Vive la France en 2012

The Cathédrale royale de Saint-Denis is a must-see landmark for anyone interested in French royal history. It was founded in the seventh century and built on the burial site of the patron saint of France, Saint Denis. Almost every French monarch from the tenth through the eighteenth centuries were buried here in one way or another. For me, it's personal because this is the burial place of many of my French ancestors. Phillip the Bold, Phillip the Fair, and several of the King Louis are among my direct ancestors. I feel like I should certainly visit this place at offer some sort of respect to the men and women who lived so that I might live today.

Another reason why this place is necessary to visit is because this is the final resting place of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. When they were first executed, their bodies were dumped into the churchyard at L'église de la Madeleine, which was a Catholic church. Their bodies were covered with something called quicklime. I suppose that was something to make them decompose faster but I'm not certain. Eventually Napoleon took power and decided that their bodies should remain where they were. He was a young revolutionary who, ironically, became a dictator. Go figure. After he was exiled and the Bourbon Restoration took hold, orders were given for the remains of Louis and Antoinette to be located and exhumed. Only a few bones, a little tissue and a lady's garter were found. The remains were taken to Cathédrale royale de Saint-Denis and placed in a tomb with funerary monuments befitting all of the other French monarchs buried there. Later, only the heart of their son, Louis-Charles, remained after he died in prison and was buried in an unmarked grave. His heart is entombed in a wall at the Cathédrale royale de Saint-Denis.

These are the funerary monuments of Louis and Antoinette.

I had a six month old baby and an ass of a boyfriend for my 30th birthday, so although I will be 36 (ack!!) I consider this trip a redo for me. I had the luxury of going to France in the spring of 1992 on one of those educational tour thingamabobs. It was 7 days of french culture shoved down your throat on a tour bus with a group of about 25 kids from New Jersey who had never been out of the city (and were from rival high schools, no less) and us 5 from Ohio. Did I mention the English tour guide? no? well. Without looking at pictures to remind me, the highlights are as follows: scary two engine flight from PA to NY JFK. 12 hour layover. Scary flight in slightly bigger plane to Charles Degal in Paris. (At this point I discover that I have an issue with my inner ears, as I am deaf most of day 1.) Escalators out of Charles Degal (first panic attack). Make it to this kinda old world semi youth hostel looking hotel. Are we having fun yet? Thank God above my sensible mother made me bring tennis shoes. Because we then hiked all over Paris day two. Go to the Louvre, closed for massive remodeling. Got to see the basement, which was cool, but no Mona Lisa. Finally, at dusk, get to La Tour Eiffel. Go up in scary elevator with about 10 drunk Italians. Now my french teacher is also fluent in Spanish. Italians tend to know spanish. So she's talking away, followed by 5 lost teenagers. The sight was gorgeous. I'll never forget being in the top of the tower at night. It moves, by the way, which was scary. After being pried away from the railing back down the elevator with, you guessed it, drunk Italians. Go on night time riverboat ride on the Seine with, yes, the drunk Italians. who sing. a lot. made it interesting and luckily they actually sounded pretty good! So, in the city of love, on a boat being serenaded by italian love songs, my partner in crime and soul mate (not the love kind, the friend kind) Erica falls in love with fellow trip mate Chris. They last a year. Sigh.
Day 3. Off to the country side to the castles. Versailles. I was bored. I had the distinct feeling it was much prettier at night with all the candles lit. And the only thing I really found interesting was the king's bedchamber. At age 16 I had no idea why this was but now I know I was probably there in a past life, and remember it at night lit up for a soiree or ball or something. The gardens were gorgeous though. Going in spring I think is a really good idea because it's still cool enough that other tourists aren't really there yet, but we get to see the spring flowers. :)
Day 4. Up to the north end, Mont St. Michel. And the English channel. All I really remember about MSM is a bazillion steps. Somehow we missed the formal tour. Oh, and the Jersey kids freaking out about sheep in the road. They took pictures. lol. That night we all starved because dinner was some odd peachy pink soup that niether I nor most of the rest of us was going to touch. Lecture from Madame about trying new things. We ordered pizza. And drank some of the wine we were legally allowed to buy. :)
Day 5. Off to where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake. This place gave me the creeps. Again, looking back now, possibility I lived there at that time or something, or I was aware of "people" still hanging around, but at that time I just know it freaked me out. Very cool wall where it happened. It's a memorial, built next to the river where they threw her heart. And people say the french are wimps. Funny things happened here but without knowing the people involved it's kinda one of those you had to be there things. :)
Day 6. Back to Paris. This was a free day, i.e. no tours. I picked this day to not wear the tennis shoes. Very dumb idea. I had no skin left on the heals of my feet by the end of this day. lol. We hicked ALL OVER. The Jersey kids went to Disney. Except for the bomb threats they may have had the right idea, EuroDisney had just opened I think. But we got to see a lot of cool things, including Notre Dame, L'arc de Triumph, the minature lady liberty in the Seine (yep, they have a mini version of Liberty. She's I think like 5 feet tall, on a big pedestal in the middle of the freaking river.) So many things that I still have to look at pictures to remember. Somewhere at my moms is a giant photo book full.
Day 7. Fly out. I think we left for the airport around 10 am. the flight back was like 9 hours, but with time change we landed around 5. Sprinted through JFK to try to make our connecting flight, because we got bumped up to an earlier one. Then waited in PA for our luggage, which did not get bumped with us. Which was fine, because I once again couldn't hear a darn thing anyway!
So that's my trip to France. I think it has lots of room for improvement. Obviously, I am not leaving Paris without seeing Mona. I will only wear comfortable, non-blister forming shoes. I will also wear something other than neon leggings (And no, I'm not posting THAT picture...). I love that I got to go, don't get me wrong. I find humor in the not-so-fun parts. Although I'm sure Erica and I could have done without the mutual concussion- lesson learned- don't try to lay your head on your friends shoulder the exact moment she tries to do the same. OW. We almost knocked each other out. Also, don't put the 20 lb video camera in the overhead compartment, because it will attempt to attack you when the crazy french bus driver does a sharp turn at 50 KPH. I think poor Burt DID get a concussion from that. But what I really learned is to have memories you have to have the experience with people that make you want to remember. Thank God Erica and I got that oppurtunity. And I'm so thankful to get to go again with a bunch of girls I love. I can't wait!!! :)
Wendy

When I finally go to France, there are several things and places I want to see – some obvious and some I think might surprise people. However, there are a couple of places I’m not sure I could handle seeing.

The Conciergerie became known as ‘the antechamber to the guillotine’ during the Reign of

Terror. The Revolutionary Tribunal would sit in the Great Hall and between April of 1793 and May of 1795 they sent nearly 2600 prisoners to their deaths. Their most famous prisoner was probably Marie Antoinette. She entered on August 1^st as prisoner 280 and was executed on October 16^th.

The cell in which she was kept was converted into a chapel dedicated to her sometime during the 19^th century by Louis XVIII however there is also an exact replica of the cell on premises.

After her conviction, our dear Toinette was taken to the Place de la Concorde (Place de la Revolution) where she met her fate.

So much sad history. Part of me – ok, most of me - wants to be in the places where she spent her last days and part of me knows I will spend the entire time crying my eyes out. Does anyone have any thoughts on visiting these places? Has anyone been there before? I’m really on the fence. Thoughts?

PS. As an aside, I was really, REALLY excited about planning for our France trip last night and was promptly brought back to earth by being told it will never happen for me. Discouraging to say the least. I just want to say thanks to Jess for creating this blog. It's going to be a real source of encouragement for me. I'm going to need it.

My friend Martina, the crazy Canucks girl, sent me a link today that talks in decently specific terms about wheelchair accessible hotels in Paris. These hotels are near public transportation areas since most tourists obviously won't want to drive in the city. We should keep this link in mind.

http://www.sagetraveling.com/Accessible-Paris-Hotels/

For several years, I have felt the intense desire to visit France, specifically Paris. It has always been a "someday" idea - a faraway dream of a place in postcards that conjures images of all the fairy tales I read as a child. After all, I am just a quadriplegic living mostly on government benefits. I dream about going to that faraway place but I never really pictured myself making that dream come true. I lived in and around Paris in the late eighteenth century and I visited the country in the late nineteenth century, so I always thought it would be interesting to go back for a third time and see the places I once knew in the past. It was a nice romantic idea but I tend to dream up nice romantic ideas without any practicality to back them.

A few weeks ago, my very good friend, Maryka, came to me and asked point blank what I thought about setting the goal to spend my thirtieth birthday in France. I agreed readily, thinking that it would be the best birthday of my life in all likelihood. Suddenly more and more of our close friends jumped on the idea of making a big group pilgrimage to what I call the motherland. With the support, energy and ambition of many people toward the same goal, I have begun to think that this could be real. This could be happening. In February of 2012, I will turn thirty. I'm being dragged toward thirty kicking and screaming because I'm not looking forward to aging at all. The possibility of going to France that spring makes thirty easier to bear.

One of my best friends in the world, Sissy, is a practitioner of The Secret. While I don't literally practice The Secret, I do believe in the Law of Attraction; meaning whatever thoughts, emotions and deeds you send out into the universe will be returned to you. If you think poorly about yourself and don't believe you can accomplish anything with your life, that's exactly how other people will see you too and you truly won't accomplish anything. A big reason why we started this blog is to put our collective energy toward creating this journey to France and making it an authentic and important moment in our lives. We will post places that we want to see, things that we want to do and support each other in the effort to save for all of the travel costs.

With enough positive energy and personal effort, a person can accomplish and dream. This is our dream.