Paris: An adventure of a lifetime

I recently traveled to Paris with my family after Nanay’s cell therapy in Germany. It was a three-hour train ride from Mannheim, Germany. We took the opportunity to immerse ourselves in all things French — the history, the culture, the arts, the romance, the religion, the French cuisine and much, much more. We stayed at the Hotel du Louvre, an ideal place to stay in Paris because its four facades look out to the Louvre Museum, the Opera Garnier, the Comedie Francaise and the Palais Royal. From my bedroom, I could literally see some of the paintings at the Louvre Museum.

Bong and I were so happy that we got the chance to bring Nanay to the following places in Paris.

From left: Dr. Dennis Ngo, Bong Quintana, this writer and Borongan Mayor Fe Abunda at the Louvre Museum

Louvre Museum is one of the largest museums and most visited art museums in the world. The famous architect I.M. Pei proposed and built a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court. The queue outside the museum was incredibly long but it was worth the wait. The wheelchair is powerful in Paris. People give way to people in wheelchairs. Jen, Nanay’s nurse, joked about borrowing Nanay’s wheelchair after Nanay and I were allowed to go beyond the stanchions — two feet away from the beautiful, enigmatic Mona Lisa. “Ang liit pala niya pero ang ganda. Kahit saan tayo, nakatingin siya,” Nanay quipped.

It took a while to convince Nanay, a proud Waray woman, to use the wheelchair. Even today, she still walks and uses the wheelchair only when she gets tired.

From the Allee du Grand Louvre, I bought six prints of the works of Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci with the seal of the Louvre Museum. These are the best buys I got from this trip, more memorable than the edgy and risqué outfits I bought with vigor and nausea as the couture houses of Paris are so pricey, they can cost you your precious sanity.

With my Nanay Lesing

So if I lose my mind, blame Louboutin, Galliano, Owens, D-Squared, YSL, but please don’t touch my Mona Lisa.

Notre Dame is one of the most famous cathedrals in the world. It is located in Ile de la Cite, a small island in the middle of the Seine. Notre Dame is the religious center of the city. It was said that Victor Hugo, with his book Notre Dame de Paris, was partly to be thanked for because the Parisians realized that the cathedral needed to be restored.

In the churchyard is a circular mark where you can stand and pray facing the cathedral. It is the center of Paris. I stood there and begged for good health for Nanay and for all.

The Sacred Heart Basilica in Montmartre was built between 1875 and 1914 on the “hill of martyrs” (Montmartre), which was the place where Saint Dennis, the first bishop of Paris, was decapitated for his faith. It is said that at his beheading, he rose up, carried his head and walked for several miles to the place that became the Basilica of Saint Dennis.

With my partner Bong at the romantic Eiffel Tower

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal is a sacred destination for all Marian devotees. The medal is known throughout the world as the miraculous medal. It began after the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to a novice, Saint Catherine Laboure, in the chapel in 1830. In one of the apparitions, Mama Mary showed Catherine the design of the “Miraculous Medal.”

The day we visited the chapel, there was a Mass and Nanay and I were permitted to go near the incorrupted body of Saint Catherine.

It was an adventure of a lifetime. You don’t say, “Au Revoir, Paris” but “chos, mag-ipon at bumalik sa Paris!”

And lovely Babette Aquino and assistant Andy Celario made our Paris trip even more memorable.

Bisous!