Fork you

Apparently girls who work in the bakeries do not like how I pronounce the word "fork" in french. It's happened to me two times where they feign incomprehension and then say the word back to me as if I totally mispronounced it.

Courtney's Summer of Museums: Musee de Moyen Age/Hotel de Cluny

 Having lived in Paris, France for 4 1/2 years now, I have decided it was high time to visit some of the smaller museums Paris has to offer, and which I had yet to see. Since we have the nanny all day on Wednesdays, each Wednesday in July I'll visit a museum and "pen" my thoughts here.

The first Wednesday, July 4th, I made my way over to the very busy St. Michel/Blvd St. Germain/Rue des Ecoles area and visited the Museum of the Middle Ages/Cluny Hotel. I was well juiced up on my two cups of coffee and a pain au chocolate type pastry.

This was remarkable on two levels. One, of course, is getting to see a vast amount of Middle Ages artwork, architectural details, tapestries and information on the Middle Ages in Europe. The other, of course, are the ancient ruins of the "roman" baths.

Going solo was a real luxury, I spent nearly three hours covering all the museum and lingering where I wanted, taking my time to read all the information panels and cards and even just contemplating particular pieces. I particularly liked the "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries. These are world famous and, seeing them in person, I can see why.

It was also interesting to see:
- the rooms on daily life
- information on the monks who lived here
- to learn about the Hotel's other residents over the centuries including the art collector and benefactor M. Alexandre du Sommerard
- big fireplaces that almost reached the ceilings, so they could heat large reception and dining rooms
- learn about devotional life, that people would carry religious wooden statues on Palm Sunday processions
- the Book of Hours and the amazing detail; how rich life was even back then; and the devotion toward Christ
- the morbid fascination with death, funerals and the art-of-dying
- the chauffe-mains! What a great idea--especially for back then! I could use something like that today.

As I mentioned, the "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries just blew me away. I was so fascinated I must've spent at least 30 minutes in the darkened room, just turning from one to the other and back again. I each time I took a new review, I noticed something different.

I got so obsessed at one point I jotted down the placement of the trees and when I came home, put little slips of paper on the table with their names to see if perhaps they were always in the same location but the tapestries were woven from different view points. (The answer is "no.") But if you are curious, the placement for Taste, Sight, and Sound are the same, but from different vantage points. The trees in Smell are criss-crossed and Mon Seul Desir have the same arrangement but flipped vertically.

Of course, Mon Seul Desir does bring up all sorts of speculation and one theory of mine had me going around the room all over again and noting down the colors of her dress, the dress lining and coat to see if it revealed any suggestive under/overtones I was suspecting. (Again, not quite.) I do like the idea that she puts away her worldly riches for earthly love and the tent, it's colors and symbolic designs added to my theory.

In any case, the tapestries were so incredible, on so many levels, I just couldn't seem to bring myself to leave them. But leave them I did, and I went on my way to explore the rest of the museum, and the also incredible Gallo-Roman thermal baths. Whoa. I love being in the presence of these ancient artifacts. It really drives home the fact that our physical life here is so temporary. When I think of the millions and millions and millions of people who lived before me...it's incredible. Thank God these artifacts weren't totally destroyed over the centuries so little people like me could marvel and wonder at them.

Going to get my "recipisse"

Today I went to the Prefecture de Police (police dept) to get my Recipisse to get my Carte de Sejour. The Recipisse (sounds like recipe) is a piece of paper you have as a temporary document between the valid Carte de Sejours, which are 1 year each.

7:45 AM - left the apartment. Metro #9 to Miromesnil, change to Metro #13 to Place de Clichy. Walk 10 mins.

8:16 AM - arrive at the Prefecture where there are already well over 60 people.
Someone tells me, "you just arrived? you have to sign up on the list. Go see the woman in blue."
I see an older woman in a blue dress who when she sees me approaching, waves a ragged piece of checkerboard paper at me. (Standard French note paper isn't lined like American paper, it has a small checkerboard pattern.) I am already #57 on the list.

8:37 AM - people start milling towards the front so everyone gets anxious and also start standing up, lining up. One younger man in a purple shirt and black sweater says, "there is a list! there is a list!" So another man begins organizing and calling out names. People wait patiently as their name is called and generally fall into place accordingly. (We are in France after all, where "line" is a general concept; and we are dealing with people from many other cultures as well.)

9:08 AM - a young female cop comes out and announces, "THERE IS NO LIST! Every day I come here and there is a list. I am sick and tired each time I come here! There is no list!"

9:09 AM - we begin moving!

9:15 AM - the cop comes outside on her telephone and leaves. She comes back with boxes of crackers and cookies. I guess the waiting room is at capacity so we must wait outside.

10:13 AM - four more people get in, including a man who cuts-the-line! :( He shuffled past a few peple behind me and then me. A man behind me says several times, "what would you like? there is a line. " He ignores him and continues shuffling to the front, hoping we will forget about him and that he'll just blend in with the rest of us. arghhhh.

10:30 AM - A woman comes up to the front a few times and peers into the Exit door. Then she comes back up with her daughter. She stands right in front of the Exit door. A man in a wheelchair is exiting and she grabs her stroller with two hands and pushes in through the exit into the waiting area. She SNEAKS in past the cop. She gets her ticket. The few of us at the door look at each other shaking our heads and sighing.

10:35 AM - I finally get inside! I push the button on the "distributor" to get my ticket ("take a number") and find a seat. I glare with disapproving looks at the woman-line-cutter, and when I can find him, the man-line-cutter. (so there!) I am "R16."

[The numbers go 0xx for new Carte de Sejour and Rxx for Renouvelement (renewing) Carte de Sejour. It is at 022 and R13 when I arrive.]

10:52 AM - a man who was before me taps me on the shoulder and asks me what my number is. I tell him. He gives me his #ticket because he took his in error. Bonus! I am next!

11:06 AM - Me! I go upstairs to find "Guichet 11" (ticket window/office 11). The woman doesn't like that I have waited so long to get my Recipisse. oops. And I don't have a "facture" (bill) as recent as she would like. I take a deep breath and remember that I will get my Recipisse today. She cannot deny me the Recipisse. I just need to stay calm and it will all work out. It does. I get my Recipisse.

11:18 AM - I leave the Prefecture de Police Centre des Etrangers. [Before I left I went to tell the cop that there was no more toilette paper in the bathroom. (She was the only person there other than the cashier, who was busy.) She looks at me and says, "so?" So I look back and just said, "Good bye" and then she said, "Oh" and started calling someone to fix the situation. [Man-oh-man! She could care less. And so could I as I was leaving. I guess she didn't think it was her problem, until she realized it probably would become her problem later.]

12:15 PM - Back at home to my darling husband and adorable son. We had lunch.