The Unusual Day
Every day cannot be wonderful...that is just the way life on Earth goes. This was one of those days. I went out early in the morning, to find croissants...I decided to drive; that was poor judgement. I got stuck in horrendous traffic (1 hour and 15 minutes to go 1.3 km), then at some point, while driving on a cobblestone road, I hit a dead end; after turning around, I discovered that somebody had raised up some barricades (pillars) and I was trapped. And nobody around spoke English. Thankfully, gestures are well-understood. I made it out and decided to park and walk to the Boulangerie.
So, we got a late start. Then, the GPS said that it takes 30 minutes to get into Paris; that must be after the apocalypse when there are no other people around; it took 90 minutes. Then we were trying to maneuver the parking garage: round and round we went, four levels underground, and there was an indication that this level had some open spots (13 to be exact), so we took it... only to discover that we were forced to exit the garage and make a payment, without even having parked. With Kylie's French, we were graciously allowed to give it another go. We got on the tour bus (later than planned) with exactly 2 hours until the Notre Dame English guided tour. Perfect! Well, maybe not. It was cold and it stopped a bunch of times and the information was pretty limited, and they did not keep to their advertised 2 hour round. By the time we got off the bus, we were chilled to the bone, not to mention quite hungry. We dashed into a French Cafe and ordered five sandwiches plus two bowls of soup, no drinks. Total cost: $68! Ouch. We finally got to Notre Dame, having missed the English tour but decided to go in anyway. In less than 10 minutes we were being ushered out, along with everyone else. A well-known historian had just shot himself in front of the altar in Notre Dame (this detail was obtained from the Internet, after getting back to our hotel). It was a bit of an off day. Oh well; we will give Paris a second try tomorrow.
Au revoir!
Kimberly, for the Beines
Ah! The grand -- and unexpected -- adventures and misadventures of touring the world!! Sounds like you all are handling it with grace and a spirit of fortitude. Thank you for sharing your stories! I look forward to hearing more when you return Stateside.
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