Last Day, Home Tomorrow

Friday, April 18 is our last day in Paris.  We leave tomorrow morning for home, and wanted a low key ending to our month here.  That's what we got.  

It started for me with a wonderful croissant from Bo & Mei, the corner patisserie that Aaron has frequented for breakfast for the family while he's here.  Cheryl opted for a chia compote and raspberry dish at Eric Kayser down the street where we've had breakfast a few times while here.  Just before we left to go there, Aaron, Melissa, and Chloe left for parts unknown . . . I know they wanted to go to the Musee d'Orsay but were having trouble with getting tickets.  We'll know when they return home this afternoon, as Cheryl and I beat them back to the apartment.

Cheryl and I really had only two things on our agenda: a visit to the Oval Room at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (the French national library) just down the street on rue Vivienne, and a walk along the Seine.  In between we went to a couple of Zara stores looking for a specific pair of jeans Cheryl has been eyeing but, alas, struck out as there were very few of what she had in mind and none in her size.

The Bibliotheque Nationale de France is the historic home of the National Library of France and its exceptional collections.  Originally the palace of Cardinal Mazarin, it was built in the 17th. century.  In 1721, the King's Library moved to it where it remained largely unchanged for a couple centuries.  In September, 2022, it fully reopened after twelve years of renovation and modernization, becoming a place open to all in the heart of Paris. I wanted to go there because of its magnificent Oval Room which was open to the public, and have never been in as beautiful a library space anywhere in the world.  The public, too, must love it because literally every chair in the massive center space was occupied by someone reading or working on a computer.

From there, we walked to the Seine (with the intervening but fruitless stops at Zara) and headed east toward the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris with construction beginning in 1578.  We wanted to cross to the Ile de Cite, have lunch, and make goo-goo eyes at each other on this, our last day.  We stopped and bought a beautiful tuna sandwich to share, and got about halfway across Pont Neuf before deciding to just have lunch in one of the nooks on the bridge.  It was delightful.  I even remembered to order a prescription med I need from right there on the bridge, thinking that the world is indeed getting smaller by the minute. 

A family of four from New Jersey joined us and struck up a conversation  They were thrilled to learn that the Crown of Thorns was being venerated on this, Good Friday, at 3 pm at Notre Dame  Off they went to catch that wonderful spectacle  I was pleased we could help them  

After lunch, we walked back up the street bordering the Seine and down to the riverfront on one of the ramps leading to it.  We walked toward Notre Dame while musing about what a wonderful time we've had but also expressing our desire to return to our beautiful home and dear friend (and dog) Hope (or Hopi as she's known).  With Notre Dame in the distance, we bailed and took a subway back to the apartment mid-afternoon for a rest and packing for tomorrow.  Our car picks us up for the airport at 6:00 a.m. so tonight might be a bit of an early one.

One interesting footnote for the day Cheryl and I had involves its ending.  As we were emerging from the metro at Grand Boulevards (our last metro stop), the exit line was congested and we saw metro police at the exit checking tickets - the first time we'd seen this.  We brought ours up on our respective iPhones and showed them to the gendarme.  Uh oh!  Cheryl's ticket had a problem.  Even though the lady was speaking 8 miles a minute in French, we finally deduced that Cheryl had been using a child's ticket!  No wonder it was half the price of mine (1.25 Euros vs. 2.50 Euros).  A 35 Euro fine was levied and paid.  All along, she thought she was getting a price break (and I did too).  Wow.  A close call.  Almost lost her to the metro pokey and/or deported to El Salvador without due process as is the rage now  

Aaron, Melissa, and Chloe did a lot of walking around today.  It began with a visit to the Place de la Concorde where they caught the obelisk in a particularly striking view as the sun was rising in the sky.  From there, they visited the Musee d'Orsay and saw the impressionist paintings, including Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh. They strolled across the river near the Louvre on the Pont Royale, walked through the Tuileries Gardens, and had a wonderful lunch at the world famous Angelina's (as we did earlier in the trip) and had their decadent hot chocolate.  Shopping followed and they strolled through the streets of Paris until late afternoon before returning home where Cheryl and I were napping.  We convinced Aaron, though, that one more trip, just down the street, would allow them to see the Bibliotheque we saw earlier today, and off he went.

Of course I have a lot of thoughts about what I've done and seen for the past month, and would like them to gel a bit on my return home.  Then I'll make the final post for this trip.  We arrive about 5:30 p.m. in Columbus with Easter the following day.  We're planning on going with family to Lima to see Kevin, Cheryl's brother, and his family for a lovely lunch at his country club.  Then, home on Sunday evening and picking up Hopi on Monday morning.  Suffice it to say that it has been a wonderful trip and (more than) fulfilled my deathbed promise of 2021 to come to the City of Light for a month.

More on that after I return home.  Au revoir for now!