Does not work well in groups
Today, David and I took off to the Grand Palais to catch the Marie Antoinette exhibition before it closes on Monday. We waited an hour in the sun to get in, and then it was so crowded that it was difficult to get close to the exhibits. Those I saw were very beautiful. The building itself was a disappointment. It is very grand outside, but its soul has been ripped out and replaced with ugly, modern, cluttered boxes inside.
Afterwards, we joined a World War II walking group, but we didn't do so well there, either. I hadn't eaten since breakfast (admittedly at about 10am) and the walk started at 3. The commentary wasn't as engaging as our bike tour, and it seemed we walked for about fifteen minutes between stories. I was starving, and when we reached the Tuilleries (the park in front of the Louvre) I diverted for 60 seconds to get us a couple of sandwiches from a stand. When we turned around, the group was gone. We walked flat out for about a kilometre to try and find them, then gave up, bought bonbons and went home.
I sat about and finished the book I bought yesterday at Shoah - Paroles d'etoiles - Histoires des enfants caches. It's dozens of recollections by jewish people who were children during WWII, and their experiences of raids, wearing the yellow star, watching family members be taken away, being taken away themselves, being hidden, and coming to terms with life after the liberation. Amazing.
Tomorrow is going to be wonderful. We leave from Gare d'Austerlitz in the morning to travel to Amboise by ordinary train, and we're booked into the Blason Hotel. We'll visit Clos Luce (Leonardo da Vinci's home) as well as the Amboise chateau and we're going to try the group thing again tomorrow afternoon to explore the underground tunnels between the chateau and Clos Luce. We'd better not lose the group, or we might end up the source of some legende urbaine.... We're coming back on Saturday night on the TGV. Yay! There will probably be a gap in my blog, as I don't think we'll have internet access in Amboise. Yikes!
posted by trocadero at
1:11 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the updates. I know how you felt with the Jewish memorial stuff. When I went to Europe I visited a concentration camp. We were all very young (all ona six week Contiki Tour) we spent most of that time laughing and having a ball. When we left that concentration camp, it was in a very sombre mood. You just can't see stuff like that and begin to wonder how horrific it must have been. It's one thing to see it depicted in movies, it's another to see photos of the people and the actual place where some of the atrocities took place.
Look forward to your update, when you can have an internet connection again. You obviously have a laptop - what an awesome way to record your memories, while they are all still so fresh, much easier than keeping a hand written journal.
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