One Last Weekend

The last two weeks have been a wild ride, to say the least.  I am back in the US, spending Labor Day weekend with my family and preparing for the imminent start of the semester.  I wish I could say that I am rested and relaxed and ready to go, but that would be stretch.  

I still have two or three other blog posts that I have been working on and would like to include here before I sign off---I will try to get those done in the next week or two---but today I just wanted to reflect on my last few (unplanned) day in Paris.

As I mentioned in the previous post, there was a hitch to our move back.  My passport went missing on the morning we were to fly home.  This was a Friday, and my appointment for an emergency passport at the American Embassy in Paris was not until Monday morning.  Glenn flew home on Friday as planned, so Sandy and I had one last, bonus, weekend in Paris.  And I was determined to tick a few things off of my Paris bucket list.  

The main activity for Saturday was a visit to the Musee Cluny.  It is one of my favorites and I had not managed to make it there this year.  Its collections are devoted mostly to the Middle Ages, but the museum itself is housed in a structure which incorporates ancient Roman baths, a medieval monastery, and a 21st Century addition.  One of the more interesting displays is original statuary from Notre Dame Cathedral.  Many of these statues were removed (and perhaps replaced with replicas) in the 19th Century when Notre Dame was extensively renovated.  They are displayed in a room together as sets of headless bodies and bodyless heads, which I'm sure was not meant to be amusing but was a little.

I also saw the famous "Lady with the Unicorn" tapestries.  I do not typically love tapestry---I find the color palette unappealing---but these were lovely.  Here are a couple of details, including one showing how fabric is rendered in the medium of tapestry, i.e., fabric.  

And, finally, here is a very close-up detail of another tapestry at the museum showing how the image of folds of fabric is achieved with the stitching of the tapestry.

Sandy, of course, was not invited to the museum, but for that evening, I booked a table for the two of us at the jazz club Le Son de la Terre.  I had a very decent burger and fries with a glass of wine, Sandy had a bowl of water, and we both enjoyed the jazz duo, playing some classics as well as newer music.  The musicians were happy to have Sandy in the audience and came over to meet him during the breaks.  We were caught in a downpour on the way back to the apartment and arrived back thoroughly soaked-through.  

The main planned activity for Sunday was a visit to the Louvre (again dog-free).  The main unplanned activity was having the electricity in the apartment cut (because, of course, we were planning to leave on Friday) and having to find a nearby dog-friendly hotel where Sandy and I could stay.  I also had Kate call Electricite de France's emergency line for me, reasoning that literally the only emergency that anyone would call the electricity company for was not having electricity in a place where they were currently living.  Apparently, my situation was not emergency enough.  They said I would need to call back on Monday if I wanted to get the power restored.  

But the Louvre was great.  It had a special exhibit on the Olympics, and also highlighted (added?) sports-themed works of art throughout.  Below is the goblet that was presented to the winner of the marathon in the first modern Olympics as well as a stone tablet from ancient Greece recording winners of various athletic contests.  The Olympic rings took their inspiration from such tablets.

And here are some additional sports-themed works.  The first is a depiction of the Ancient Greek runner who inspired the marathon collapsing upon delivering the necessary message to Athens.

After checking into our hotel and getting some other things taken care of, Sandy and I walked to Pepita on Boulevard St. Germain for an nduja and red onion pizza and a pint of blonde.  Well, Sandy had water again.  But it was a lovely evening and we enjoyed our table on the terrace. 

The remainder of my bonus time in Paris was dominated by unpacking the things we needed for four days, repacking, spending a morning at the US Embassy, rewashing sheets and towels which I had used since Friday, and doing all of the last-minute preparations for leaving the apartment that were pushed aside in Friday's chaos.  

A couple of final notes:

1.  When you think "US Embassy in Paris," visions of a palatial estate with grand receiving rooms, antique furnishings, and tasteful decor might come to mind.  My taste of the embassy, at least, was much less palatial and much more DMV.  

2.  Its operation was pretty efficient.  I arrived a bit early for my 8am appointment, went right in, spoke with two employees, killed a little time by enjoying a cup of coffee and a croissant at a cafe nearby, and had my emergency passport in hand by 10:30am.  (There were different lines for US citizen services and foreign nationals doing things like applying for visas.  I think the US citizen line was probably much faster.)

3.  The passport was, in fact, in our luggage the whole time, and I cannot explain how our frantic unpacking did not reveal it.