In which we take advantage of the Journeés du Patrimoine (Part 3)

Sunday morning we set out again for Paris. There were several things that we wanted to see that hadn't been open on Saturday, and so we left early. This time, I had the sense to make sure that Cherry was out of the room when I put the Ergo into the backpack, and so she didn't realize that I brought it with me.

We rode the RER down to Chatelet (not all that far from where we had started the previous day) and headed along the Seine to an old pedestrian footbridge, the Pont des Artes. It seemed a bit odd to be crossing the river on a bridge with plank flooring. The handrails were made of chain link fencing, and all along the length of the bridge were locks with couples' names painted or etched on them. We theorized that perhaps the bridge is a popular place for proposals, and that afterwards the couple would lock their padlock through the fencing and toss the key into the river.

On the other side of the Seine we entered the Institut de France. (There's a very cool virtual tour here.)Typically the Institut is open for only one day a month, so we felt fortunate to be able to see it. It's perhaps best known as the place where they make decisions about what words belong in the French language. Sometimes they're successful in preventing words from other languages from invading, other times, not so much. (For example, the official French word for email is courriel, but even official publications refer to it as email.)

We started out by going to the library, or bibliotheque, which was beautiful. Even better, when the greeters gave the adults brochures about the library, they also gave the kids sheets with 9 photographs of objects to look for inside the library. Even Cherry thought it was fun to find the statues, illuminated letters, hidden doors, and other things pictured on her sheet. Ezio had fun identifying all the people who looked like the Romans in the much loved Asterix comics. He was also able to identify who Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates were, though he didn't know who Benjamin Franklin was.

Afterward, we went back out into the courtyard, and across to the big room (the dome) where the delegates meet to make decisions about all things French. We got to sit in the cushy green seats (one of the few places this weekend where they let people use the chairs), and listen to music and pretend we were making important decisions about the French language. Afterward Cherry and I spent 20 minutes waiting to use the single stalled women's restroom (much to Blaise's annoyance) and then we headed out.

Our next planned stop was the Ecole des Beaux Artes, but unfortunately the entrance that they claimed we were supposed to use was blocked by heavy equipment and an enormous Chantier Interdit (worksite forbidden) sign. Since we couldn't figure out where we were supposed to go instead, we headed off in the direction of the Sorbonne. By this time everyone was pretty hungry though, so we decided to stop at a park and eat our sandwiches and apples before we went on.

We stopped at the Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which is (in part) the oldest standing church in Paris. Also, it is where Descartes remains are kept, so of course Blaise wanted to see it. Then we went into the public garden alongside the church and ate our lunch.