Touring Paris, part 1

July 26, Saturday

Breakfast is the first time that I truly realize that we are in a foreign land. The food is different. The eggs are made with cream perhaps. Bacon, sausage, both are different than we find in the US. The bread is wonderful! In any language.

We tour the city of Paris today, first by bus with various stops, then by boat. This part of the journey seems to be about getting on and getting off buses, trains, boats...with a double check each time to see if we have all the people we started out with. I find myself counting the Drew 14 incessantly.

There are things that look familiar to me here (besides the big landmarks). One of the bridges seems to be one that I have seen in a movie. And the metal angels that are holding up the light in Sacre- Cœur are certainly the originals of some candle sticks owned by cousin Ann.

But the first real stop of the day is at the Louvre. With two tour guides (one for each bus) we are 75 strong, trying to move through the museum and (of much more concern to the staff) trying to stand still in one spot. As we try to gather ourselves, someone comes along and asks us to move. We finally divide into two groups, which helps, but still it is hard to stick with a group of forty. By the time we gathered everyone together, we were moved to the next exhibit. We saw many beautiful artworks, but too quickly to really take it in, to savor it. Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Christ and Abbot Mena, Mona Lisa.

About the icon Christ and Abbot Mena. Jeff invited us to tell him what we saw as we looked at the icon. Halos, and a book and a scroll. The Abbot has feet, but Jesus does not. The position of the Abbot's fingers, and the fact that both of Jesus' hands are occupied. We discussed all of these things. This is one of the central icons at Taize. We sang a chant in this room. It was lovely.

You can read more about the icon here:
http://www.louvre.fr/
Click on the collection tab, then Curatorial Departments, Egyptian Antiquities, Selected Works. In the section labeled "Sort by period or theme" select Christian Egypt (Fourth-Twelfth Centuries AD). You can find the picture as number 4 among the 29 offerings started on this page.
We saw other icons, some of which had such light in them...

We ate at the Louvre, then moved on to MontMarte and Sacre- Cœur. But we will go there another day.

Peace, my pilgrims. Get a good night's sleep.