And Ray and Brenda Arrive!

Today (Monday) was simply gorgeous weather here in Paris - sunny, about 60 degrees F (still not used to that Celsius stuff or Google Maps reporting distance in meters!).  In the morning, Jeff, Leigh, Cheryl and I ventured to Rue Montorgueil, well known as a food and market street.  And, no disappointment as it was lined with restaurants, cafes, bakeries, fish stores, cheese shops, wine shops, produce stands, and flower shops.  Parisians go to markets like this for their food needs, all in different stores lining the street.  There's no Kroger here and that concept would be foreign to them.  But, Monday is, for some strange reason, a day when many of these shops were closed.  We did manage to go to Patisserie Stohrer, the oldest pastry shop in Paris with its beginnings in 1706.  Unbelievable choice and freshness so we bought a nice sampling there, as well as flowers, vegetables and fruits from other stores.

Our nephew, Ray Creamer, and his partner, Brenda, were set to arrive today after taking a direct flight from LAX (10 hours) to Paris.  They arrived as expected about 1:15 p.m., seemingly no worse for the wear.  A movie buff and filmmaker, Ray had enjoyed the flight as he was able to squeeze in 5 movies.  I was really impressed because, having never been to Paris, they were able to figure out the metro from the aiport to the apartment.  On arrival, we fed them leftover pepper pasta from the other night and ham and cheese sandwiches with some killer dijon sauce and decided to part ways.  Ray hit the sack while Brenda ran errands.  They'll probably recapture their circadian rhythms tonight with a good night of sleep.

Cheryl and I decided to go back in time and see if we could reconnect with Dr. Denis at the Hotel Quartier Latin where we stayed on our visit in 2009.  On that visit, we kid that Dr. Denis saved my life.  How?  As I unpacked from arrival in that hotel, I realized I had NONE of my prescriptions that I needed for the following two weeks - uh oh.  Cheryl went to the tiny lobby and asked the receptionist if there was a doctor associated with the hotel.  She replied, "Oui.  He's sitting right over there!" (pointing to a man sitting in a comfortable chair reading a book).   Cheryl added, "What kind of a doctor is he?  Witch doctor or medical doctor?"  The receptionist smiled and responded, "Why he's a medical doctor".

As an aside, we learned that doctors, at least in France, make such low wages that they often have second jobs.  Dr. Denis' job was to work for the hotel.  In fact, the day we left and went to say goodbye he was working on the elevator.  Not sure what this says . . . social medicine docs make too little?  American docs make too much?  Or, somewhere in between.

Anyway, Cheryl approached him and explained I was a man without my medicine.  He spoke pretty good English and said "Come with me!".  He marched us down the street a couple blocks and into a pharmacy where he explained the situation to the pharmacist.  In five minutes, we had two weeks of medicine and for a whopping 2 Euros.  There is something to be said, no doubt, for this social medicine over here.  We could NEVER have done that in the US.

So we decided to go see if Dr. Denis was still employed there, but unfortunately, he had just left when we got there - his lunch break I think.  So, the current receptionist called him and he said he was returning about 4 p.m.  We had about an hour so we visited the nearby Pantheon.  

This magnificent structure serves as the final resting place for many well known and historically famous French and foreign writers, poets, politicians, and scientists. Most noteworthy, these individuals are entombed at the Pantheon: Voltaire. Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and Marie and husband Pierre Curie (important to me with my radiologic career background).  These tombs are in the basement and it was bit creepy (and cold down there), while the first floor has giant murals of famous French events.  And, the first floor featured a Focault pendulum, just like the one that charmed us as schoolkids on our visits to COSI. The Pantheon  is staggeringly beautiful.

After our visit to the Panthenon, we went back to the hotel and there sat Dr. Denis.  His big smile and open arms said he remembered us - 16 years later.  It was an absolute pleasure seeing him again and, like the first encounter years ago, I got some free medical advice.  Then, it was "lose weight" and from a gastric sleeve and pancreatic cancer, I'm down 100 pounds.  This time, it was "go outside and breathe the wonderful French air1".  Can't get enough while I'm here.  I showed him our photo from 16 years ago and we took another one with his parting words, "I will see you again1".   Gosh I hope so.

To the apartment we returned and all - Brenda, Jeff, Leigh, and us - arrived at the same time.  Jeff is cooking dinner tonight - sausages with sauerkraut and roasted vegetables.  The aromas are already starting to emerge from the kitchen so dinner at 7 p.m. seems to be a nice place to end the day.

We're talking about going tomorrow (Tuesday, 4/1) to one of my favorite Paris stops:  Musee d'Orsay (second only to the Louvre in popularity) and the Legion of Honor museum next door.  Not sure how many of this group will go but that is emerging as "the plan".

Until tomorrow.  Bon soir.