Day
26 – June 24, 1981:
Today, Gloria and I got up at about
11:00 am and, after I received an expected call from Sam (saying that he
couldn’t meet us that day, as, he’d just gotten up), we took off walking down
to L’Opera (the Opera house). We paid 6
French francs to take a tour of L’Opera, which a really magnificent place and
we even sat in the balcony seats.
We then left L’Opera to take a walk down
L’Avenue Champs-Elysees and passing through the Place Vendome and the Place de
la Concorde (again). We saw the Lido and
were very tempted to buy tickets to get in, but resisted the temptation. We stopped at a cafe to have a lovely lunch
of cannelloni and lasagne (some of the best I’ve ever had!). After lunch, we tried again to find some
sidewalk artists who do paintings and were directed to Le Grande Palais and Le
Petit Palais, but nothing was happening, as, it was starting to rain, so we
took the metro home instead.
Gloria went to the Folies Bergere to
reserve a ticket for herself, but I couldn’t afford it, so I didn’t go with
her. I called Sam from our hotel and I
told him that we were planning on going to the discotheque tonight if he’d care
to join us, but he declined. He said his
grandmother died today and he and his family were totally emotionally exhausted
after the ordeal of her illness. I
expressed my sympathy to him about what had happened.
Day
27 – June 25, 1981:
Today, Gloria and I got up at about
10:00 am and had breakfast at about 10:30 am.
After breakfast, we went to the bank (called La Societe General) and
changed some more of our money (travellers’ cheques) into French francs, just
so we wouldn’t be cash-poor. After
returning to the hotel, I had a leisurely bath and both Gloria and I re-packed
our suitcases, in readiness for our trip home.
After doing this, we decided to take the
metro up to La Sacre Coeur (a church) and we bought some picture postcards
while there. These picture postcards
were so nice, I decided that I would hang them on my wall in my bedroom in
Toronto.
La Sacre Coeur is situated on a high
hill and you have to climb about 200 steps or so to reach it. On our way down, we stopped to ask some
policemen where La Place du Tertre was because we knew that it was nearby,
although not its exact location. It was
raining and a really miserable day out, but we went anyway to see if the
sidewalk artists we’d been looking for all week were working on their art. And this time, we were lucky! We found both the Place du Tertre and the
artists and they were painting today.
So, of course, we wandered around a bit, looking at the paintings and
taking some pictures of them. While we
were there, I was asked to pose for a portrait sketch for 50 French francs, so
I agreed and sat for ½ - ¾ of an hour getting my portrait done.
After my portrait was done, I met a man
that Gloria had just met and was sitting with.
His name was Michel Dryze. He was
a very handsome man in his 30s. Michel
and his older friend, Pierre, treated Gloria and I to a few beers in the cafe
nearby. I was supposed to call Sam again
between 2:00 and 6:00 pm, but Michel said that I could call Sam from his
apartment where Gloria and I went at around 5:30 pm. However, I didn’t call Sam then. We stayed at Michel’s place until about 7:00
pm and then I walked down the street and took a taxi to the hotel, while Gloria
stayed with Michel. He had offered to
drop her off at the Folies Bergere that evening.
Well, I was pretty drunk by the time I
got back to our hotel, but I called Sam because he’d asked me to. He told me that he was planning on dropping
by about 12:00 midnight due to having to drop someone off at the metro after
work. Well, Sam never did call me back
and I never did see him again. That was
sad because I really did like him a lot and was totally enamoured with him
while we were in Paris.
****************************************
Well, I didn’t make any more journal
entries after today. After Gloria and I
got home to Canada (on June 27th), I just had to call Sam in Paris
one more time. It was a very
“enlightening” conversation, needless to say.
He told me that he would always love me and I told him the same. But, I knew, deep inside, that it was just a
passing love affair and that it was now over.
C’est la vie!! I had a wonderful
time while I was with him, in Paris. I
know that I will never forget either Sam or Paris. I would love to go back to Paris for a month
or more again, but with my luck, I may only be able to manage a 2-3 week
visit.
Still, there is nothing like travelling
in Europe. I have never forgotten what
those countries and cities looked like. I
never did get to visit La Tour Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower) in Paris, as, it was
under construction at the time. However,
I loved every second of our time in Europe (especially Paris) and I would go
again in a minute. I may not take the
budget bus tour next time though; perhaps, I could afford to stay at better
hotels and spend more time on my own venturing into all of the different and
wonderful places that I have never seen yet.
copyright 2014, Anne Shier. All rights reserved.
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