The weather turned a bit crisp and cold this weekend, with the smell of spring rain in the air. Ashleigh and I started Saturday at the sewer museum. Yes, the Paris underground sewer museum. It was quite a steep admission price, considering you were going to see rats, water, and pipes, but something that has been recommended by several people so we paid and went down. The stench was the first thing I noticed...but hey, what did I expect? You were given a guide pamphlet with corresponding numbers to describe each place. We walked through several demonstrations before finally reaching the pipes, trenches, and wiring. Until the Middle Ages, all of the drinking water came from the Seine. (Yuck! Was what we immediately thought.) In 1370 the first basic sewer was built under rue Montmartre. Over the next 500 years, people continued to get their water from the Seine and other tributaries, but it wasn't until 1850 that Haussmann designed and constructed the Parisien sewer system that we have today. Including the installation of two separate underground pipes, one for drinking water, and the other for sewage.
There are right at 2100 kilometers of tunnels of sewer system in Paris. Much of the eastern side of Paris uses "Seine water" and most of the sewage and water used in the whole of Paris is treated and put back into the Seine. Although it is perfectly safe and is monitored 24 hours a day, it does make you wonder!
The sewer system has been a tourist attraction since 1892. Tourists were taken down into the tunnels and given a tour in a locomotive drawn wagon. Neat, huh? The sewers basically follow the streets along exactly, there are even street name signs underground that match the ones above ground! Although the short distance that we got to see underneath didn't go to far under (thank goodness) we got a good feel for how our water gets to us. And honestly, when I got home that night to fill up my glass...I did think twice about drinking the tap water.
After the most enlightening and informative underground tour, we went to the Champ de Mars for a little grass lying before deciding on our evening activity.
Last night was a special night in Paris. It was the "Night of the Museums" all over Europe. Free entrance, and late hours, plus many of them offering special exhibitions and activities. Most museums in Paris were open until 12 or 1 am. Of course we wanted to participate in this annual occasion! Since we have done all the regular museums (and even some of the irregular) we looked at the list and decided on the "Musée de la Poste" or The Post Office Museum. Yes, it was a nerdy decision, but we both prefer letters and snail mail over email any day. And I'm not sure I knew it even existed until yesterday!
I turned the internet on my phone and type in the address we were going on my directions and map page. We got off the metro and began to walk toward Rue Vaugirard. 34 Rue Vaugirard to be exact. We walked and walked and walked to what felt like forever until we reached 36 Rue Vaugirard. We walked further down the street and back to retrace our steps....nothing. I scratched my head with confusion. "I know the website said 34 Rue Vaugirard," I told her. She pulled out her Lonely Planet guide to double check. I read it in her guide. "BOULEVARD Vaugirard!" We exclaimed at the same time. Oh man, big huge mistake for Maggie. Where is Boulevard Vaugirard we asked? I looked on the map...not TOO far, so we decided to just plug on and go for it.
Feeling a bit sluggish, we finally found the entrance to the museum. Considering the less than mediocre service we have received at all the Poste branches here in Paris, we had little to no hopes for this museum. We walked in and were greeted by a very happy woman who handed us the itinerary for the evening. An itinerary for the Poste museum? She shuffled us over to the elevator and wished us a good museum visit. On the elevator I told Ashleigh that that was the nicest welcome I've ever gotten in a museum. She quickly came back with, "That's the nicest welcome I've ever gotten in France!" ha....
Once we stepped off the elevators we were asked if we wanted to participate in creating postcards? Before saying yes, we peeked our head into the room to see exactly who was participating. No, it wasn't only children, but adults as well so we kindly obliged. We were sat down at a table with a blank postcard, construction paper, funky scissors, glue, stickers, magazine clippings, markers, crayons....oh man, it was great!!!!!
After a good 30 minutes of cutting, gluing, and coloring, we took our finished products to the mail bag so they could be sent to the address of our choice. I sent mine to Marie-Césare, not only because it was the only address I knew off the top of my head in France, but because she would enjoy my use of bright colors and flowers. That 30 minutes of therapeutic crafting also immediately lifted our moods!
The rest of the museum was very interesting...and so much more than we expected!
There are right at 2100 kilometers of tunnels of sewer system in Paris. Much of the eastern side of Paris uses "Seine water" and most of the sewage and water used in the whole of Paris is treated and put back into the Seine. Although it is perfectly safe and is monitored 24 hours a day, it does make you wonder!
After the most enlightening and informative underground tour, we went to the Champ de Mars for a little grass lying before deciding on our evening activity.
Last night was a special night in Paris. It was the "Night of the Museums" all over Europe. Free entrance, and late hours, plus many of them offering special exhibitions and activities. Most museums in Paris were open until 12 or 1 am. Of course we wanted to participate in this annual occasion! Since we have done all the regular museums (and even some of the irregular) we looked at the list and decided on the "Musée de la Poste" or The Post Office Museum. Yes, it was a nerdy decision, but we both prefer letters and snail mail over email any day. And I'm not sure I knew it even existed until yesterday!
I turned the internet on my phone and type in the address we were going on my directions and map page. We got off the metro and began to walk toward Rue Vaugirard. 34 Rue Vaugirard to be exact. We walked and walked and walked to what felt like forever until we reached 36 Rue Vaugirard. We walked further down the street and back to retrace our steps....nothing. I scratched my head with confusion. "I know the website said 34 Rue Vaugirard," I told her. She pulled out her Lonely Planet guide to double check. I read it in her guide. "BOULEVARD Vaugirard!" We exclaimed at the same time. Oh man, big huge mistake for Maggie. Where is Boulevard Vaugirard we asked? I looked on the map...not TOO far, so we decided to just plug on and go for it.
Feeling a bit sluggish, we finally found the entrance to the museum. Considering the less than mediocre service we have received at all the Poste branches here in Paris, we had little to no hopes for this museum. We walked in and were greeted by a very happy woman who handed us the itinerary for the evening. An itinerary for the Poste museum? She shuffled us over to the elevator and wished us a good museum visit. On the elevator I told Ashleigh that that was the nicest welcome I've ever gotten in a museum. She quickly came back with, "That's the nicest welcome I've ever gotten in France!" ha....
Once we stepped off the elevators we were asked if we wanted to participate in creating postcards? Before saying yes, we peeked our head into the room to see exactly who was participating. No, it wasn't only children, but adults as well so we kindly obliged. We were sat down at a table with a blank postcard, construction paper, funky scissors, glue, stickers, magazine clippings, markers, crayons....oh man, it was great!!!!!
The rest of the museum was very interesting...and so much more than we expected!
There were ladies of the ancient "poste" that would occasionally come up and read you a poem about the older post office times, demonstrations on how stamps are made, and even a costume show about how the uniform has evolved over the years. All in French of course, but I was amazed at how much I understood.
We went to the contemporary service at the American Church of Paris today instead of Hillsong. We've been wanting to try it out so today was just as good of a day as any. The church has been around since the early 1800's, is a non-denominational Protestant church, and everyone was very welcoming. The service was much more subdued than Hillsong and honestly if I went back, I would probably attend the traditional service in the morning. Ashleigh and I agreed that we enjoy the worship at Hillsong and the message at the ACP. Too bad we can't mash them together!
Ashleigh's parents are arriving tonight and I am just getting ready for another week with Marie-Césare and Gaspard. Always enjoy weeks with Gaspard but they wear me out!!! Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend, oh yes and a special Happy Birthday shout out to my Papaw today!!! I love you!
This photo of the Eiffel is one of the best shots so far. Great angle.
ReplyDeleteI have a few questions for you, if you don't mind answering: Kerry has found out that she may not be allowed to be in London; something about the visa requiring the au pair to be in language school. What do you know about this? She is also getting discouraged about not finding a family as quickly as she had hoped. And, I have a question about your medical insurance situation: do you have your own private insurance or are you able to use the French medical system/national health care while you are there? Someone here told her that she should NOT leave the USofA without insurance. Help her with this little bit, if you could. And there was something else that she and I were talking about last night that I told her you would know the answer to (my memory fails me so quickly now). Could you email to her again with some encouragement? Her fear is that she is going to end up living with The Parents back here in Galax instead of living in some exotic place! (in case you have misplaced it, her address is fowlerk13@gmail.com.
I still look forward to every post you put up here, and it is almost as exciting as getting real mail when I know that you have a new one up. I love the commentary, I love the photos of M-C and of you and your buds. I am so glad that you got to the sewer tour; I remembered it as much darker and spookier than your photos show here. And, my French was not so hot then, so we missed out on a lot of the information.
I got to see Pat briefly this weekend; we met him for lunch in Columbia. Your mom wasn't able to break away from work to come, too. Pat is very excited about his upcoming trip to Paris. He was not equally excited about Promenade! He said that Laine was really working on him to get him to roust himself out of his chair so that he would go to the school, with Terri, to see Laine and Kyle in all their splendor. Since he is all bark and no bite, I am sure that he was in his proper place when the time came! I think he is thrilled that you girls make over him like you do.
Thanks for listening. Thanks for helping Kerry when you can. And special thanks for letting me see your glimpses of Paris and other places. Au revoir!