Paris: “Finding Cham’s Mom’s Head”

I got to drive my enormous van into the center of Paris. I would not recommend this to anyone. The lanes are… imaginary. The car-rental garage, was again, non-recognizable. At one point, I am pretty sure I completely went the wrong way through a roundabout, since I didn’t even know it was one! Thank goodness I didn’t get pulled over by a policeman!

I asked a cab driver where I should go… Five minutes later, he decides I am supposed to be at the airport, NOT the train station. The back up behind me was quite kind. Not honking or anything!

Needless to say, after another hour of driving circles, I found the un-manned parking garage and dropped off my behemoth. We will see if they charge me for anything…

We then gave up all hopes of finding the subway and grabbed a cab.

My address was “Rue de Mulhouse 2”

How do you pronounce that in French???

Apparently I still don’t have it down, after 5-7 cab rides in Paris. It is pronounced something similar to “roo dee Moooolhooooose”

Our view from the apartment

Neighborhood near our apartment

Our apartment was a GRUELING 6 flights up an amazing spiral staircase. Chris was not pleased with the luggage haul to our top floor flat. In fact, the whole week, we kept sending the children up and down the stairs, because we were pretty sure we were going to die!

Getting ready for the day

Our first thing on the list… Versailles!

Luckily for us, we were able to get a sunny day to see the palace. We took the train out to the palace, but got off one stop too early. After wandering through the city of Versailles for bit, we were advised to get on the bus (all in French) and take it to the palace.

It was quite impressive. I was pleased. Unfortunately, we were unable to go through the gardens. Lack of time and such. The palace itself was immense and we were able to see the bedrooms of monarchs, which is always fun.

Checking out the map

We saw this painting twice. First at Versailles, then the Louvre. We don't know which one is real....?

We also needed to see the Louvre.

When we visited Vietnam, we were guided through temple after temple. One of the temples, in Nha Trang, featured gods from the Cham people, some 800+ years ago. We saw these statues in the temples that were festooned with garlands and offerings of all types.

Our guide explained to us that during the French occupation of Vietnam, the French government had removed all of the heads of these gods and sent them to France. They were in the Louvre. We were going to be there in two months! WE NEED TO FIND CHAM’S MOM’S HEAD! (title of my next book)

We searched the Louvre…Twice. They aren’t there. We asked the people at the museum and they had never heard of this story.  It was a sad ending to our worldwide quest for Cham’s Mom’s head, but we tried!

Chris’s birthday happened to be while we were in Paris. Isabel really wanted to visit Disneyland Paris for his birthday. I wasn’t really gung-ho about visiting Disneyland and arranged for Isabel and Chris to go to the park, while Sierra and I did some Paris shopping. This arrangement was extremely nerve wracking for me, due to the credit card problems we were having in Europe and Chris’s lack of sense of direction. I wrote everything down for him and gave him lots of cash. Luckily, he returned my daughter to me after a lovely day at Disney.

For his actual birthday, we planned a river cruise down the Seine. It was a lunch cruise, with several courses, live music, and all of the major sites on the river covered. If in Paris, I would recommend BateauxCruises. They have one in London too, but I didn’t try that.

That evening, I took Chris out to a cabaret. The Lido Club was on the Champs Elysees, and, while not the Moulin Rouge (which had terrible reviews), it was a decent show. Very campy, with silly musical numbers, but naked women abounded. The lead singer was a bit weak in some of the songs, until a traditional cabaret number came on. She rocked that one out!

We visited Notre Dame (our third in France) of Paris, and were mightily impressed with the beauty. All of the churches in Europe have been wonderful. Isabel and Cici love the saint who carries his head (Saint Denis). We look for him at every cathedral!

We light candles in each church we visit. We light one for Ian and Grandpa Freeman. Sierra lights one for Reese, Ian, and Grammy. This one made Isabel more emotional that most. She cried a bit at this one.

Cool water fountain outside

Across from Notre Dame of Paris is the Crypt. We thought it was the cemetery of Paris, but soon discovered that it was actually the excavations of the old city near Notre Dame. It was neat, but not what we were looking for.

This part of our trip was somewhat more emotional for me. At one point, I entered a Disney store on the Champs Elysee, to buy something for my friend’s daughter. While looking at shirts, I immediately caught sight of a shirt that had the Toy Story green aliens on the front. I started sorting through the sizes and looked at my disinterested daughter… Then started to cry. We always teased Ian about these aliens. We called them “his brothers.” Ian had green eyes, unlike the rest of us, and we told him since he was little that he was and alien. I always pointed out the aliens and told him that they were his brothers. He thought it was funny.

"The shirt"

I could never find stuff for him with the green aliens at our Disney. Sometimes some action figures, but that was it. He didn’t want those. So… here I am in Paris… with the PERFECT shirt for him. And no HIM. It was crushing. I really wished he could be here with us. I wish he could see these things. While skiing, Chris and I discussed how he would be sitting it out with us, while the girls skied. He WOULD NOT have enjoyed that! Each place we go, we talk about him. We try to make it normal to talk about him. For Isabel.  It has now been 19 months since he died. I don’t know when it becomes “holding on too long.” I don’t want to haunt Isabel with him, even though I will always be haunted by him.

Isabel know that we are on these trips because he died. She confirms it regularly. “If Ian hadn’t died, we wouldn’t be in Paris, right?” I explained it all to her.

We wouldn’t be in Paris without him. We wouldn’t have had most of the opportunities we have because of him. I think of this as his gift to us.  It doesn’t make it any less sad.

Extra Pictures....