February 24, 2024
One sister wasn't feeling well this morning, so she slept in while the rest of us got up and in line for the Saint-Chapelle on Île de la Cité. A personal favorite of everyone's, this was not a new stop on the itinerary, but a decidedly necessary revisit.
I think the best time of day is to go in the morning sunlight, when everything is fresh and bright. Luckily for us it was a sunny day and everything sparkled at maximum capacity.
We spent some time trying to decipher the stories set into the windows (if you don't know your bible stories by heart like us, there's a nifty guide they have in several languages you can use to identify key stories around the room). A fun one for example is Noah's Ark because you can see the boat.
Shoutout to Mom for taking some photos. We were so dazzled by the abundance of light and color we almost forgot to take them ourselves!
But the chapel is only so big, and thus you can only spend so much time in it, so we headed back out into that same fresh and dazzling morning sunlight to find breakfast. Quick stop before the gates to the Palace of Justice to soak up some rays.
And marching ourselves right across the street to the closest tourist restaurant for a Franco-American breakfast. This was no time to slip off down a side street in search of a less-touristy destination. We were hungry! Also it was beautiful.
We had the perfect seats for people watching, and despite being by the windows it wasn't too cold. Win-win!
Lest we forget again my main reason for coming, I did have class later that day. I made it to school in time to cook and present a near-perfect piece of pork (actual words from Chef, I cannot make this up) and a decent sabayan dessert. Honestly, we had watched Chef make the sabayan in our demonstration but I was not prepared for the consistency. My brain had told me it would be thicker like a custard, and although in the end my dish was well done, I was not a fan. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.
I already had dinner/ evening plans with the girls, so I wrapped up my culinary masterpiece (the pork, not the sabayan) and took it across the city to my friend. Unfortunately the weather took a dramatic turn while I was underground and when I came up for air and the final walk from metro-to-friend I discovered a torrential downpour. Since there was nothing I could do, and my pork was in a plastic tupperware, I soldiered on and arrived in front of my friend (and his umbrella) looking like I'd jumped in the Seine. I believe he laughed at me and asked if that was in fact what had occurred, to which I assured him had not. I did not fail to tell him he was having a five star pork chop for dinner though, and that I was very proud of it (can you tell?) and hoped he liked it.
Quick shower, hairdryer, and a change of clothes later, I was back at the Airbnb with the girls feeling like Cinderella as everybody put on their final touches of makeup and shoes. We had tickets to the Moulin Rouge!
My two sisters have seen the show before and, knowing it's very much a tourist attraction, still recommended it. Who doesn't want to go see a show full of sparkles and feathers!
The less glamorous but just as fun turn of events was that by the time we got up to the neighborhood we didn't have enough time before the show to eat a proper meal. Instead we improvised and squeezed through the doors of a nearby Five Guys and joined the crowd in ordering burgers and fries. Maybe not très chic but most certainly très délicieuse.
Of course, no photos are allowed during the show so we snapped our final photos in the theater and settled in to be dazzled once again, this time by sequins and rhinestones.
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