There is such a thing as being too popular, a fate enjoyed by the café I wanted to relax in this afternoon. Le Loir dans la Théière is located in the Marais neighborhood (which I already love to window-shop in), is home to a legendary lemon meringue dessert, and is open on Sundays (bonus points, because lots of places close). Unfortunately, everyone else must have read the same reviews as I did, because I couldn't even get in the door, let alone find an empty seat. Too popular.
That café will receive my review another time, when they have space for me. Until then, I wandered aimlessly until I happened upon a well-priced tea salon which I've been to once before. What a relief, to find out they're open on Sunday too! The downside is that the wind pushed everyone inside, so it was just me and the smokers sitting outdoors. Even so, my cheesecake was merveilleuse, and it was nice to sit down and read somewhere other than my room. It's still too cold to go do my reading in a park, and I'm looking forward to spring (le printemps) as much as I am to that famed lemon meringue...
Yesterday held a bit more adventure than cheesecake, as I went to Château d'Écouen with Brianna, Chris, Kelly, Maria, and Neena (all from my AU Accent group). The château is a little bit outside of Paris, so we took a train. From the train station, it's a 20 minute hike through the foret (forest). It was beyond refreshing to see fields, open land, and to breathe my first fresh air since I boarded the plane in Philadelphia. Paris is an amazing city to explore, but it's also a bit cramped and...well, it's a city.
Built in the 1500s, this château changed hands a few times but fully opened as the 'Musée de la Renaissance' in 1982. However, "fully opened" means they close between 12:45 and 2pm each day for lunch. Fortunately, we arrived at 12:45. Ha. So we trekked back through the forest, had lunch at one of the four places around the train station, and returned through the forest, to wander through the Renaissance art collection of the Château.
All of the pieces stun me - the woodwork, the tapestries, the ceramics, the painting, the sculpture - because every item requires so much work. Just imagine how many individuals poured their lives into creating these items, and now we don't even know their names. The best we can do is guess at their origins, like this tapestry coming from a workshop in Brussels because of the type of weaving, etc.
Me, standing in what used to be a kitchen fireplace
Now and again, someone dedicates their time to these ancient arts, which leads me to the end of our walk through old armour, lace, tapestries, painted ceramics, and armoires, and to the man with the ponytail playing some sort of ancient organ with wooden keys. Wow, what a shrill-sounding instrument, but definitely worth staying for his mini-concert. He explained how it worked, what some of the musical pieces were for and when they were written...but I missed the details in translation. Something-something-fifteenth century?
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