Day 3 – Parisian Safari, Part Une

Sunday morning begins quietly. Really, there is no thrum from the street, no horns, we wonder if we are in post-apocalyptic Paris, and in my fever dreams, I’m pretty sure I could see it!

I imported a bug with me and, as it closes in, my ability, if not my will, to hike miles is impacted. Fortunately I had purchased antihistamines to help me sleep on the flight and now they fulfill their true purpose. So we decide to take a city tour and opt for three days of unlimited hopping on and off of L’Open Tour’s lime coloured double-decker buses and Batobus river shuttle services.

We picked up the brochure yesterday, so we know exactly what we want and have learned that we can buy the tickets on board. Holy cow…we engage the first, full on cranky pants French bus driver! He is sighing, eye-rolling and telling us to hurry up before we even board the bus, then he takes my credit card, barely half swipes it and says it doesn’t work…I go to respond that it has a chip and just worked in the pharmacy but he begins sputtering “Ca march pas! Ca march pas!” So Dennis digs for cash and the driver literally shakes his hands at the wrists and is sniffing like Mr. Bean with a bug in his nose. Finally Dennis gets the tickets, I get the earphones and coupon books and we climb to the top deck giggling. It was like dealing with a caricature. As Mom said, clichés are clichés because they are true!

The bus tour turns out to be a great idea. We see a lot with little effort and there is a great audio guide at each seat that lets us select English from among 12 languages.

So we begin what I think of as our Parisian Safari – we are out to see “the big five” or ten sites, like an African adventure would spot animals. And it turns out to be great. One by one we wind by Opera Garnier, Musee du Louvre, Ile de la Cite with Notre Dame Cathedral – where we get off to wander and end up entering the huge church as mass is starting and hear the huge pipe organ. We eat at a Café that overlooks the side of Notre Dame, and since my cold is not leaving me, we opt to return to our apartment.

We are feeling quite at home at maneuvering in the Metro. It is such interesting people watching: characters and stories everywhere. One woman sits with an orchid held tenderly on her knee.

We get back to the apartment and settle in to watch Spain beat The Netherland in the world cup final…there is noise in the streets as people pour out of bars. They will be partying in Spain for a week, if not longer!