Day
23 – June 21, 1981:
It’s the first day of summer! However, Paris feels a little cool today to
us. We got up early with everyone else
on the tour at 7:00 am to see them off on the bus (and take pictures, and
exchange hugs and kisses) at about 7:30 am.
After they all left, we went for a short walk, but it was too early in
the day and it was Sunday, as well, so we soon turned back.
We tried eating an early breakfast,
consisting of a croissant and tea, but it was a real struggle (don’t know why,
though!). Then, Gloria and I went back
up to our room and started packing up our gear because, that day, we were
obliged to check out of the Hotel Berthier La Tour and check into our second
hotel. We took a taxi to get to our new
hotel. It was called La Societe
Hoteliere de la Cite Bergere (what a name!).
Just like in London, we didn’t like this hotel much either, but there
wasn’t much we could do about it, then.
The hotel had narrow and dirty hallways and stairs and looked very dingy
to me, like a shelter or something. It
had a lift (an elevator) that was so narrow, I didn’t think it could hold
anyone or anything else. But, the worst
thing was that there was no bath or shower in our room or for public use (that
I could see) and so, that turned me right off!
Then, we went looking for a place in
which to eat and we settled on (guess!) McDonald’s! And, from there, we went looking for another
hotel to move into. We walked and walked
and finally, we found one called Le Quirinal Hotel on La Rue Lafayette. We liked this hotel a whole lot better! It was very decent. We paid the room and board to the hotel using
my Visa card and then went back to our current hotel. We asked the girl at the desk to please call
us a taxi, as, we were going to be moving!
(I was so glad to get out of there!).
We took the taxi to our newest hotel and when we arrived, we checked in
and spent the afternoon relaxing. Gloria
slept for a couple of hours and I bathed and read for a while. Later, we dressed to go out to a nearby café
for dinner.
I called Sam when we returned and
finally got through to him. Sam said
that he would try to come over after work at 11:00 pm or so and I hoped that he
would. I also tried getting through to
my sister, “Saz” (short for Sandy), but had no luck. I had to do my laundry today (for the
last time before we leave for home).
Gloria ended up going to a German pub
tonight on La Rue Montmartre. She called
me to let me know where she was since she had not intended to end up there; she
had just wanted to go for a walk. Sam
did not come over tonight and I’m a little disappointed. But, as I said, time is running out; we have
to leave for home soon.
Day
24 – June 22, 1981:
Sam did not come over last night and
today, he told me why. He said that his
grandmother became very ill with heart problems and had to go to the
hospital. So, he came over today to pick
us up and drop us off at the Louvre Musee (museum), but he couldn’t accompany
us since he was going to visit his grandmother again at the hospital. However, he did indicate an interest in
another date with me before we had to leave France.
Gloria and I decided to walk around
outside because it was so sunny, for a change, and yesterday was the first day
of summer. While we were walking across
the bridge over the Seine River near the Louvre, we noticed a girl in the
water, just floating face up, alive but not swimming or even moving. We learned later that she had jumped off the
bridge into the river. We went to get
the police and then went to see what could be done for her. Some fellows had jumped into the water and
pulled her out and she was cold and unconscious. I had just started first aid (keeping her
warm with my light jacket) when the police and ambulance arrived to tend to
her. We all just stood around until she
was put into the ambulance and after talking briefly to police, we then left.
After this little adventure by the Seine,
we went to a café nearby and had a light lunch and went to the Louvre,
finally. After searching for, and
finally finding, the front entrance to the museum, we walked through it looking
at all the lovely paintings and some of the sculptures. The Louvre is HUGE, beautiful, and full of
security guards! In fact, I actually touched
a painting, which you are NOT allowed to do; an alarm bell went off and a guard
came over and told me, “Ne touche jamais!” (Never touch that!)
After our illustrious visit to the
Louvre, we went back to our hotel via the metro (subway). It was Gloria’s first time on the metro and
my second time. Shortly after that, we
went to a Chinese / Vietnamese restaurant nearby for dinner. Then, I had to hurry back so I could dress
for my date with Sam – only Sam never showed up or called me and I was very
upset with him. Gloria wanted to try
taking my mind off him and suggested (around 10:00 pm that night) that we go to
the Wiener Wald, the German pub she’d been to last night, so we went there and
had tea and ice cream. We came back at
about 12:00 am and went to sleep and I wasn’t sure when Sam would call or even
if he would call.
Well, at about 1:30 am, I was awakened
by a phone call from Sam! He was downstairs
and wanted to talk to me. So, I got
dressed and went down to see him and we sat in his car talking for about ½ hour
about why he hadn’t called me or shown up.
It turned out that while he was at the hospital, he had tried to phone
our newest hotel (using the number I’d given him) and he couldn’t get
through. I had to believe that he had
tried to get through because he was here now, apologizing and asking for my
forgiveness. After we kissed and made
up, he asked me to go home with him to Versailles - to which I agreed only if he’d
drive me back here by about 11:30 am so that I could do some more sightseeing
with Gloria. I ended up going home with
him and spending the night with him and we were together until about noon when
we arrived back in Paris.
Day
25 – June 23, 1981:
After Sam and I arrived back at the
hotel again, we met Gloria in the cafe downstairs for a beer. Then, Sam left for the hospital to keep his
grandmother company and Gloria and I decided to go to the Notre Dame Cathedral
via the metro. It is truly amazing how
easy it is to get around Paris on the metro (as long as you have a subway map)! We spent about an hour inside the cathedral
and also outside of it taking pictures.
After that, we took a walk over to the Place de Saint Michel, stopping
to ask a policeman for directions along the way.
We shopped for some food for lunch in a
small grocery store and patisserie (bakery) and then sat down on the grass to
eat lunch at the Place de Saint Michel.
We were starting to get pretty low on cash, so we decided to return to
our hotel and find a bank where we could change some of our travellers’ cheques
into French francs. Finally, we found a bank
close by that did this for us and so, we were once again solvent.
Once we were back at the hotel, we
decided to leave again shortly afterwards for Rue Montmartre to look for the
sidewalk painters, but we didn’t find any so we just kept walking till we got
to L’Opera (the Opera house) where we sat at a cafe drinking beer. After a while, we thought we would stay and
watch the sunset at the Place de la Concorde, but we got there way too early
for it (about 7:30 pm). Well, we wanted
to see the show (called “Illuminations”) that was supposed to be on later, so
we waited and waited and waited until about 10:30 pm. Just before 10:30, the lights came on to
“illuminate” the two fountains, the streets and a monument there. We also got this incredible shot of the
fountains outlined against the setting sun.
After taking our pictures, we decided to
have dinner at the Wiener Wald pub again.
While we were ordering dinner and waiting for it, our privacy was
invaded somewhat when members of a musical band there began serenading us and
continued doing this all evening while we ate our dinner. The band members also tried to get amorous
with us, but Gloria fended them off and we left at about 1:00 am to walk home
(it was a very short walk).
We found that the French like blondes
very much and Gloria and I got lots of attention in Paris because we are both
blondes (at least in the summer months).
The French people appear to be in great physical shape (both sexes) and
the men are extremely good-looking (Ooh-La-La!!
In fact, I just made up my mind to move to France next week!) Also, the
French fashions are not that up-to-date (surprise!); we didn’t like the styles
in the stores at all. Perhaps only the
rich know how to dress.
copyright 2014, Anne Shier. All rights reserved.
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