Our Last Full Day in Paris

Friday, May 24

It is pouring down rain.  How unusual!  Mom gets up and says she is done; she cannot climb another stair—up or down.  After pain au chocolat and coffee, I get dressed and say, I am not spending my last day in Paris sitting inside the apartment!  So there!  I am reminded of my very first trip to Paris in March 2003 with my sister Tracy and her family.  Our last day in Paris, Tracy said, I am done!  Thankfully, my brother-in-law Lonnie went with me to Pere La Chaise Cemetary.  He thought I wanted to see Jim Morrison’s grave when I really wanted to see Heloise and Abelard, famous medieval lovers.  That is another story.

I head to Bus 47 that will take me to Gare de l’Est where I will change to Bus 30, which I believe will take me to the Butte of Montmartre.  When I reach the first bus stop,  there is a 47 bus there with its emergency lights blinking.  As I arrive at the corner waiting to cross the rue, a red paramedic truck whips by.  There is another woman waiting at the bus stop, and we look at each other as if to say, what’s the deal?  Apparently, a woman who had been riding the bus had some kind of malady, so the bus was held up.  Another 47 bus comes by shortly.  The ride north through the streets of Paris is interesting, and I pass by the oldest tree and Shakespeare & Company again, past the new water fountain for which I do not have a pictorial record, to Gare de l’Est.  It is now really pouring down rain, and I am not sure where to look for Bus 30.  I start walking in what I suppose will be the right direction.  Eventually, lucky me, I do find a stop for Bus 30, but it is some time before 30 shows up.  I planned to de-bus at rue Barbes-Rochechouart, which I think is at the bottom of a street full of shops that leads up to the carousel and Sacre Coeur.  I am dead wrong and end up walking quite a ways before I find my street.  Mom calls to say that she and Tom are going to rue Mouffetard to the market.  Mom decided not to get a SIM card for her iPhone, so we use a Wi Fi-based app called Viber.  You can text and call using Viber as long as you have access to Wi Fi.  I decided to add the international service for my phone for the duration of our trip.

It is still raining, and storekeepers have covered some of their wares.  My mission is to find socks and scarves.  I find the socks at a shop I have patronized on previous visits.  I am hunting for scarves for my sisters.  I go in and out of every shop on the street, then turn the corner toward the funicular that will take you up to Sacre Coeur.  This is near the apartment where we have stayed in the past.  One very annoying aspect of trying to either take the stairs or the funicular up to Sacre Coeur is that there are these young men who try to trap you into giving them some money for this game having to do with a string being tied around your wrist.  They are very persistent no matter how many times you say, No merci!

I tour the shops once more as I descend toward rue Rochechouart and the Anvers metro.  I decide to take the metro and will have to change twice.  I arrive back at metro Cardinal Lemoine on rue Monge in less than half the time it took me to get to Montmartre on the bus.  Travelling in Paris advice:  If you are not in a hurry, take the bus.  If you want to travel quickly, take the metro!  As I get ready to climb out of the metro station, Mom calls to say she has lost her ATM card, so they have to go back to wherever she may have left it.  She actually calls several times and cannot hear me, so I text “Zazie dans le metro,” which she gets but still calls.  I say I am almost home but will stop at the boulangerie on my way while Mom and Tom go in search of the ATM card.  It is around 2 pm.  I wait and wait until finally I see them coming down the street.  Mom gives a thumbs up.  

They have bought a rotisserie chicken, potatoes, fresh strawberries, and some good wine that we sit down to eat. I have bought tartes au citron for dessert.   Later, we have bread and cheese and meat, our usual dinner fare.  We have also packed and are ready