A Frantic Run Through the Streets of Paris

Our timed tickets for 10:30 a.m. at the Musee de l’Orangerie allowed us time this morning to move around without rushing.  We left our apartment as if we had all the time in the world.  We called for an Uber at the end of our block and longer than we expected  for one to be found and get to us.  The map app showed that we would arrive at the museum at 10:35.  Our tickets said we had a half hour grace period.  We were unworried.  But traffic got worse and worse.  At one point we were stuck behind two trash trucks.  We sat still for so long that Gayle got a message from the Uber app:  “You haven’t moved in a while.  Are you okay?”  When we finally got to Place Vendome the driver suggested we get out and walk the rest of the way.  It would still be quite a walk for Gayle with her cane but we opted to get out.  So many streets in Paris are blocked off as the date for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics gets closer.  The driver encouraged us to hurry and get out while he waited at the stoplight.  We complied and were hustling down the street at our old lady pace when Gayle said my name with a whimper. I turned and with great distress she said, “I don’t have my purse.  I left it in the Uber.”  I thought I could probably catch up with the driver because the traffic was so jammed.  I took off as fast as my little pony steps would allow me.  When I caught up with the trash truck and our Uber driver wasn’t behind it I headed back to Gayle and just shook my head.  In her purse was her passport and her wallet.  It looked like we would spend tomorrow figuring out how we would get her back to the US.  

She had her phone and she said there was an AirTag on her purse so we hoped we could locate it that way.  But it appears that the battery was no longer any good on the AirTag.  We wasted quite a bit of time trying to figure that out.  She got back on the Uber app and sent a message that she had left an item in the vehicle and asked for the driver to call her.  Something neither of us knew you could do before today.  Both of us were quite shaken by that point.  Then her phone rang.  The driver had gotten the message and his next rider had found her purse.  They were headed back to the Place Vendome and so should we.  I ran ahead of Gayle to meet the driver.  I thanked him profusely and gave him a nice cash tip.  I also thanked the rider. I think they were kind of tickled to help the two old ladies from America. This is what Gayle looked like by the time she got back to Place Vendome and had her purse safely on her shoulder.  

I can’t describe how relieved we both were at that point but it is hard to shake off the panic we had just lived through.  We knew that we were no longer going to the Musee de l’Orangerie.  I saw on Google Maps that there was a restaurant close by and we decided we needed to sit and recover.  What I didn’t realize was that the restaurant was located in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, a five star hotel.  Their cheapest rooms cost about 1,900 euros a night.  We decided to boldly walk in and ask to eat breakfast in their restaurant.  I said to Gayle, “We need to act like Kay Lobban.”  She is a woman from our childhood who had money but never dressed like and never acted like it but she went boldly wherever she wanted to go and demanded good service.  We Kay Lobbaned that hotel and they treated us like queens.  This was the second best breakfast of our trip.  Only the Wolseley in London beat this experience.  We sat outside on their inner courtyard and pretended we could afford to stay here.

Occasionally we would look at each other and laugh.  It was nervous laughter.  How lucky were we this morning?  It could have ended so differently.  On a trip that Gayle and I took to South Africa, she left her wallet in a taxi in Johannesburg.  She did get her wallet back but it had to be flown to us and then driven to where we were on safari.  There was some money missing but no credit cards and no id was lost.  Ever since then I have watched her like a hawk….at least I thought I had my eye on her.  I have become a bit of an overbearing hound dog.  Usually when we get up from a meal or prepare to get off a boat or train or out of a taxi I ask, “Do you have your phone?  Do you have your wallet?  Do you have your cane?”  I didn’t think I had to ask her if she had her purse and when we got on the train in Chartres I didn’t ask her if she had her backpack.  I need to step up my game and she has agreed to not get annoyed with me when I quiz her if she has all of her belongings.  

Musee l’Orangerie no longer in the picture we talked about what we should do next.  Running through the streets of Paris looking for an Uber driver was hard on Gayle’s back.  Should we just go back to the apartment?  Gayle felt like we needed to do something else to redeem the day.  We decided to find a good viewpoint to see the Eiffel Tower since we skipped our boat ride last night.  We have debated numerous times if we should go by Uber or taxi while we are sightseeing here in Paris.  Gayle is now sold on Uber since the app aided us in tracking down the driver to get her purse safely back in her arms.  We requested another Uber and headed towards the Musee de l’Homme, which promises an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.  The Musee de l’Homme is 2.2 miles from the Mandarin and it took us an hour to get there.  There are so many places blocked off right now.   We used the hour to rest and point out interesting sites along the way.  If we don’t get to the Arc de Triomphe, at least Gayle got to see it from a distance.

The view of the Eiffel Tower from the museum plaza was wonderful.  

Below you can see a huge set of bleachers…and doesn’t Gayle look happy with her purse tightly strapped to her torso.

We spent quite a bit of time on that plaza, soaking up the beautiful day and enjoying the pigeons on the statues.

We tried to get an Uber back to our rental but the app wanted us to walk quite a distance to a meeting point.  So we opted for the taxi close by and were back in our apartment in a half hour…with all our belongings.  We ate our leftovers from dinner the night before.  Gayle headed for a nap and I set out to go to the Musee Rodin.  I had purchased tickets ahead of time and since we have forfeited our last two pre-booked tickets I was determined to get there.  I love the Metro here.  I remember older trains and people playing accordions on the train asking for money.  Now they are well-manicured trains with doors that keep you from pushing anyone onto the tracks.  The stops near the Louvre and Rodin have art. I wonder how long this has been true or was it part of the preparations for the Olympics.  I am not putting the older cars and accordion musicians down.  It was part of Paris’ charm but I do remember in the past getting stuck in the Metro car and having to get off and find a different way back to my hotel. 

When I arrived at the museum, I wasn’t surprised to find Rodin’s “The Thinker” being restored.  Everything in Paris right now seems to be “under construction.”  

The piece in the center of this photo is called the Gates of Hell.  It depicts a scene from Dante’s The Inferno.  The original sculpture of this piece is at the Musee d’Orsay.  Several of the characters found in the Gates of Hell were enlarged by Rodin.  An example of this is The Thinker, which you see above the door looking down.

Rodin later added the sculptures of ashamed Adam and Eve to flank the gates.

I didn’t walk the whole sculpture garden.  The whole center of the garden is under a tent being worked on so I headed into the museum.  I won’t bore you with each piece but I especially enjoyed Rodin’s Kiss, 

the hand emerging from the tomb 

and A Man and His Thought.

When I arrived back in the Marais I decided to walk around a bit.  We are eating at George tonight, a restaurant on the very top of the George Pompidou Center.  I wanted to find the entrance so Gayle didn’t have to walk around the entire building as we searched for it.  As I wandered the streets I found a boulangerie that sold kouign amann.  I got a couple for our breakfast and then decided I wanted to stop in the gift shop in the Pompidou Center.  I had to go through security just to get inside.  My two knee replacements set off the machine.  I explained that I had metal in both knees and the security guard said, “No.  It is your Apple Watch.”  So I took it off and headed back through and my knees set off the machine a second time.   “Go America,” the security guard shouted as he waved me on.  After looking around I headed out to find the Stravinsky Fountain, which was on my spreadsheet as something close by our AirBnB and worth a stop.  There are sixteen works of sculpture in the fountain.

There is even a mermaid with water spraying out of her nipples.  

As you could see from the photo there is a church behind the fountain and, of course, I headed in.  It is the Church of Saint-Merry, named for Medericus (Merry), a hermit, priest and monk.  At the age of 13, Merry was “adopted by the church” and his parents gave up all rights to him. He was an especially devote monk.  At a very early age he was elected Abbot of the Christ of the Wolf Tooth flock.  But raising him to this position was hard on Merry.  His many miracles drew crowds.  He no longer found the peace he had enjoyed in the priesthood and so he withdrew to the forest to be alone with God.  But the monks found him because they didn’t understand his disappearance.  Under the threat of excommunication by the Bishop, Merry returned to the monastery. This church, built in his honor, has been nicknamed Notre-Dame la petite

Most of the other visitors to this church appeared to be unsheltered men, which was completely in line with St. Merry who is credited with healing many people who were down and out.  Once I was done touring the church, I headed towards our AirBnB on Rue Rambuteau and passed a protest in support of more adit to Ukraine and passed the whimsical Stravinsky fountain. 

Gayle and I got ready for our 9 p.m. dinner reservation at George Restaurant.  We opted to eat so late because we wanted to see the skyline in the light and in the dark.  I got four separate emails from the restaurant making me confirm that we were really going to show up and reminding us that the dress code is “elegant”.  I have now been on this European adventure for four weeks.  I had to pack for “camping” on a canal in Wales and an “elegant” meal in Paris.  It was a challenge.  As Gayle and I got dressed in the wrinkled dresses from the bottom of our suitcases we reminded ourselves to “Kay Lobban” this evening.  To be allowed to this rooftop restaurant (6 flights up) you have to prove you have a reservation while you are still on the ground level.  We followed in a group of Italian tourists — the men all in suits and the women in short dresses, stiletto heels and carrying Louis Vuitton bags.  Our mantra was “Kay Lobban” this sucker.  Our “credentials” were checked.  I gave my name and said, “We have reservations for two.”  “To the restaurant,” he replied incredulously.  “Yes,” I said, as Kay Lobban would have said it.  Once through security we traveled up six flights of escalators, which are on the outside of the building.

At each landing we stopped to see the view becoming increasingly beautiful.  We could see from Norte Dame to the Eiffel Tower

to Sacre Coeur.

We thought they might seat the old women from America in some back corner but we got a window seat.  Each table has a long-stemmed rose, which accurately describes these roses.

Their napkins are the size of bath towels.

Our food was good but not amazing.  No matter.  We were there for the view.  Every once in a while I would hop up and run outside for another photo of the darkening sky.

At 11 p.m. the Eiffel Tower started glimmering and all the customers in the restaurant pulled out their phones to take a picture.

We enjoyed lemon pie with raspberries for dessert.  After making sure Gayle had her purse and cane, we headed back to our place.  The Eiffel Tower was showing off for us as we descended via 6 levels of escalators.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris.