Bad Hair Day

Today was one of those day's when I should have stayed in bed! Have we told you how hot it is in Paris? Well it isn't anymore. I looked out the window early this morning and it was cold and raining. I quickly got on the computer to check out the weather in Chartres and it was cold and raining there as well. Since Chartres requires quite a bit of walking, we decided to cancel our plans and do something local so we would have access to the subway.

That's where I went wrong. I should have stayed in bed! We headed out to see the Deportation Memorial by Notre Dame and then we wanted to go see Princess Diana's memorial near where her car crashed.

We arrived at the Memorial (via the nice, cozy, warm Metro that we found so hot and stuffy last week) and it was closed again. We had been there before and it was also closed. We read the times on the chart and the best we could figure is that when it is raining they close it.

In spite of the light drizzle and the simple fact that we had braved the elements to get here, we decided to walk across the bridge onto the Ile St. Louis, which is one of Paris' most exclusive neighborhoods. The Ile St. Louis has a beautiful back view of the Notre Dame (see picture).


As we were walking around looking into all of the beautiful windows, there across the street was a Coiffure Shop (a hair salon). Since my hair needed trimming and we were in such an exclusive area (meaning they probably get Americans all the time), I thought I would go in and get a little trim.

The girl who trimmed my hair was a darling, 20 year old. She said she understood English and I explained that I needed a trim, not too much, just a little thinning out on top to get rid of the heaviness.

I really should have stayed in bed. Her lack of English and my lack of French equals my lack of hair! She cut it so short, and trimmed it so much that I am ............

Ok-hair grows and I know mine will but you will not be seeing a picture of me anytime soon. In fact, it might be grown out by the time I get home, but I doubt it. I can't do extensions, there is nothing to extend them on. I am just grateful that it is cold now and I am going out and buying a hat and a scarf and wrapping myself up like a mummy until I have hair on my head.

We stopped for lunch at a delicious cafe on the Ile St. Louis. We both got onion soup (they don't call it French, imagine that), salmon and pasta and creme brulee (still not as good as Deanna's).

We then headed back to the Deportation Memorial and it was finally open. This newly built Memorial represents the 200,000 French citizens who were taken to concentration camps during WWII. It is a simple memorial; you walk down steep stairs into a large, crypt like area. The city disappears as you walk down and the walls surround you. There is one little window that looks out to the Seine. Then you go into the narrow Memorial itself.

Everything is very symbolic of what the inmates had to go through. Inspite of its simplicity it was a very humbling experience for me. Down a narrow tunnel they have taken 200,000 crystal lights and each light represents the 200,000 French citizens who lost their lives in these camps. Next to the lights are two alcoves with triangles cut into the marble (symbolizing the triangles that the inmates had to wear depicting who they were, different colored triangles for different people). Carved into the triangles were the names of the various concentration camps.

As I pondered the lights and the people they represented, I felt very foolish for worrying about my hair. When you contemplate what these people went through, life becomes a little clearer and everything is put into perspective.
As we left the memorial, overhead is a sign that appears at all Nazi sites: "Forgive, but never forget". We canceled the rest of the afternoon and headed home in the rain.

I am glad I didn't stay in bed today. Print this post