My French Baker

Those who follow the travels of my family may recall--  a few weeks ago, while we were visiting Gent,Belgium, we were heading to see a beautiful cathedral when we happened upon a technology fair. And Danny hung out there and made robots and never made it into the church...So on Thursday evening, in Paris, we head over to Notre Dame Cathedral, and as we enter the square in front we see tents set up and lots of hustle and bustle! Another special event? What are the chances?! We immediately go to investigate and we find, as the French woman translated for us, it is "The bread party...umm,how you say, "the day of the bread?"! Well All Right! This is my kind of day! The very air around us smelled of freshly baked baguettes and there were industrial ovens set up, French music playing, and bakers of every shape and size mixing,kneading, and putting in ovens loaves and loaves of bread. Then I spot children behind the ropes and you know I had to get Danny in on that. Jerry and the girls headed into the cathedral and I got Danny signed in.  The children were placed in small groups with a baker(they gave Danny's group and English speaking one)who gave them dough, showed them how to knead, shape and braid a loaf then helped them put it in the oven! Now we had a half hour until it would be ready, and we immediately went into church. Mass for Ascension Thursday had begun and we were able to hear the beautiful choir and say some of the prayers as we toured the side altars and lit candles. What an indescribably beautiful and holy place. We prayed for many people during our visit.
Outside we found Molly and Charlotte sitting on a wall, hanging out, and no sign of Jerry. Danny and I got his loaf and his diploma, boy did it look wonderful. I asked the ladies if I could buy more and she directed me outside. As we walked towards the girls, here comes Jerry, arms full of baguettes! We all sat on the wall, in the setting sun, people watching and stuffing ourselves with bread. Danny felt his loaf was a bit tastier than those we had purchased! I have found that being open and a bit unscheduled when traveling often opens up unexpected pleasures. It certainly did in this case!

Notre Dame

look at all the bread!

imagine the smell

Danny joins the bread team

learning about the dough

personal instruction from a prof. French Baker!!

ta da!

the baker explains the baking step to the children as their bread goes into the huge oven

I did it!

I am chewing in this picture!

action shot!