Where in the World are the Varvels Today?: Paris Dec. 26-27

Size is all in perspective. That's me in the
back on the right.

Paris. Five Days. Was it cold? Yes. Did we care? Heck no! Lessons learned: eating French cheese before sleep causes intense dreams. No joke- even the French people said this. Of course they told us AFTER I woke Honey up two nights in a row because I was talking in my sleep. “Formage.” I was dreaming of that succulent cheese and wine. And the real thing was just as good as my dreams!

Those figures would not fit in my house.

I bet summertime here is awesome.

First things first: the underground. As illogical as the Paris trains seem to us, we were able to navigate fairly well and quickly through the city. Our first stop was the Arc d’Triumph after a quick breakfast in the station of croissants and juice from the store near the hotel. This cheap breakfast was to be our fair d’usual every morning. We liked shopping in the grocery store- it was a great language lesson. The Arc is huge. You know when some tourist places are cheesy and unimpressive? This was neither. It was huge, impressive, and really a wonder of construction. And the gazillion lane street that goes all around it is impressive also.

Then, we visited the Louvre. We have heard stories about people getting lost. We got lost. I kid you not. The place is massive, with exits and stairways in odd places. We saw the Mona Lisa, and I chose my favorite era and style of painters from the thousands we observed, and figured 3 hours was enough. It took another 3 hours just to find the exit. Along the way we stumbled upon the Netherland-area Renaissance, drooled for a while, and continued on- finding the original castle(?) wall along the way (which meant we ended up UNDER the museum), and finally out. It was one of those places where we will certainly visit again. It was every art book, every famous painting, every wonderful sculpture ever spoken about, written about, or shown in a movie. And I was able to get close enough to see the individual brush marks and chisel marks. We did note that the frames were just as exquisite as the paintings, but who really looks at the frame of a classic? No picture will ever do these originals justice. The colors literally burst off the canvas, spilling emotion and life and all the vital creativity of humanity into the rooms. The beauty reminds us that art IS a science, and while computers and cellular phones are cool, Michelangelo and Holbein will always hold our hearts.

Stunned and exhausted, we retired to a café to eat cheese and drink soda and wine. There might have been a real meal in there somewhere, but the cheese stole the show. Darkness flew over us as we stared out the café window, and on our stroll after dinner, we came upon a giant Ferris Wheel. Being intrepid adventurers as well as dorky tourists, we had to ride it. From the top the view of the city was amazing. All of the old structures of the city were lighted. Once it started moving (the loading process was not my favorite part- swaying, glass doors and walls, wind…) we had a great time.

For those of you who visited our house before we
moved, a print of this painting, a scene from Dante's
Inferno, was on our wall. One of Zack's favorites.