Our Long Sejour en France

​We’re starting our last weekend in Paris. I’m exhausted. But we still have things we want to do. Here’s what we’ve been doing during the past week.  Last weekend we went to London via the Channel Train (Chunnel). Our niece Shayla lives and works in London. We met her and her boyfriend for a meal Friday night. Saturday Shayla showed us around the city. We took a Harry Potter tour, which also showed us a good deal of the city and the various buildings and passageways that inspired scenes in the movies. Saturday evening we went to the Eucharist for the Blessed Virgin Mary at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Sunday we went to Guildhall Gallery. While the gallery was being built, excavators discovered a Roman amphitheater, which they’ve incorporated into their exhibits.  On Monday, back in Paris, we went to the Pere Lachaise cemetery, where a number of famous people are buried, including Jim Morrison. His grave was by far the most decorated.  The past few days we went to religious sites...

​Before we set off for Paris, people either warned us of fires or heat. We were well aware of both. We knew we’d be well away from fires - for now. But it’s been in the 90s for the past three days and today the high is expected to be 101. The highs occur in the early evening, so we’ve been able to be out and about before the high. But it’s still been plenty hot.  Today I need a rest. Just as well to do it on a super hot day. I’ve walked an average of 3 1/2 miles a day and climbed an average of 13 flights of steps a day.  Monday we went to see Notre Dane Cathedral. It was still closed in 2024, so it was in our list of things to see that we missed then. The reconstruction is beautiful, with vibrant colors. As we were waiting to get in, I thought about how grieved people were at the destruction of the cathedral and how people are flocking to see the renovations. As Chris said, there is a deep yearning for God in the human soul, whether we recognize it or not.  We were thinki...

​it’s Day 5 of our Excellent Adventure Part II. We’ve conquered jet lag and we’re getting settled into our new neighborhood. Chris has described it as the Carmel of Parisian arrondissements. A friend of his told us there are more CEOs in the 8th arrondissement than in Silicon Valley. There are a lot of tourists in the area, too.  I kind of miss the scruffier outer arrondissements where we stayed two years ago. There was an energy and joy just to be in the streets out there. I guess I felt special as an American in a more off-the-beaten-track part of Paris. I had a lot more opportunity to speak French, too. I hardly bother where we are now because everyone speaks English - because of so many tourists.  On Friday we went to the Grand Palais. It was closed when we were here in 2024. But it was a disappointment. Little of the original interior was evident, except for one space. It almost seemed like they left this one token historical architectural space and then modernized the re...

​We just can’t stay away. Chris was browsing airfares to Paris (before the war started) and found inexpensive flights in August. I also had enough credit card points that he could use those to cover our airfare. So we’re off again.  Today we completed our first full day in Paris. We’re exhausted. Despite jet lag, we’ve done a lot of walking tidy, familiarizing ourselves with our neighborhood. We’re in the eighth arrondissement, not far from the Arch de Triomphe.  Yesterday after grocery shopping, Chris immediately found a boulangerie /patisserie and a baguette and pastry.  I went out today and found gluten-free bread. We’ll hit the gf patisserie tomorrow. No pictures for now. I may need to post those on my Facebook page. The plan is to see the Grand Palais tomorrow. It was closed in 2024, when we were here before. I hope I’ll be able to get pictures then. Shout out to Marianne for suggesting I do this blog again!

This afternoon Chris and I were out and about and he showed me something on his phone about the phrase "We'll always have Paris," from the classic movie "Casablanca." His comment: I promise I'll never say this to you. I said to him, "Well, I actually used this phrase as the title of my blog."   That being said, Chris said to me yesterday morning that this 5 month trip has been like a second honeymoon. We have always been pretty independent - together in the morning, but then going our separate ways and coming back together in the evening. Here we have pretty much been joined at the hip, discovering and sharing a place we love. And we are going home to people we love and a city we expect to learn to love - and already really like it a lot! So we are saying good-bye to Paris. I'm sure we will return. We've been making good use of our last week here. We've done some wandering and we've been to two noteworthy museums: The Musée Marmotta...

 Today marks the beginning of our last 10 days of our long sojourn in Paris and France. We are sad to be leaving Paris and excited about starting our new life in Chicago. This blog will cover a lot that we have done in the past two weeks. So it's a bit long. We've had a number of sit-around days, between Chris needing to work and rainy days. It has given me time to write this blog and to recover from those days we walk 5 or 6 miles.  We're winding down on things to see in Paris. We've hit most if not all of the must-see places. The last of those on our list was Chartres Cathedral, which we visited on Monday. More on that below. But I have to say that what we love most about Paris is just wandering the streets soaking it in. We've also become quite addicted to the wonderful food: the bread (yes, I found where I can get GF bread); the pastries (harder to come by GF, but not impossible); the wine; the cheese; the chocolate.  Among notable must-see sites is the Catacomb...