Church in Paris was one of the most interesting sacrament meetings I have been to thus far. They are so used to having visiting members from all over the world, especially English-speakers, that they had a separate room already set up with chairs and a monitor playing a live feed from inside the actual chapel. One of the missionaries was sitting in the chapel with a headset and his translation was used as the audio for the feed. He was a pretty dang good translator but it was also kind of funny when he had to pause and think about how to word certain phrases in English so that they made sense. I thoroughly enjoyed some of his little side comments, such as "Um...uh...he is reading that letter REALLY fast!" and "And...now she is reading that article REALLY fast...maybe you can read it in the Liahona after this meeting. It sounds good."

Trying to sing hymns with this set up was a tad problematic as the piano could barely be heard through the open doors (the audio is turned off on the video feed in order to allow the translator to be heard) and the image of the conductor inside the chapel is just a split-second too slow, making it nearly impossible to keep correct time. Brynne, who was sitting next to me, was highly entertained by it all but whispered, with the utmost sincerity, "It is a good thing the Spirit is the same regardless of the situation!" Once again that lesson was driven home to me: the Spirit is the same regardless of language barriers and/or musical deficiencies. Having now attended sacrament meetings in five countries (USA, England, Italy, France and Germany) and countless cities (don't think you really want me to list all of those for you :), I can testify by experience that this is true. The Spirit is the same. The Spirit is the definition of consistent. And, if we strive to remain worthy, can also be our personal definition of constant.

Kind of funny that in my last post I mentioned Mother's Day because it turns out today was Mother's Day in France! All the women in the ward (including us visitors) got flowers and chocolate (really good chocolate, I might add!). Not too shabby ;)

After church I went with the group to the optional museum of Rodin's sculptures. It was pretty enjoyable. I like his stuff but it isn't my absolute favorite. I can understand and recognize the power and beauty behind it but it seems like more of an acquired taste for my personally. My favorite work was actually a piece by a student of his entitled The Waltz. I think the movement of the bodies is beautiful and I find the way they embrace very moving. Maybe it is just the hidden romantic in me.

Following this museum visit, Nate, Mehlanie and I went for a stroll just to see what we could see. First of all, I love these two. They are such good traveling companions, always up for basically anything and really easy going for the most part. We wandered past the church that Napoloeon is buried in and all around the neighborhood that surrounds it. We really didn't have any plans until we realized just how hungry we were. We decided to stop and get some crepes to tide us over and then went on the hunt for a place to eat with seating outside so we could people-watch. As we were looking, we noticed a large parade of people marching down the street and went to investigate. What we stumbled upon was a protest march against the law that was recently passed in France to legalize gay marriage. It was very interesting to watch. Most marchers were Catholics who had brought their whole families to march with them (every age from toddlers to elderly grandparents). I was thrilled to get a chance to watch another country's politics in action. Apparently this will have been France's largest, public protest ever (at least, according to my sources on the street...not sure how accurate they were...but they had estimated that over a million people had turned up and marched to the square by the Eiffel Tower...which would explain why I saw so many cops in riot gear waiting by the Tower earlier in the day (side note: their gear made them look like robo-cops and was kind of awesome!).

Once we got bored watching the marchers, we continued our hunt for food. We found a cheap-ish little joint near St. Michel with a deal for a 3-course meal. It wasn't the best thing I have ever had but it was filling and definitely satisfying. The meal was served in a very European style, which means SLOW. In Europe the idea is to fully enjoy multiple courses and good conversation with those in your company (an idea I really like but had to settle into given my American desire for fast yet filling). Since we had nothing else to do today, we took our time and found that the quiet and slow pace fit in with our current mental and physical states.

Lunch/Dinner was followed by a leisurely stroll. We climbed down some stairs to sit by the Seine. There is usually a walkway along the edge of the river, well below the levels of the regular streets, but it is currently flooded so the stairs simply led straight down to the water. We just say and talked and enjoyed watching the water flow past (although it is pretty murky and nasty looking, haha!). I noticed that the water patterns were really kind of odd looking. It kind of looked like water was bubbling up from below and then swirling in just some funny patterns I had never seen before. I was a bit me merited by it because I had never seen water behave quite the way it was in the Seine.

Eventually we wandered back up the stairs and attended evening Mass in Notre Dame. That was a unique and cool experience. I am glad we did that. It felt a bit long (particularly since I did not understand a word of it) but I loved all the ritual surrounding it. I have a thing for all things symbolic :) At one point the audience members are supposed to turn to all their neighbors and shake their hand and say, "Peace be unto you." Annnnd...I had no idea what was going on. All I saw were people shaking hands and I realized the woman next to me was waiting for me to acknowledge her. When I turned she took my hand and must have said the French equivalent of that phrase and I just kind of awkwardly smiled at her. I hope I didn't offend her too terribly, I just had no idea what was expected of me. Oops.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped for round 2 of crepes. No regrets. I did, however, force us to try a new place (we had been hitting the first one we tried the last couple of days because it was so good and we had been fearful of branching out). And you know what? The original place was better. Lesson learned, I am sticking with my original crepe guy (who happens to be Asian...go figure).

Nate and I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out our trip to Cardiff for Friday. Keeping our fingers crossed that all goes smoothly! It was so funny because we first wanted to ask James permission to go out of the city (out of the country in fact, since Cardiff is in Wales). When I was asking him permission, Heather suddenly pops into the conversation and asks what is so important in Cardiff. My response was a bit hesitant, "Uh...the...um...Doctor Who museum..." to which she replied, "It's okay. You don't have to blush." Hahaha it was hilarious but you might have to have been there and seen how red my face was to truly appreciate it. Oh...good times!