Goodbye Paris!

Here we are on our last night in Paris, listening to the rain pour down outside and occasionally hearing thunder and seeing lightening! We have spent the last several days doing those things that were on our list, such as walks in various areas of the city, and just enjoying this city that is so easy to love! It has rained for at least a little while during each of the last 3 days, which reminds us how lucky we have been to have had such gorgeous weather. It was actually 25 degrees C today - very warm for October! Last Friday we went to Chartres. We waited until Friday because then the labyrinth in the cathedral is uncovered and can be walked. For those who have never done it, it is a meditative, spiritual, slow walk on a complex, circular pattern that leads one to the center and then out again. The one at Chartres is about 40 feet across. The cathedral itself dates to the 1100's and is amazing. Many pilgrims have come there in the last 900 years because there is a garment (relic) said to have been worn by Mary, mother of Jesus, when she gave birth to Him. One can see it in a side chapel. Getting to Chartres was an adventure. We had read and been told about the train station procedure but we still managed to not "compost" our tickets correctly. ("Composting" is having them stamped by a machine before you get on the train.) Happily the attendant in Chartres when we headed back helped us and we made it back all right. When we arrived at the train station in Paris, we decided to go up to the top of the Tour Montparnasse. That is a tall building near the train station and one can go up on the roof and look out 360 degrees over Paris. It was beautiful to see the city from there! On Saturday we went shopping! We went to a pedestrian-only area about 6 blocks from our apartment and had a great time! We had lunch at a sidewalk cafe and watched the people go by. We also bought a few things! Sunday we went to the Pere Lachaise cemetery with our trusty Rick Steves' book in hand. That is where many famous people are buried and the guided walk in RS's book is well done. We saw the graves of Moliere, Oscar Wilde, Colette, Edith Piaf, Gertrude Stein, Chopin, Rossini and Jim Morrison. There were many others there with us, guidebooks in hand. The most moving part was the area of the cemetery that contains monuments/sculptures commemorating those killed at the Nazi concentration camps or while on route there. Huge, beautifully done memorials. The next day, we waited for the rain to stop and then did a walking tour, with paper guide, of the St. Germain area. We had dinner there at the same cafe where Jean-Paul Sartre used to eat! On Tuesday, we again waited for the rain to end and then walked our "home" arrondissement, le Marais. We began at the site of the Bastille and then walked toward the apartment. There is a great museum about French history called the Carnavalet Museum with the best part being about the French Revolution. Earlier that morning, Jon did something he had been wanting to do - go to a French Rotary club meeting!

(Jon) I attended a meeting of a relatively new club, the Champs Elysee club just 9 years old. In addition to myself there were 17 men and 9 women in attendance - ages 50-70, all in suits and extremely formal. They make Seattle 4 look like a slapstick session.... no laughter and few smiles. They were very nice to me and asked about our club and the banner I presented to them. The meeting was held in a lovely room looking out onto the famous boulevard. We all sat around a single long table and enjoyed juice, coffee and a pastry as we .... or, I should say, they.... listened to a single speaker to whom they gave rapt attention. He spoke quietly without notes, in French unfortunately for me who understands little, for about 40 minutes and then took questions which added about 30 more. While I had no idea what was being discussed, I couldn't help but notice that everyone looked extremely serious. Later I learned that he was discussing the current state of the middle east. The meeting started by going around the table with everyone introducing themselves and later placing their names on a paper being circulated. I was told that it would be a breakfast meeting (it started at 8), but the juice and coffee were all that were served....perhaps that was fortunate. The tab we each paid was 30 euros ($45.00). Don't anyone tell the Sons. Still it was an interesting experience, and I had a chance to meet some nice people. I'll be interested to see what the next club is like.

(Beth again) Tuesday evening we had a wonderful dinner at Le Trumilou restaurant across the street from the Seine. They are known for their canard aux pruneaux (duck in prune sauce), which I can testify is delicious! Everything was great however! After dinner we walked across the street and watched the boats go by, all beautifully lit. A group of college age folks were singing with a guitar below us and lights shown on Notre Dame. The air was warm and pleasant. How much more perfect does it get? Today was spent packing, doing laundry, doing light cleaning and, the big thing, getting some packages mailed home! This was the source of much agitation as we read RS on the subject, the US government website on mailing packages home, and tried to figure out the forms from the French post office! We spent an hour or two working on it in our apartment and at least an hour in the post office - thank goodness for the two English speaking postal helpers! Afterwards we collapsed into our neighborhood cafe and ate a bagette and cheese and drank wine to soothe our souls! Our dinner tonight started out to be at an excellent (by all accounts) restaurant, which it turns out has closed. So we had Japanese food instead - it is all the rage here!

And so our time comes to an end. It is hard to say goodbye to this city and we have already talked about leaving Provence early next August to spend a night or two here before we fly out of Charles de Gaulle! My next entry will be from Germany!

Photos: top left bread, cheese and wine today! top right: Auschwitz memorial bottom left: eating ice cream by the Seine and bottom right: the toys boats on the pond at the Luxembourg Gardens.