Today we got up and motivated to eat at a cafe near Notre Dame. We were able to get American-style breakfast and the waiter entertained Shane. We made our way over to Notre Dame and just walked through the cathedral. There were no steps in our plan today after carrying our luggage up six flights, both Jason and I were still recovering. While there, Jason and Shane lit a candle in both Judith and Dan's memory. The church was truly an amazing edifice and to imagine Napoleon crowning Josephine there is easy to imagine with all its Gothic grandeur.
Afterward, Shane played in a little park which was right along the Seine. Then we took the metro up to Montmarte. This is the artists community where a lot of the great artists lived so we did a walking tour. (Also, where Amelie lived from the Academy Award Winning Movie.) The English tour -- guided by a young guy from the mid-west named Jon Paul. (He was as middle America as it gets with the most French name.) The tour started at the Moulin Rouge and then we walked over to the Monmatre Cemetery. Then we strode through the winding hills of the Monmatre neighborhood and it was really cool to see where all the famous artists lived -- Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir and Modigliani. Although it was the last century, not a lot had changed in the neighborhood. It was very easy for me to visualize what attracted these artistic greats -- especially the Americans among them -- to this neighborhood. It was sad to hear the stories of their mostly pathetic lives. But we toasted them as well as ourselves when we got back to our apartment. We busted out a bottle of Vueve as we (finally) celebrated our anniversary on our roof top deck. It was so amazing and the Eiffel Tower and all the main sights of Paris glowed around us -- Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the Parthenon, Napoleon's Tomb and the St. Germain des Pres (church), which was first established in 543 (not a type-o) nothing remains from the original building but the bell tower is from the 10th Century -- one of the oldest in France. Pretty impressive. Not only was our dinner magical but we exchanged our gifts on what was the most romantic night of my life and I got to share it with both Jason and Shane.
I incorporated all the components of traditional and contemporary wedding symbolism for the 10 year anniversary and gave Jason a wallet that I had helped design: It had silver, leather and diamonds. All of the things it was supposed to encompass. I'm not sure if it is entirely functional but Jason said he really liked it. Also, I was proud that I came up with something so original...I was going to surprise him and get his cracked windshield fixed. So NOT romantic. Jason then gave me one of the most amazing rings I have ever seen in my life and it blew me away (and still does). He took his mom's heart diamond that his dad gave to his mom on their 25th wedding anniversary (with both his sisters' blessings) and designed this ring that, to me, is more incredible than words can even describe. My old rings pale in comparison but Jason and I agreed that I will always wear my original rings because they will remind me (and us) of where we came from -- our humble beginning -- and where we are going as we start our second decade together.
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