a bit of Paris that we'll have in our memories forever. A dream for a dream.

Lvov's Birthday and Father's Day with Grandpa Bill in Paris

Wow, this weekend was such a blur of activity, celebration, and emotion - I hardly know where to start! Not only was it sweet Lvov's 9th birthday, but it was also father's day. . . and I was able to see my dad in Paris! Oh, the serendipity!






















We drove to Paris in about five hours, but first we stopped off in Reims, France (birthplace of Jean of Arc) to visit the gorgeous Reims Cathedral (pictured above). We learned so much. We saw the secret Masonic symbols chiseled into the stonework, we learned about flying buttresses (and flying butts - the gargoyles are pretty shameless!), about Catholic beliefs and saints, and we even (to my utter delight) gazed at the famed stained glass windows designed by Chagall! Oh how I love his dreamy, swirly artwork (reminds me of Wm. Blake's and Kahlil Gibran's).




















Finding the Hotel Wilson was really crazy. Driving in Paris is NO JOKE. Phil and/or I have driven all through Japan, Korea, Afghanistan, Boston, NYC, Germany, and Italy - and nowhere is driving as crazy as it is in Paris. Thankfully we finally found the hotel and hooked up with Grandpa Bill!

This trip made us seriously consider getting one of those GPS navigational gizmos, though it's at odds with our gypsy wanderlust. We thought it would be cool for the voice on the GPS to rhyme all of the directions ala the children's story Madeleine in Paris - "In the hidden Hotel Wilson, all covered with vines, stand twelve befuddled tourists in two straight lines..."




The kiddos lit candles for BB and said a prayer.

It was so great seeing Grandpa Bill! Somehow we managed to pack everything into just two days: tons of hugging, many beers (we're talking 5-pounders) and outrageously delicious French onion soup (just called onion soup) at the Circle Brasserie with Dominic, our outstanding waiter who rallied everyone around us to sing happy birthday to Lvov; meeting Dad's co-workers; learning the Paris Metro system; celebrating Lvov's birthday from the Eiffel Tower at midnight with the lights sparkling. . .we all also had a delicious picnic of toasty bread, fresh tomatoes, garlic & pepper cheese, fresh basil the size of lamb's ears, pineapple sliced messy and sweet at the table, and local red wine.

When Dad had to go to work at the air show, we went to Le Bois de Boulogne, a gorgeous park in the heart of Paris not too far from the Arc de Triomphe. It was great to get away from the touristy areas and just chill out. Akychame braided me a wildflower garland and Lvov did flips (in a body harness) on a huge trampoline with a bunch of French kiddos.

When it came time to say goodbye to Dad, I cried and cried! It was way too short a visit, but I'm lucky that circumstances bring my Dad to Europe at least once a year. My residencies at Bennington, sporadic though they are, help to fill in the gaps.






We look forward to you all visiting us soon! You're all invited (hurry up - just one year left in Germany). We're planning (fingers crossed) to be headed back to VT in January for my next residency at Bennington. Until then, I am going to try to keep you all woven into our lives with the thread of this family blog. I'm not a very consistent creature (who is it that said the only truly consistent people are dead?) but I'm going to try my best to keep in touch because we miss you all and want you to be a part of our lives, even though we're miles apart!