Where will life lead me?: Veteran's Day..oui oui! (9-11 November, 2013)

I seem to be making a trip to Paris a Veteran's Day tradition...which is not a bad thing; not in the least. It's kind of appropriate since it is also Veteran's Day in France. I had no real plans for what I wanted to do; well not exactly. I had asked Rosemary if she would like to go (how silly to think it would even need to be asked as she is always up for Paris)...she was up for the weekend, but wanted to know if I wanted to go on a side adventure. It seems that there is the Scottish village in France, and part of her family had once lived there and she wanted to go check it out. Needless to say, it was an opportunity for pictures, so of course I was good with it.

The plan was to go to Paris on Friday, after work, stay the night at a hotel near the Bercy train station (since that is the station we would be taking a train out of to get to the Scottish village in France), get up bright and early (OK just early) on Saturday, take the 7 am train, stay the day and then come back and go to the regular hotel. That was the plan, not what really occurred.

We did get to the hotel (after walking about 1.5 km), at night, in an area we didn't know at all (well Rosemary kind of knew it). Finally we found it and decided to go down for a glass of wine. Well by the time we did that, showered, and settled in, it was already midnight...with a 5:30 wake up call (not smart planning on our part).

The wake up call came. We begrudgingly got up, got ready, and made the walk back to the train station. Waited for the ticket office to open, only to be told there was no morning train to Aubigny Sur Nere (the Scottish village in France) only an afternoon one that would get there in time to pretty well turn around and come back. The funny thing is that there were three trains to Aubigny Sur Nere on Sunday...go figure considering that most businesses are closed on Sundays but not Saturdays. The problem with going on Sunday was that the one thing I wanted to do on this Paris trip was go to my favorite market and I couldn't do that and go to Aubigny Sur Nere on Sunday...oh the dilemma! At any rate, we were already up so decided to just figure out other things to do.

First off was breakfast, but then a stroll to the Luxembourg Gardens. As soon as we got off the metro in the right area we came upon the fountain of St. Michel.

Then we came upon the medieval garden at the Cluny museum.

We stopped for breakfast on the square in front of the Sorbonne (ok, part of it, since the Sorbonne covers a lot of space in Paris).

we can tell it was early morning...my picture is a bit askew, just like me at that early time

Then strolling again...nothing notable about this building, I just liked the light on it.

The Pantheon

St. Etienne Church...definitely worth the stop...a must see as pictures do it no justice at all. It is amazing.

St. Etienne (pronounced A T N) church. Funny thing, I had put this church on my list of places I wanted to see, but didn't have the list with me...how we went this way is because I was trying to find the steps from the movie "Midnight in Paris"

Then we got to the Luxembourg Garden (Jardin du Luxembourg). This is the garden that houses the French copy of the Statue of Liberty)...the problem was finding it, but it wasn't a bad problem as it allowed us to see a lovely garden).

Lovely place to sit and read

The Sorbonne after waking up more LOL

When in Paris...crepes of course.

These ingenious Europeans...using cabbage in their flower bouquets.

Somehow we had this bright idea (that is tongue in cheek since there was no sun shining, instead Paris was weeping at the thought of visiting a cemetery) to visit the cemetery where Lafayette is buried (Picpus cemetery). Before going to the cemetery, Rosemary wanted to pick up some red, white, and blue flowers for the grave...unfortunately, the best that could be found was red, white, and blue hydrangea (which arent exactly blue, but kind of). While in the flower shop we found out that many French citizens will go to Lafayette's grave on July 4th as a sign of honor to their American friends (I personally thought that was pretty cool).

Rosemary, in the rain, wind (the umbrella was inside out a few times), with flowers as we searched for the cemetery.

While many Americans know to look for Lafayette's grave, few Parisians seem to be aware of the location. Needless to say, when asking the best way to get to the cemetery, many people aren't able to help with directions...but we we able to get there with a little help.

The Picpus Historic Cemetery is hidden away, making it a little difficult to find, but an interesting little place. On the grounds you first come in and one of the volunteers greets you (to gain your 2 euro entrance fee). Across the courtyard is a chapel (below) and to the left of the chapel is a gate that you enter through...you then walk through and nice grassy area lined with trees until you get to the very back corner. That is where you will find the actual cemetery plots.

According to the cemetery information (as well as I can remember it, and adding a little I already knew) during the Reign of Terror there was a short period of time referred to as the Great Terror (from June 14 - July 27, 1794), During this time 1306 people, between the ages of 16 -85, and of various social standings, were brought up on charges (some real, some trivial reasonings, and some were non-existent reasons). They were almost all sentenced and those found guilty were murdered (this was a time when the guillotine, aka the National Razor was commonly used); as many as 55 a day.

Two mass graves were dug in what had been a neighborhood garden and the decapitated bodies were dumped in. The guillotine was set up just a few blocks away in what is now Place de la Nation. The cadavers were thrown in at night, in secret as a means of ensuring that the atrocities would be forgotten. But they weren't.

The massacre didn't end until July 27th with the coup of 9 Thermidor Year II, and the conviction fo Maximilien de Robepierre (the main instigator of the massacre). Robespierre was convicted by his accomplices, as they were in fear that he would turn on them. He attempted to shoot himself, but failed. The result of the shooting was that his jaw was somewhat dislodged from his face and hung for hours before he was guillotined for his crimes.

Among those who perished were the poet Andre Chenier; the grandmother, mother, and sister of Adrienne de Noailles (wife of general Marquis de Lafayette); the Vicomte de Beauharnais, Marshal Duke de Noailles-Mouchy; and Marie-Louise de Montmorency-Laval who was blind and deaf, and was sentenced to death for "silently and blindly" conspiring against the Republic. Others who died included 16 members of the Carmelites of Compiegue ( aka the Martyrs of Compiegne) including 11 Carmelite nuns, 3 lay sisters, and 2 externs (they would work with the community outside of the monastery).

One prerequisite of being buried at the Picpus cemetery is that either you died on the guillotine that summer in 1794 or that you had a relative that did. Lafayette and his family survived the Reign of Terror (strange that a man who has a place in the American history do to his involvement with our revolution, lost so much during his own countries revolution) but many of his wife's family did not survive. Because of this, he and his wife are buried in the cemetery near the entrance to the mass grave area.

Rosemary's flowers placed on the grave of LaFayette.

Mass grave area:

The first grave is 8x5 meters and 6.5 meters deep.
1000 martyrs are in this grave.

The second mass grave is 10 x 6.5 meters and 8 meters deep and holds 304 martyrs.

Inside the chapel:

One either side of the nave are wall to wall plagues with the names of the 1306 who died. The plaques include their names, ages, occupations, and date of death. (I couldn't get a good picture of the plaques as they are in a very dark part of the chapel and I did not want to disturb a lady in the chapel by using a flash)

On to a little happier situation. So, rain still coming down we made our way back to our train station hotel to get our bags, so that we could take them to our regular hotel. Mind you, we walked that 1.6 km yet again, because it was what the hotel had shown on its map as the closest Metro. Luckily, while at the hotel I asked because if there was one closer I was using it...and luck was with us...seems there is a metro stop just about a block away from the hotel (boy that would have been handy to know before). So we lugged our bags down the stairs and onto the subway car and off to the other hotel. Then once the bags were dropped off, it was time to go to Galleries Lafayette to see this years Christmas tree (and we hoped an evening view from the roof; which didn't happen since they had the roof blocked off).

I had to get this picture for the boys...yep a huge yoda built with legos.

After leaving Galleries Lafayette we walked to the Opera metro stop (since they had blocked off the one in the store) so it was a good chance to take a picture of the front of the Opera at night...then back to the hotel for a bit of relaxation before Sundays adventure. Oh by the way, if you think we didn't get our exercise for the day, we had over 32000 steps in, 18 flights of stairs, and over 8 miles of walking...no wonder why we were tired.

Sunday morning came and we were up early again to travel back to the other train station and go to the Scottish village in France. We got on the train and all was good, till we got to Gien. Then we had to figure out where the bus was that would take us to Aubigny Sur Nere...found the stop and proceeded to go to what we thought was a store (since the train station was closed up tight and it was cold out)...problem was, it wasn't a store, but more kind of a pub, but not. By the time we got back outside the bus was waiting so we hurried to it. There were two villages we stopped in on the way, and although they had some interesting looking buildings, they didn't look anywhere near old Scottish looking.

Then we got to our destination. It seemed we were kind of dropped off near nothing of note, but then we saw some of the timbered buildings and such that you see below.

This is part of the original wall of the city.

At first this phone booth seems out of place for a French village, until you remember that their is a great Scottish influence, and then it all makes sense.

Rosemary in the home of some of her roots.

This is the sign that is above some of the soil brought from Bergen - Belsen Concentration Camp in remembrance of those who died their.

Look the sun decided to come out while we were in for lunch.

The chilly wind got the best of us...especially since few places were open (being a Sunday) so we took our chances and got on an earlier bus and train than planned, relaxed for the evening and started again Monday morning to see what we could get into.

First thing Monday morning (after sleeping until ready to wake up) we were off...we went to the St Lazarre area and these were the coolest glass tears hanging in a shopping area:

We stopped for breakfast then off towards Galleries Lafayette again to get a glimpse at the store windows...they decorate them for the holidays. First we came to the beautiful rooftops of the Printemps

Unfortunately, the glare on the windows makes it really difficult to get clear pictures, but hopefully you get the idea.

This is really difficult to see but its Santas in black suits (reminded me of Men in Black)

Often there are chalk artists on the streets...this one hadn't been working a long time, but you can tell what the end product was going to be.

The Galleries Lafayette Christmas display is sponsored by Swatch this year, so needless to say, things were somehow clock/watch related.

This picture makes it a little easier to see how big the tree is...as those are different levels of the store.

I love the dome in the Galleries...it is beautiful.

Today the rooftop was open, so it was a good time to take a few pictures of the Paris skyline.

the back of the Opera Garnier

I had to be bad and get a picture of Rosemary with the Eiffel Tower in it...she does not like the tower LOL

Sacre Coeur

These are perfume bottles but I liked how they looked all lined up.

Next we took our chances in hopes of getting into a tour of the Opera Garnier, and as luck had it, we did it...even getting into an English tour. If you don't know the Opera Garnier...think Phantom of the Opera.

Inside the actual seating/stage areas (we weren't able to get pictures of the stage area as they were setting up for a show that evening and didn't want people taking their workers pictures):