Yesterday, as you all know, was the first Sunday in June, which, of course, means that it was free museum day. The most significant omission in our free museum trips thus far was the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris's modern art museum. So we headed down yesterday morning, hoping that if we got there before it opened we wouldn't be held up by too much of a line. (Unlike the Louvre and the Orsay, which seem to allow as many people into the museum as are willing to cram themselves in, the Pompidou Centre seems to have fairly strict capacity limits, perhaps because the museum itself is located on the 4th to 6th floors of the building, and it would be more difficult to evacuate in case of necessity. That means that once the museum is full, you have to wait for somebody to leave in order for the next person to go in.)
Once we were through security and Blaise had checked his umbrella, we headed up the very cool outside escalators (they're inside glass tubes, so you couldn't fall off) to the very top of the museum, where we took advantage of our height to enjoy a panoramic view of Paris. Since the only other things on that floor were a restaurant and special exhibits (which were not free) we headed back down the escalator (despite the signs warning that we were not to take children under 13 down it) to the 4th floor where the entrance to the main part of the museum was located. Then, we had to go up the steps because the main part of the main part of the museum is on the 5th floor. Confused yet?
The museum is small compared to the Louvre, or even really to the Orsay, but still big enough so that I'll spare you all the details. Cherry fell in love with a video of a woman dancing in a dress with a huge skirt, and as she danced the dress changed colors. Sapphire and Ezio and Blaise decided that a movie called Resurrection was very cool. If you really want details, I can supply them. Otherwise, I'll just remark that we really liked it in middle school when Doc Fryling would show the movies backwards and we could watch the food coming out of people's mouths and going back onto the plate.
After we had explored the 5th floor thoroughly, we headed back down to the 4th floor, which had an exhibit of the work of modern female artists. (I could probably say more here, but I'm not much good at writing about art. Suffice it to say that there was a great deal of raw anger in the art on display.)
Then, Blaise picked up his umbrella and we headed off to look for some lunch. After lunch, we decided to clear security back into the museum (not much of a line) so that we could use the bathrooms, and then to head over to Saint Eustache (Google translated French Wikipedia page) for a look around. Enroute, we passed a man making enormous bubbles with string and bubble solution, surrounded by a crowd of children he was encouraging to chase after and pop the bubble. The kids decided to join in the fun and so for 10 minutes or so we watched them give chase to the bubbles.
Next, Saint Eustache, which is quite large and quite old. Although it isn't as nearly as old as Notre Dame, it is also not nearly as well maintained, and so it looks quite a lot more run down. It has an interesting history however--it was here that Louis XIV made his first communion, and the home of Saint Vincent de Paul for nearly 10 years. Once Cherry and I had made the tour of the side chapels (which I like though nobody else in my family seems to) we headed outside and over to the playground in the Jardin du Forum des Halles, where the kids played for a while until it started to look like it was going to rain. After a very crowded train ride home (technical problems with the train line), we relaxed and watched the last 2 points of the French Open.
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