4 Trips to Paris

An Uncertain Theme

Who can relate to Paris? Why would I even want to do a theme like this?

French Wines and Cuisine?

Besides the Eiffel Tower, what would we talk about?  Wine and art? Fashion and language?  Most of my themes are broad subjects that everyone can relate to, like summer and pets.  But Paris is a little intimidating and sophisticated and I am certainly no connoisseur on the city.  But a few of my seniors brought up the idea in the past and I had to remind myself that our group is not all about sharing nostalgia.  We like to learn things from each other as well.

French Bread!

At the Community Center, I scattered some books and photos and figurines on the quilt... as well as a delicious smelling loaf of French bread. There wasn't one person in my group who had been to Paris, but that made no difference. 

I Love Eloise

For a little creative inspiration and humor, I shared one of my favorite childhood books, Eloise Goes to Paris.  This nutty book about Eloise and her unusual way of exploring Paris, was what made me wish for a Paris trip on every birthday candle throughout my childhood. 

Pass the Bread

While Ella Fitzgerald's voice sang April in Paris, we passed the French bread and gave everyone a chance to come up with a creative use for the loaf, besides using bread as shoes like Eloise in Paris!  "Use it like a bat... practice sword fighting... feed the birds... let it get stale and become a weapon against robbers...  balance it on your head while walking, for good posture... make a bridge for small animals to cross... paint it and let it become art!" We celebrated all the creative answers with some slices of French bread...that had not been handled.

Music, Movies and Books

I thought the movie An American in Paris would be memorable to some in the group.  The famous Gershwin music from the film turned out to be less interesting than music from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame and Offenbach's Can-Can!

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Dancing!

First we listened to "The Bells of Notre Dame"  from Disney's The Hunchback. The music was dark and haunting. We pictured the bells and passages and gargoyles of the Cathedral.  Then the music suddenly became playful and we pictured a  scene of peasants dancing in the streets.  In the next moment Maria and Joan smiled at each other as they got up from their chairs.  Two more followed and linked arms, dancing a festive  and somewhat humorous jig.  

I joined in with a young granddaughter who was visiting and the others clapped and laughed from the table. What a surprise!

The Can-Can!

It took a moment before Offenbach's Can-Can was recognized and then once again, chairs were pushed back and suddenly there were legs kicking and pretend skirts swishing!  I really hadn't predicted this at all!  But I should have. Despite many ailments, this group knows how to have fun!

A Quieter Group

There were such different surprises in my next group.  Our peaceful group of 8 enjoyed the books and photos for a while before warming up.

Tourists in Paris

We had some big travelers in the group so we talked about the things tourists buy, from postcards to Eiffel Tower trinkets.  Lara remembered seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, shortly after electric lights had been installed. Mary who lived for a while in Paris, said she no longer spoke French. But moments later, she surprised herself when phrases and questions started coming back.  She was delighted!

Getting Silly

We had to have some fun with the bread and berets! And of course we had to sing, Frere Jacques!

Fashion

My third group at the Assisted Living Community keeps up with current affairs, movies, books and fashion , so they loved talking about French designers. Louis Vuiton and Coco Channel... and lots of talk about perfume. We all agreed we liked Paris fashion from the 1950's best of all!

French Gourmet

All the talk of French grapes and French fries and French onion soup made us  crave a gourmet French feast... or even some Mc Donald's fries.   Interesting fact that that Belgium and France still seem to disagree on where French fries originated! 

Questions, questions, questions!

My last group at the skilled nursing facility seemed to have the most fun with the question cards.  We each took a turn sharing a question with the group.  These sometimes silly and sometimes thoughtful questions were about everything from poodles to Napoleon.

A Bit of History

I may not have any Can-Can dancers in this group, but I can always count on learning new things.  I love having my friends around the table teach me things, like why there are gargoyles on gothic cathedrals and the name of the cooking school that Julia Child attended and how to pronounce certain French words.  I even learned some raunchier tibits about Moulin Rouge and Ladies of the Night.  But Ken shared the most intriguing history about a small plane that flew through the Arc de Triomph in 1919 after WWI.  I had to look that one up on the internet later and was delighted to find an actual glimpse on YouTube!

Flight thru Arc:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIZzkq5Y8q0

What did I learn? 
I learned 3 things.
1 - Everyone really can enjoy a trip to Paris, even if it's just through photos and stories. 
2- My role seems to change with each group. A few at the Community Center actually call me Teacher, but I played that role down and asked only open ended, fun questions. In my last group, I felt like I was the student... or even daughter.  Many knew more about Paris than me and I was like an eager kid at bedtime wanting endless stories. "Tell me more!"
3- I NEED to go to Paris, again. It's been 16 years since my birthday wish came true.