This Wednesday, the girls and I went to Musée de la Poupée, the doll museum. Here Sylvia is posing like a doll. The permanent collection is not on display again until June. Meanwhile, the museum is showing dolls from around the world. Dolls are not really my thing and I really hate old, creepy dolls, so I was quite happy to miss the permanent exhibit. The museum is tucked back into a nice dead-end near Le Centre Pomidou.
Dolls from different parts of Africa
Marionettes from India
A plague doctor doll from Italy. Doctors wore these duck-billed masks filled with herbs in hopes of protecting themselves from catching the plague.
Chinese dolls
The girls and I enjoyed looking at the dolls, but I was eventually overwhelmed by the mildew smell and we escaped to the great outdoors.
All playground equipment in Paris has big circle stickers on it saying the ages for which it is appropriate. Lillian has just a few more months to enjoy this playground.
Right across from the doll museum and right behind the Jewish history museum is Anne Frank park. It has been cold here and spring is a bit later than it was last year. On Wednesday, the trees were in bloom and the sun was shining.
On Thursday morning, it was hailing and snowing during my run.
Easter afternoon, we hopped on the metro and went to Saint Denis Basilica Cathedral. St. Denis is right outside of Paris. Like St. Denis, Pierre is holding onto his head. The basilica stands on the site of a Gallo-Roman cemetery with the tomb of Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris.
Saint Denis is a Christian martyr and saint. In the third century, he was Bishop of Paris. He was martyred in connection with the Decian persecution of Christians, shortly after 250 CE. After his head was chopped off, Denis is said to have picked it up and walked ten kilometres, preaching a sermon the entire way. He is said to have been beheaded on Monmartre, which is why Sacre Coeur was built there.
Several National Monuments,including Saint Denis Basilica Cathedral, in and around Paris offered special Easter quizzes with a promise of prizes if everything was completed correctly.
Joan of Arc visited here and prayed on some relics before continuing on to Paris
St. Denis is often referred to as the necropolis or France. The kings or France and their families were buried in the Cathedral. All but three of the monarchs of France from the 10th century until 1789 have their remains there. Traditionally, queens were crowned here and kings at Reims.
During the Revolution, Revolutionaries opened the tombs and dumped the bodies into two large pits nearby, dissolving the bodies using quick lime. Many of the stone coffins and monuments were saved because they were considered art.
Napoleon reopened the Cathedral in 1806, but left the royal bodies in the common pit. In 1817 the bodies were exhumed, but there was little left and no way to identify who was whom. The remains were buried in a common grave in the crypt with a list of all of the royalty whose tombs were despoiled.
The tomb of François I, Claude de France and three of their children. The king and queen are portrayed naked and flayed inside the tomb and praying on top.
The tomb of Henri II and Catherine of Medici is inspired by the Italians and uses many different colours of the same material.
The quiz took us down into the crypt where there were many relics and much weirdness.
In the crypt, there was a temporary exhibit all about St. Denis.
King Dagobert, the king of the Franks (reigned 628-637) was buried here in 639. He refounded the church as a Benedictine monastery. Dagobert was the first king to be buried here.
When our girls were little one of their favorite songs was Le Bon Roi Dagobert. The first verse is about how he has his underwear on inside out.
Many of the queens had dogs at their feet to represent loyalty.
The quizzes were very well done and the girls enjoyed learning about the cathedral and about French history. Lillian and Sylvia were rewarded with stickers and chocolates.
My brother's book came out yesterday and you should run out and buy yourself a copy or two. If you visit The Peter Rock Project you can learn all about it. I tried to steal a video from The Peter Rock Project website, but I was unable to do it. Visit the site and click on the first video!
"The Shelter Cycle is a stunning novel about faith and disillusionment and the lingering power of the past. In spare, lyrical prose, and with immense compassion, Peter Rock illuminates a strange and little-known chapter in American religious history. At times, Rock's uncanny ability to combine mysticism with blunt realism is reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor." -Tom Perrotta
"As luminous as it is sinister and innocent, The Shelter Cycle is a book not quite like any other. Peter Rock renders masterfully the ferocity and intensity of bonds between childhood friends as well as adults, coupling also the inescapable loneliness and yet hope within the human soul." -Rick Bass
We started off our Easter egg hunt with a couple of American families from our school. We anglophones quickly found each other on the sidewalk at pick-up time. One of the moms is a NYU professor and is here for a year. We got to check out the NYU overseas campus in our neighbourhood because that is where the Easter Bunny hid our eggs.
I had known that NYU had an address on the main street near the girls' school for a long time, but I didn't know exactly where it was. The streets in our neighbourhood are mostly canyons with Haussmannian cliffs on either side. Huge double doors dot the walls of these cliffs, and if you know the door code you will be welcomed into a whole new world. We opened the doors to the Easter egg hunt and found a couple of buildings with classrooms, one old and one new, a courtyard with tables and a lovely old apartment building.
I hope to be hanging out at these tables sipping a glass of Sancerre when the weather gets a little nicer.
There were a lot of eggs, but these kids are fast!
Good news, Sylvia's favorite pastry, the mont blanc is back. It disappeared for several months. Perhaps it is a seasonal thing. We are sugared up and ready for the weekend.
I never knew that the best way to introduce my girls to their American heritage was to move to Paris. You see, they are American Girl Scouts and they are learning all sorts of important Americana. Last Saturday was Song Fest. Themes for the Fest are different each year and the troop in charge gets to choose the theme. This year is was American songs (last year it was Songs from Around the World). I spent three hours hearing old favorites and learning new American songs. Yes, there are a lot of American Girl Scouts in Paris. And a lot of them aren't American. It was a family affair and Pierre sang America the Beautiful much louder and much better than I did.
We are a walking, metro riding, walking, carless family. We are waiting for the bus.
We arrived early so that the girls could practice their songs and their moves.
Lillian's Brownie Troop sang and danced Cotton-Eyed Joe. This song was new to me.
Sylvia's Daisy troop sang She'll be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes.
Wahoo!
The girls have had a great time with their troops and I am very grateful for their fabulous troop leaders. There is a camp out scheduled for June!
The other day, Lillian and I walked to the hardware store to get some light bulbs. We walked across the Bir-Hakeim Bridge and visited this statue of Joan of Arc, "La France Renaissante."
