Back In Paris

I took the train from the Versailles to Paris and hiked it from the train to find a train station in which to store my luggage. I had to go to a train station that would connect with Air France bus service to take me back to the airport so while I was in that region I could tour Notre Dame, and see some other sites of nearby places. I met a nice man who helped me carry my luggage which was totally so wonderful that I fell in love again that day. He was from Ecuador and was going to the same place that I was going and so helped me to get there and directed me to the luggage location.

What a day that was!

I did take my turn to visit Notre Dame Cathedral, and at St. Theresa's shrine in the great church, I naturally had a momentary nosebleed. I decided to consider it holy then.

You might just know.

I did also visit the Concierge where Queen Marie Antoinette had been imprisoned, and everything changed from that point on.

The site of the guillotine unraveled me a bit. I have a bit of a preoccupation with that. All of France had been wonderful so long as I was sightseeing on the double decker bus. I had already been to Montmartre and climbed up that hill at Sacre Coure.

I spent most of my time near the site of the Eiffel Tower. I did use my little knowledge of French at McDonald's and was able to order. At the other McDonald's they created a line for nonspeaking or English speaking visitors to France. And a girl fainted in line ahead of me...what a time that had been.

But here I am, back in Paris, and visiting the Conciergerie, and it was not very nice to say the least. The atmosphere there is very different from the chateau or the gardens and all the rest that I had been seeing.

I had had two runins with some men who were not so nice, but all along I had actually met many men who were very warm, friendly, and hospitable. But one man on duty at the Eiffel Tower made me a bit putoff as did a man at the train station that I had to take to get to the Versailles. It was a bit like what, you want to go to the Versailles. Why? Then the mean one at the Eiffel Tower was rude and nasty as he yelled, open your purse! I said, No, I am not going in...He should have said, S'il vous plait, which he later did to another woman after the other guards talked to him, and some nice young people came up to talk to me to support me.

Those were the only two jarring notes I had there. But it did make me think of Marie Antoinette, and how mistreated she had been.

When I had been at the Hameau which was Marie Antoinette's own personal favorite place to let her hair down and be her real self, I had noticed that some women were a bit rude and snobbish, while others were very nice, warm, and friendly. I was never quite sure exactly what was going on in that respect either.

I was always alone when I walked around the city of Paris and the Versailles region, but I often found that when I approached people to ask questions, they were very helpful and very kind. I did actually walk across a bridge that was built across the Seine in the time of King Louis XIV. That really excited me, to see that bridge so solid and strong which connects from one side to another.

It is so much fun to discover all those pieces of architecture which were built then and show such excellent workmanship. Here it is, 300 years later, and I am walking around Paris and enjoying myself, realizing how times have changed so much.

You cannot imagine how much it meant to me to be able to see all these things in reality, knowing that now horse and carriage no longer clop, clop along these same streets that they had done years ago. It is incredible to know that I carry so many memories of yesterday inside me, as some kind of pregnant woman, as I believe that they are in my solar plexus, and they are buried within, yet always a part of me.

So now here I am riding around Paris in a double decker bus, determined to see every spot before I debark and explore sites. I did not know where to begin but wanted to at least cover the ground, so I did stop at Sacre Coeur, and walked all the way from the bus stop to the top of the hill where the church sits to take closeup pictures of the sights there. I am so impressed with the views from there, and the size of Paris that one week will never be enough for me. I will return to spend a longer time if I can.

But on the last day, I toured the cell where Marie Antoinette is said to have spent her last days, and studied all the exhibits that are there. A special exhibit was also at another public museum about the French Revolution but I did not get inside as I went on the day it was closed. I really do not want to recall the revolution right now anyway, as I am interested in all the places that were built to honor the King, Louis XIV.

I fell in love with this time period of the 17th century, and I love to discuss what I know of it. I will probably post one or two of my sketches of the king which I believe are closer to his real appearance that many of the other busts and portraits that do not depict him quite as personable as he truly is.

Remember, that while I admit to being in his person and seeing life through his eyes, I still treat him as he was then, the king, and as himself then as the king...I am today simply recalling when I had been in his person, doing his thing, his shtick, and loving it.

I realized something while writing about my trip to Notre Dame, as I always associate my nosebleeds with the statue of the king which is shown in a book from the exhibit in Mississippi years ago. He has a bit of rust or red at one nostril. I always think that the nosebleeds mean that I am in the time of Louis then.

That is a little aside right now just to explain away my thinking. Right or wrong, I see it that way.