Shared Illusions

First off, we are home. Arrived Tuesday the 16th around 11 pm after a very long day of travel. 8.5 hour flight from Paris to Atlanta. Three hours in Atlanta. 2.5 hiur flight to Albuquerque. We had close to a 24 hour day.

On a bright note, I watched 3 French movies on the first leg, all of which I enjoyed. Then a Korean movie on the second leg, though I slept through parts of it.

Bastille Day…we didn’t even attempt going to the parade. We did go Place de la Bastille to see a dance performance but it was so crowded we couldn’t get close enough to even see much of the performance on the big screen ,never mind, live. We did get to see part of the Olympic Torch relay, and even a quick glimpse of the torch. Whoopee!

That night we went out to dinner, the one bad meal I had in all of France ever, and then to the Eiffel tower for fireworks at 11pm. By 11:15 we were still waiting. We left. It’s not like we don’t have plenty of them in our hood following baseball games.

We said, “How can Paris expect to pull off the Olympics if they can’t even get fireworks on time?” I mean, even Albuquerque has it that much together. Game ends. Lights out. Fireworks 🎆!

The crowds were, of course, massive and expected, but we were glad to get to the subway before them. Especially as many subway lines were closed. I don’t understand how they expect that to help with crowd control.

The night before we went to 3 of the firefighters balls. Well, one that we actually attended. It must have been in an unpopular arrondissement. Hardly anyone there. But I did get to boogie a bit to pop music, which quickly became boring so we attempted other balls. Each was crowded with wait lines two blocks long and  equally wide. We heard the big base beat from one of them that was not appealing, nor was standing in line, so we didn’t hang around.

Otherwise, in our two.5 days there,  this is where we went:

Saturday afternoon…

It’s still closed, but there was a fascinating exhibition of the work to rehabilitate it post fire. What an undertaking! The photos and descriptions were clear and provided key information without being too wordy. One good thing as a consequence of the fire – statues and paintings and brasswork are being cleaned. I definitely would return in future for that. Scheduled to reopen in September.

On Sunday:

This, above, is a one block street with pretty pastel homes. It’s quiet too.

Below are photos from La Compagne à Paris, a neighborhood in the 20th arrondissement, that is an oasis of calm. No shops in sight, just a quiet residential area. It’s located on a butte, accessed by one street or steep steps.

The gardens are quite expansive with paths and trees and a pond upon which you can launch toy sailboats.

On Monday:

Montmartre restaurants

Then, the major disruption with Windows platforms that affected so many flights and banks… Home just in time!

Café de l’Eglise was a perfect choice. The maitre d’ was warm and welcoming, and our waiter very kind when I asked about the proper way to eat steak tartar. No worstershire sauce. Did he bring it because we speak English?

Irony:

So, that’s it, folks! It was a grand time. We are thinking about our next Camino or Chemin with smaller packs. The women we met from the Perigord invited us to join them next June!

Thanks for joining me.