Back to Paris

After our excellent express tour of Bruges, it was back to Paris. While it had been nice and cool in Bruges, we knew that it was going to be boiling hot back in Paris, so we tried to soak in the pleasant weather before we departed.

We took a bus to the train station in Bruges, and found our train and off we went. We arrived back in Paris without incident. Stephanie and I had to go pick up our luggage, which had been stored in a locker at a really helpful place just for that purpose. Mom and Dad braved the teeming crowds and aggressive panhandlers at the infamous Paris Gare du Nord train station. We reunited after gathering our bags, and we all hopped on a very crowded metro headed toward out apartment for the last leg of our trip. Dad barely made it on the train and was jostled around a lot by a crowd of men near the door.

Eventually, we made it to our new apartment, which was excellent. The forecast had been correct, and it was hot, but nothing a fan or two couldn’t make bearable.

We decided to go on a shopping/tourism outing to Le Bon Marche and La Grande Epicerie, the former a classic Paris department store, and later the biggest and nicest kitchen store there is. For one of the only times on the trip, we had to drag Mom along, as she stopped and shopped for various items along the way.  On the walk home, we did more modern shopping at very nice, but more or less standard grocery store. Once back in the apartment, we had the first of what would be several good long sits in the heat of the apartment living room.

it was around now that Mom listened to a voice mail, which let us know that suspicious activity had occurred on one of their credit cards. This led Dad to the realization that he no longer had his wallet. We think it was very likely the aggressive men on the metro who relieved him of it. That was a huge bummer, and sucked a bit of energy and goodwill from our group. Credit to Stephanie, who jumped to action to help get everything cancelled and communicated, and to notify the credit agencies. She was awesome at a pretty lousy moment.

When evening arrived, we made our way up to the Seine, and poked our heads into Shakespeare and Company, the famous book store. There were authors reading from their books outside, and nooks, crannies, and corners filled with books inside. We walked on the left bank, right across from Notre Dame, and saw some of the damage from the recent fire. The absence of the spire was notable and sad. We strolled across the river and stopped on Ile St. Louis for ice cream at Berthilon, the famous ice cream shop. We made our way briefly across to the right bank in search of a cafe we never found, but we did wade into the crowds enjoying the banks of the river. It was a classic summer scene in Paris. Finally, we went back to Ile St. Louis and found a perfect spot for dinner, where we all enjoyed a great French meal.