Pinching Pennies in Paris

View from La Tour Eiffel

...some would say it's impossible. Paris' prices are what nearly kept us from seeing the iconic capital of France, but as luck would have it, our hosts in Limoges had a friend in Paris who was sympathetic to budget travelers, having previously been one himself. We would stay two nights, for free. We exchanged appreciative goodbyes with the realization that we may never see our new-found friends again.

        On the train, we endured fitful naps between stints of gawking out of the cafeteria car's windows at the blurred landscape beyond. It resembled an amateur watercolor painting. Fingers extended and mouths agape, we marveled at the smeared scenery outside the high-speed train. Having noticed our trance, the barista answered our silent question. "320 kilometers per hour," she said, without glancing up from her screaming milk wand.

        I cannot truly do Paris justice; the time we spent there was far too short to even scratch the surface. Leaving an area as quickly as we came in is not very "sustainable," I'll admit, but we tried to make the most out of it. Having only one full day to work with, we asked our host Jonathan what were the must-sees. Not surprisingly, he recommended the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Norte Dame, and the like. We prodded him to give us a taste of Paris beyond the famous sights and said that we intended to walk everywhere. We didn't want to waste one second of our one day in one of the largest cities on Earth in a metro. First stop: the Eiffel Tower. From that incredible view, our fingers would etch our route into the cityscape. After priming our legs with hundreds of vertical feet, we parted the concrete jungle.

Coin hunting

The Louvre

Outside the Louvre

Merchant in a less-visited market plaza (will have name soon). One of my favorite places we visited. Seldom saw tourist-types here; mostly Parisians doing their grocery shopping. The frommage shop, especially, stopped us in our tracks.

Stumbling into high mass at Notre Dame. Those immense, eerie organ echos could make anyone a believer (well, almost...).

Pont de l'Archeveche (the "Love Lock" Bridge), where romantics lock their love into eternity and throw the key into the river. We might have contributed, but we just couldn't bear to leave behind a good & practical lock...

Flutist at the Louvre. We happened to be in Paris on a Tuesday, the one day the Museum is closed. The courtyard may have been just as entertaining, though.

Oradour-sur-Glane

        To reach Oradour-sur-Glane we first wound through a memorial museum dedicated to documenting and remembering the events of the fateful night and to preserving the remains of the town. Squinting at the small English subtexts on the displays, we learned that on June 10th, 1944, a team of about 200   German Waffen-SS soldiers raided the town while everyone was gathered in the central square and separated the men from the women and children. The men were divided into small groups and trapped in burning garages while they were barraged with gunfire. The women and youth were led to the church, of all places, which was set on fire and also showered in bullets. When the genocide was over, five men, one woman, and not a single child had managed to escape. 642 people were murdered during the one-day massacre.

A moving quote in the memorial museum

        Today, the charred remains of the town have been preserved almost exactly as they were left that day as a memorial to those lost, while a second Oradour-sur-Glane was built adjacent to the ruins in the 1950s. Amazingly, there is still no universally accepted theory on the motivations behind the attack, but you can read about the politics and events leading up to it here and here.

        We would never have known about this place if it hadn't been for our hosts. This is not somewhere you see (nor should see) in tourist brochures. It is frozen in time by the death and destruction that occurred there nearly 70 years ago, and you can't experience it without being infused with a deep appreciation for the simple privilege of being alive, that we so naturally take for granted each day but that is denied to too many. Bastien and Lucie say they are outraged at how so many people could die for absolutely nothing, but if those people could see an American couple and a French couple walking together today through the site of their last hours; mourning, remembering, and learning from others' errors; they might find some peace.

        We asked the museum curators and our hosts if taking photos was appropriate; they all said it was okay. Something just didn't feel quite right to me about it, but if they are used in a respectful way for the purposes of spreading awareness, honoring the deceased, and attempting to prevent such brutality in the future, then I think that's perfectly acceptable. What do you think?

Limoges, continued

Splash of color

        The center of Limoges looks unchanged from centuries past. Virtually every building is in traditional Tudor style, while the outer walls that may once have been stark white have been stained a soft coffee hue by weather and time. We happened upon another festival (we had the best luck with this somehow), one focusing on dance, theater, music, and the diverse cultures mingling in Limoges. Bastien, his girlfriend Lucie, and their cat Lulu were fun and gracious hosts. Both of them do environmentally-focused work, both are talented performers, and we pretty much have identical taste in music but with much to share and exchange. (Um, did we just become best friends?)

Cheesier than fontina in this one =]

  

"Les Francophonies en Limousin" line-up

Arriving at the start of the weekend, we were able to have them as our guides throughout each day. We dove into so many facets of the local culture, from sneaking samples of culinary herbs in a botanical garden, to swapping recipes with Bastien and Lucie's friends and washing it all down with bitter red wines; sharp, creamy cheeses; and flaky breads that melted on our tongues like cotton candy. 

Yes, nearly everything we did in Limoges involved gastronomy.

Fish pond at the Gardens

The Cathedral's Botanical Gardens

But if there was one place that affected me the most on this trip, it would be the town of Oradour-sur-Glane. A short drive from Limoges, it was the site of unspeakable atrocities during the Second World War.

It deserves a post all its own.