visiting the president

this weekend was “european historic days” or something like that. in france it is known as days of “patrimony” where historic buildings which are normally closed to the public are opened up and anyone can go through and visit. special exhibits are put up describing interesting facts about the building. last year we went to the hotel de ville – or town hall of paris. this year i was tempted to go to the elysees palace – home and office of the president of france, the equivalent of the white house. i was warned that the line was always long for it. on saturday i got the family to get on bikes and go over to the palace. i had first walked the dog and gone to the market and they had gotten up very late. so by the time we arrived at the palace it was 1:30. we walked from the champs elysee through a park to arrive on the street which had the entrance to the palace and we came upon a line that stretched all the way to the end of the road. we asked a man how long he had been waiting and he said 3-4 hours. we couldn’t believe it! i thought he was kidding me. a policeman said that the line would close at 4:30 and everyone would get in by 6:00 – at least that’s what i thought he said. i figured i’d come back at 4:30. so we went instead to the “petit palais” which is currently a museum. we were able to get in free (because of the special day) and we looked at some interesting paintings. (an artist i discovered there, that i never had known before was fernand pelez. he had worked at the end of the 1800’s and did a naturalist style – very realistic. his painting in this museum was called “grimaces and miserables” – of a sad group of circus performers. it was incredible. kind of depressing, but i beautiful and i loved it. afterwards jj and i went shopping on the champs elysees and p went to visit a few other buildings.

i did not make it back to the palace because we didn’t finish shopping until 5:00. i was a little annoyed because i hadn’t really wanted to go shopping and the champs elysees is too commercial and crowded for me. but jj really did need some clothes and my help in buying them. (she gets an allowance now, which includes clothes money so she is responsible for looking after her own budget). i did buy some stuff for myself, but it was a bit hellish. as a new yorker, i always prided myself in avoiding the crowds, knowing when to go places and when not to. for dinner we made moules mariniere (mussels in soup) served with baguette and potatoes. i bought twice as many mussels as i should have (because i made the mistake of asking the vendor how much i needed per person and they always exaggerate – and because jj just told me that she doesn’t really like mussels.) anyway it was good. we have enough for another meal. we then watched a french film called “diner des cons” or “dinner of idiots” which was remade into an american film. i hated the american film, which was in the tradition of jerry lewis and “i love lucy” – way over the top and very little believability. the french one was very funny and i was proud that we watched it without subtitles and i understood most of it.

i was going to get up early and leave the family behind to get myself to the elysees palace. i didn’t think they were too interested anyway. i ended up walking the dog and having breakfast and didn’t get to the palace until 9:45. the line was down the road, around the corner and around another corner. i asked the policeman how long he thought the wait was and he said 7 hours. i thought he was kidding and said so. he said, “no, i’m not.” i asked him again if he was kidding and he insisted he wasn’t. i got in line and asked the people if they thought he was kidding. they said maybe not. i considered whether i wanted to take the chance that they were wrong. the people said, just wait 2 hours and see where we are then. i think we’ll be on the road by then. i thought about it. i certainly didn’t want to wait 7 hours and i didn’t even really know what i was waiting for. i had no burning desire my whole life to see this place. but there is the lemming effect of seeing all these people waiting and thus believing that it must be worth waiting for. the people insisted, it is only open once a year. the man said that he had had the opportunity to go on the concorde airplane and had put it off, and then it was closed, and he missed it, so he never wanted to put things off anymore. it was true, that we would probably not be here next year at this time and chances were pretty slim that i’d be invited anytime soon to dine with the president. so i thought i’d hang out a bit and see how it went. it got quite friendly when a young man came and asked if he could get back in line with us. he was on his own and had gone off to the bathroom. the other man recognized him and said “of course”. we all started talking. there was an african-origin couple(stephanie and the man with an african name), though i don’t think they were actually a couple. it never was clear to me their relationship. there was an african-origin family of 3 small children, (leila and bourdon or something) and there was a french french guy named gregoire. gregoire went off to get a sandwich and came back with snacks for everyone. we talked the whole time and covered topics from obama, to bush, to dsk (dominique straus kahn) to television, to current french politics, to history of the palace. i got a LOT of practice on my french. after 3 hours, i called p and said he should come join me in the line and he should bring jj too. the group were all supportive of him coming and joining in. i asked him to bring me a sandwich. i told him that the gates were within range and that it would be maybe another ½ hour before the check point. he hurried over. then we realized that the line was actually still very long. from that point, it took us another 2 hours to actually get to the gate. it had been sunny in the beginning but it is september and it got a little cold standing out there in the breeze. then it rained for a while. enough people in the line had brought umbrellas to cover most of the people.

jj had a lot of homework and had to read her french, a collection of short stories by marguerite yourcenar. she was whining about it because it was quite difficult and a bit boring. we insisted that she continue, since she would have been bored anyway standing there, it was worth using the time. she finished her first story and said she didn’t understand it. p was going to read it to try to help, but then we asked gregoire instead, who was happy to skim through the story. he actually agreed that it was very difficult to understand, since it was a fantastical description of a painter becoming part of his painting. he had to read the particular passage 3 times to finally understand it enough to explain it to her.

unfortunately, the policeman in the beginning of the line was NOT exaggerating about the 7 hours. it ended up being 6 hours to get to the gate. once we were through the gate, the bag check and metal detectors, there was a separate line if you wanted your free picture taken in front of the palace. it took another hour to get from the gate to the picture taking. we were going to pass on it, but it looked like the line actually went faster there and the rest of the group went on that line. we figured we’d stay together with the others. we had separate pictures taken, but also one with the whole group. at that point, it turned out that there would have been another hour to wait. i felt stupid. i just didn’t think it was worth 8 hours to go into the palace but after waiting 7 hours, how could we leave? bourdon, the dad of the kids had a meeting and said he had to leave. after all that!? he went to the door to ask if he could go through quickly. we found out that there was an express line for families with strollers and handicapped people. i saw him talking to the guard and then going into the palace. next thing i know, he is back to get his family who he got permission to skip the rest of the line because of the small children. but he said to the guard that we were all a group, so we ALL got to go straight to the door!

the palace was very ornate of course. it has not changed much since napolean III became the first president to live there. we entered the “festivities hall” where a huge U shaped table was set as for a state dinner. they had been showing a film about how the table was set. they have special devices to make sure the plates are all the same distance from the edge and they use a measuring tape to make sure they are a certain distance from each other. the glasses are all arranged very precisely. they have one guy for specifically opening the doors. i think the amazing thing is that this ornate palace is a living palace. it is currently in use in its full 18th century splendor. the other amazing thing is that there are plenty of similar places all over paris and france, though this is probably the pinnacle of them all. phew. that was the whole day. a 7 hour wait (with our special short cut) for a half hour visit. but as they say, it’s the journey, not the destination.

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