Final Thoughts and True Confessions from Paris

Au revoir to our wonderful friends and family!

Our summer jaunt is done, and it’s been a different year for us in many ways. I always like to reflect in my final blog and talk about what’s been different during this visit. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been coming for twelve years. I’m so endeared to Bernie for adding a chapter to my life filled with happiness, adventure, growth, and fun. Merci beaucoup, mon Cher.

First, we have to talk about the weather. . . not the best this year.  So much rain a la the flooding and so many cool, gray, drizzly days. It has been a sharp contrast to last year’s sunny skies, rainless weeks, and 100 degree days. If you were on the blog in 2015, you remember!  But we have persisted, and I have endured my all-summer wardrobe malfunctions with courage and determination. Who knew that only four other people in all of Paris would be carrying a white purse? Yes, I have counted and made note everywhere we’ve gone! We had one glorious week, but now it’s cool again for mid-July. HOWEVER, I just heard the Paris weather forecast for next week and it will hit 34 or about 93 degrees.

Another significant, prevalent change has been heightened security. My white purse has been checked so many times. Places like the large department stores had chained off their multiple entrances, funneling the crowds of shoppers into only one main entry point where there was tight security. Even going into the Monoprix for groceries, we were checked. Very, very different but I suppose very good, given the attacks that have happened around the world since we have been here. The Euro Cup contributed to this, I’m sure, along with raucous but fun fans who were very into their beer! Congrats to France for some great play to get them into the finals, but, alas, a crushing loss at the end.

Certainly, this has been the year of the steps…first with 50 at our little bungalow on rue St.-Paul and for the last month, 78!  It it a testament to the fact that we can get used to anything.

We discovered a favorite restaurant had shuttered its doors, and a favorite dress shop on rue de Franc Bourgeois is now a make-up store! Things change, just like at home. We were pleased to find the Louvre-Rivoli subway stop finally restored with wonderful replicas from Le Louvre. 

And the Pantheon no longer looks like a wrapped ice cream cone, having been fully restored and shining brightly in the gorgeous light of Paris.

We have met new friends in Connie and Jim Malone from NYC, and Malcolm and Antonia Alexander from London, and renewed old friendships with Richard Nahem and the neighbors along rue St.-Paul. We have loved getting to know Ann Jeanne much better and even found our favorite waiter after looking for him for three years. Benjamin used to own Le Bouquet St.-Paul, and we have missed him. He has been at the Café Georges Cinq on Les Champs all this time. He grabbed Bernie with a big bear hug which, of course, made our day!

I’m embarrassed to admit that this year over any other, I have consistently been offered a seat on the subway, which can only mean one thing. Yikes! But I have also been pleased that for the first time, I’m beginning to catch street conversation at cafés and as people walk past me. Maybe there is hope for me yet as I try to learn the language.

And now the true confessions of this blogger. On the second week in Paris, after attacking all the steps with vigor, I developed a severe case of tendinitis along the side of my right knee. I hobbled and limped around Paris and all during our Danube river boat cruise, taking the steps like a toddler, one step at a time. After three weeks of that, my leg was finally back to normal, and I was able to regain my usual brisk pace…for about two days. On an outing with Richard Nahem, I slipped on some wet grass and severely twisted my right foot, sliding slightly  downhill into an immovable object. I heard and felt something pop! After a trip to the ER, they determined that no bones were broken, but certainly, I had stretched some ligaments or tendons or whatever is around that area just below the ankle. So once again, I was back to hobbling and limping at a pitifully slow pace. Poor Bernie has been the unfortunate recipient of this limitation and aggravation. But we persisted and now, the foot is better but still swollen and tender, and I fear a cast may be in my future when we get back to Huntsville. Thank God for ice packs, Aleve, compression bandages and analgesic pads from the pharmacy, along with a Facebook interaction with my orthopedic surgeon in Huntsville.

I made the decision early on to keep any whining and “woe is me” out of the blog. One good positive that came from this was learning to ride the bus with some degree of efficiency. It is much slower with many more stops and longer waits, but it certainly has fewer steps than the Métro and offers a view of the scenery. Maybe this blog should have been titled “The Year of Infirmities!” Oh well, we made it through all of these crazies and still had some good memories. Many thanks to Bernie for enduring days of frustration and ill temperament from me.

We hope you have enjoyed our twelfth summer in Paris, and will watch for our book, Bernie’s Paris. Please get your copy when the book comes out this fall on Amazon, and tell all of your friends. I know you are going to enjoy it…my words and Bernie’s wonderful photos.

Thanks for your many comments, kind words, and encouragement and the fun café chair contest.  Most of all, we hope to see you one day along the streets of Paris! We are always sad to leave but grateful to be in a place we hold so dear. Paris is truly our story!

Our final thought has to be for our world, which seems in total turmoil. May we find peace with God’s help and the ability to love our neighbors.

Until next year…or as the French say, l’année prochaine,

Linda & Bernie