We were reunited in Paris, my very last time there, and though we were at different hostels, we spent a very agréable evening on the steps of the Sacré Coeur looking at the Parisian skyscape.
The next morning, we embarked from the Gare d’Austerlitz to Orléans (the Old one), an hour from Paris. I had all my luggage with me, and the train was so crowded that Alice Wang and I had to sit on the floor in the corridor, unfortunately in very good company.
We met Alice Wang’s friend at the gare in Orléans, who’d kindly agreed to let us stay in her apartment for the night. After tea and a stroll through the under-construction église, we went to Carrefour to pick up some food and essentials (which, unfortunately, as Alice Wang mentioned before, did not include l’ibuprofène). For some reason I also received about six cardboard tokens with my purchase, to be used in what I suppose was a kind of French grocery-store slot machine.
Alice Wang, I’m stealing this photo from your Facebook. Even though I did not win a coveted Carrefour gift certificate, this was sans doute the most excitement I’ve ever experienced in a supermarket.
After the pause-déjeuner when all the musées reopened, Alice Wang and I visited the Maison de Jeanne d’Arc, where we learned all about Joan of Arc’s victory during the siege of Orléans.
We then checked out the Musée Historique Archéologique, where we saw some bronze stuff from Gallo-Roman times and a bunch more depictions of Joan of Arc in painting and sculpture. We also learned that every year the town commemorates the Orléans victory with festivals and activities, and that next year there’s a 600th birthday celebration planned for Joan.
Statue of Joan of Arc in the main square of Orléans. In case you couldn’t tell, she’s kind of a big deal.
We paid a brief visit to the Musée de Beaux-Arts, and then visited the Vieux Hôtel (below), the former city hall of Orléans but now used to host wedding receptions.
We took a sympa walk on the banks of the Loire (below), after which we proceeded to get lost in another bookstore -- the children's section this time.
We got ice cream a bit later (and passed several jealous children, as Alice pointed out before), and reposed ourselves for the rest of the evening. We tried to stream “Saving Private Ryan” on my computer, in commemoration of our awesome trip to Normandy two years ago, but the connection was slow and we didn’t finish.
I had to leave early the next morning, so Alice Wang and I didn’t have a proper goodbye. But we’ll be reunited soon! And will tell you much more in person!
