Sorry, Tough to Keep Up

Dear Friends and Family, We have arrived in Paris. Sorry for not responding immediately, but, frankly, we are tired. Polley has picked up some sort of sinus infection and has been coughing here brains out each morning. It has been a long trip and getting the energy for our time in Paris seems a challenge. All on our travels to Lyon went smoothly. We stayed right near the train station and caught a cab to the station for our 10 am (Monday) TGV fast train to Paris. Arrived right on time. I will admit that the years are taking their toll as we wheeled and dragged our bags from Coach number 16 all the way to the front of the train; pretty exhausting. We caught a cab and after about half an hour, the cabbie found our place. It is a 4th floor walk up. I will save the visuals for another blog. It is very tiny. We thought our place in Lyon was small and, thus, referred to it as the “Mouse Hole.” This place is even smaller and now have come to realize that Lyon was the “Rat Hole,” and this is the “Mouse Hole.” Actually, Polley refers to it as the “Ass Hole,” but she always did have a way with words! There is a nice restaurant/café right next to our place which sits on a square in the heart of Monmartre. This, in fact, is a view down the street from the café.

We also found a charming little restaurant near our place. It was very French except for a table of about 10 Americans right next to us. Oh, to eavesdrop in any language but your own. Tuesday morning I did get a walk in. Monmartre is very hilly, so I soon realized that my time walking in Puy L’Eveque was actually training for living for a week in the Monmartre and having a fourth floor walk-up. As I headed out to explore, I did find this modest little church in our neighborhood

Opposite the Basilica of Sacre Coeur was this slightly foggy view of the rest of Paris

I headed down the hill to a major thoroughfare and very soon came across the famous Moulin Rouge

I also passed the Cemetery of Monmartre

In all it was a good walk. Following that Polley and I headed for Rue de Rivoli, the famous extended shopping street near the Louvre. In my efforts to travel lightly, I have brought one pair of long pants, which I failed to recognize were beginning to wear through at the knees. Polley felt this would not do for Paris, so we tracked down a new pair. We sat on the sidewalk for a glass of wine before heading back to lunch and a bit of rest. The evening was a simple dinner at the café below us. The weather had been cool, but despite that, we did manage to sit out and have a couple of glasses of wine, some soup and a salad. We were both pretty wiped out upon our return, all of about 100 feet and 54 steps to the fourth floor. I think a bit of the glamor of Paris lost after 9 weeks on the road. A visit to our apartment tomorrow.