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Editor's ViewpointMeditations Of A Minnesota Mossback |
Americans in Paris … A Story of the Fourth
Nine years ago this week, we returned from a month-long trip to France, Italy and Croatia with our four children, ages 16, 15, 13 and 10.
Our last full day in Paris was July 4, 2001.
By the end of the trip, we all (understandably) needed some space. It seemed a good idea to break up into groups of two and then meet for dinner to share our stories.
We bought day passes on the Car Rouge, a red doubledecker bus fleet that traveled a large loop through the more touristy areas of Paris, a great way to see the city after days of riding underground on le Métro.
From the upper deck, we were surprised to see American flags flying in honor of our country’s birthday (it made us all a bit nostalgic for drinking fountains and free public restrooms).
My husband and oldest son got off at the Opéra de Paris Garnier, otherwise known to the world as the original home of the famous Phantom of the Opera. The pair eventually wound up at Pompidou Center and the Museum of Modern Art.
The daughters, ages 16 and 15, disembarked at the Arc de Triomphe, armed with a few hundred francs and nowhere to go in a hurry. (Later on we were to discover that they went to see a movie— “Pearl Harbor,” in English, on the Champs-Élysées. You can take the girl out of the country…) Of course, the youngest son and I had to do something that nobody else would think of.
We rode the Rond de Paris—the largest Ferris wheel in France, and then headed for a place that every 10-year-old boy—and his mother—could appreciate: the city sewers.
“Les Misérables” author Victor Hugo, whose friend Emmanuel Bruneseau was Napoleon’s sewer inspector, wrote all about Jean Valjean’s experiences in the Paris sewers.
The tour was dark, it was smelly and it was satisfying, not the least because upon our visit to the underground gift shop (of course there is a sewer gift shop!), I learned that what my young son really hankered after as a souvenir was a postcard.
Not just any postcard, but one depicting an authentic French sewer rat.
I must say, it played extremely well at dinner.