France Day 1 Paris
Our first day in France was solid, but my misplanning created a small disappointment. We arrived to our hotel around 10 a.m and with great kindness they arranged our room and gave us a very early check in which was a great beginning. From here we took a quick rest and got to going.
The first stop on our trip was to visit the Basilica of St. Denis. This patron of Paris was an early martyr in the history of Christianity. Tradition has it, after he was beheaded, he continued to walk through the town sharing the gospel, carrying his head before finally collapsing after some time. We especially wanted to begin this pilgrimage of Thanksgiving for Father Dennis Kleinmann who carries this namesake and was the priest responsible for our marriage.
After this stop we ventured through a street market and grabbed a couple of light snacks all of which had a nice experience from a Moroccan made slice from a semolina style dough with a tomato and onion sauce in between. In addition we grabbed a beef stuffed pastry of sorts along with another stuffed dough item. The highlight at the end was a pistachio eclair for dessert.
At this point I made the mistake of going into the heart of Paris, instead of taking a nap and reserving ourselves for New Years Eve. We caught a ride to the Sainte Chappelle which upon arriving had closed early. From here we walked around Paris passing Notre Dame on our way to a closed St. Etinenne-du-Mont where a beautiful gothic style church is with the relic of St. Genevieve, patron of Monica’s former church community in Philadelphia. From here we decided to try our luck on Rue du Bac where St. Catherine Laboure lays uncorrupted, in addition to St. Vincent de Paul right around the corner. These two saints were important for us as well, as it was one of our early dating experiences in addition it was Thanksgiving for Father Charlie Plock who was very helpful early on for us at the Miraculous Medal Shrine. He was a family friend I reconnected with after my return to faith, and in the mix he welcomed us to this shrine which both of these saints influenced, co-incidentally around the corner from Monica’s home in Philadelphia.
During our walk we picked up a bottle of French wine along with some cheese, bread, and French pastries. We figured we would do a light dinner at our room since everyone seemed booked for New Years. Around 9:30 from fatigue I feel asleep and slept through my alarm. I woke up briefly to acknowledge the New Year with Monica, but she let me rest some more until the next morning. It was bitter sweet since I needed the rest, but missed out on a unique tourist experience in Paris on NYE. Coming from NYC I feel I didn’t miss much, but in the same breath it was disappointing to have been somewhere for such a unique moment and missing it, which I rarely do. I cling however to a special moment I forgot to mention earlier. While we were waiting in line at the airport, we happened to meet a seminarian with the Congregation of The Holy Cross. We had a lot of connections and in the mix realized we could visit the shrine of his founder along our journey. With that I will wrap up this first day and trust in many more great experiences moving forward.
