Sept 17 Last Tango in Paris

September 19, 2024

As I compose this final entry into the blog of our UK / Paris 2024 vacation, I am admittedly sitting on my own couch with my feet on my own coffee table working on the early stages of jet lag. Debbie says the job is not done until the final day is documented, and so the subsequent stages of jet lag will have to wait.

The last full day of our vacation began with a walk across the city to Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine that was once the hub of Paris. We took advantage of the Paris pass that we had purchased to enjoy a brunch that included a glass of champagne and an iconically French dish called croque monsieur. Croque Monsieur is essentially a ham and cheese sandwich, but ever-so-much better with a fancy French name, and better again if spoken with a French accent.

Next on our agenda was a visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral, where we had a guided tour that, sadly, was a strictly outdoor event because of the 2019 fire that gutted the historic building. It’s expected that the interior will be open to the public this coming December, and we were pleased to find that the bells were returned to Notre Dame during the week of our Paris visit, so progress is being made. The tour we had was very informative, but was nearly derailed by a fellow from Queens in our group that seemed a bit like the demon child of Fran Drescher and Mr. Magoo. This guy was probably the most obnoxious and self absorbed human we have ever encountered. He insisted on yammering about his own agenda at the expense of the tour guide’s narrative, and continually positioned himself in her personal space two feet from her face, much like a point guard in basketball. Finally, our diminutive friend Bev got fed up and gave him a school principal’s admonishing and steered him by the elbow to a more appropriate position. Bev instantly became a favourite of everyone else on the tour. The last part of the tour was a visit to a fairly recently discovered crypt that apparently disrupted an attempt to install an underground parking facility at Notre Dame.

We then tried to heed the advice of our guide to visit the local flower market, where we were told that we could find souvenirs that were actually French and not manufactured in the People’s Republic of China. This worked out well for a moment, but when we attempted to access the second business in the market, we were escorted back out by a policeman brandishing a very large gun. We then saw other police were clearing traffic off the sidestreets next to the market. We never found out what sort of botanical crime had taken place, but it seemed like it might have been significant.

Thwarted in our shopping effort (Don and I were devastated), we carried on to our next venue, the church called Sainte-Chapelle which was just a few hundred yards from our crime scene. The police presence there was also very noticeable, and the wait to get inside was daunting. Once inside we found that the wait was well worth it. Sainte-Chapelle’s claim to fame is that its stained glass windows depict the entire story of the bible. The pictures attached here will give you some idea of the magnificence of these windows, but I think you really have to be in the space to fully appreciate it.

Last on our agenda before heading back for dinner was a visit to the enormous Luxembourg Gardens, which were conveniently attached to the enormous Luxembourg Palace. We found this to be not just a tourist destination, but also an important part of the social fabric of the local Parisians. The park had few benches, but was furnished with countless metal chairs that could be dragged into whatever configuration you might want for the size of your group. Very civilized. We couldn’t do that here without the scrap metal dealers being overwhelmed with business.

And that, friends, brings us to the conclusion of this holiday. We had a very efficient flight home the following day with a quick stop in Calgary. We’re left with a ton of new memories to sift through and an even larger number of pictures to help us do that.

Thanks for taking the time to follow us on this journey.