Today was a windy, grey, rainy day in Paris. I tried to email in the a.m. but the place was closed. I took a walk in a park and saw the Sacre Cour from a distance and took back café au lait and croissants 🥐 to Helen, who was getting ready. We checked out with the grumpy lady and I mentioned in plain English, “You really should do something about that green and white chenille bedspread you know!” She is horrible and I would never recommend the place.
So we took a nice taxi to the upgraded two- star ⭐️⭐️hotel. Took a half mile walk down to Boulevard Saint Germaine, near the Seine and by Sorbonne, while waiting for our room, then half mile back.
Rainy Day in Paris
We then headed out for Printemps and went over the Seine; through a flower, cheese, meats, veggie, fruit carpet, olive market; and past the magazine, antique bookstalls on tree-lined river streets, past crepe stands.
Around Saint Germaine, before we reached Norte Dame, we stopped at a nice fountain square, metro café place. Each of us had a grande café au lait and quiche Lorraine. Met the people who decided to sit down next to us once they saw our big coffee mugs. Then they ordered, with her hand on my mug, explaining the size. They turned out to be Czech too! (Homely looking, as Helen put it.) Well, we talked to them on our left (six of them). Meanwhile, the suave guy on our right, from France/Arabia or so with a girlfriend in NYC – he pulled the card out of his Louis Vuitton wallet to show us. He was taking our picture, and thought maybe we were all together with the Czechs!
Continuing on in the rain, windy, grey day, passing many flower shops and pit shops, we headed on to the Samaritaine department store, with its turquoise wrought iron interior – very art nouveau. We worked the cosmetics counter, and the girl was especially helpful, giving Helen free samples. As Helen so bluntly put it, “What’s there not to like about me?”
Onward in the Rain
I found some great scents of lavender and verbena – I’m just an old-fashioned girl at heart! Onward we continued, toward the Louvre and Tuileries, after Helen begged me not to make her go into Norte Dame again. She didn’t even want to walk by the touristy Louvre area, but we paused just long enough to swap photos and meet a good looking, friendly and fun, young black man and his daughter, who played tennis 🎾 and were here for the event (French Open).
They couldn’t believe Helen was 85; they were so nice and fun! She – the daughter- had ‘dragged’ her dad to Paris. We finally ended up on Rue Saint Honore, to have chocolate sundae and chocolate banana crepes. The sun was out and we started back after that. Helen was getting a wee bit tired, even though it was her idea to walk and not take a taxi back. I went on ahead to check the way (here’s why! I notoriously get the way wrong!) which was right- and right around the block!
Funny Us!
Along the way, we stopped and knocked on the window to the same nice man who we bought our water from yesterday, and we got another water there! We are too damned funny. He was straightening the cheeses when we knocked at him. Crazy Americans!
Then we sipped our wine and watched another rain shower pass by. Helen had also bought a CD 💿, “Bird” about Charlie Parker, and charmed the socks off the guy at the record store.
I checked out a nice looking, cozy restaurant across the street and then took Helen over in the rain. We both had onion 🧅 soup, shared a bottle of good white Muskadet wine, she had Beef Burgenion and I – the trout with almonds, for dessert she had Crème Brûlée and I – chocolate mousse. We had again great interesting conversation, both learning new things from past and present.
We were laughing at being American 🇺🇸 in a French restaurant, with a Vietnamese server, Japanese on one side, Mexican on the other, Germans behind us, and French on the side. Finally, when the Mexican delegation left, we had to say, “Hasta luego” and “buenos noches.” They were happily impressed and chatted with us in Spanish on the way out!! What can we say – we just make friends everywhere we go!
Saturday 5 June, 1999
