Monday, November 1st
Bus ride to Notre Dame this morning. It’s All-Saints Day, and there are lots of folks hanging around the Cathedrals as well as the cemeteries today. Before I left, quite a few people asked me if we were going to check out Jim Morrison’s grave at Pere Lachaise Cemetery, which I had no intention of doing since I was never a fan. I am always up for a leisurely stroll through a cemetery, but I knew that some of the Americans that do go to Pere Lachaise tend to deface the headstone and surrounding crypts making it an ugly experience. So it’s not on our “to-do” list. Plus, with the holiday, it’s probably jam-packed with weeping, mourning young women who weren’t even alive when Jim died (1971). Seems silly to me.
We enjoy our time inside Notre Dame and then head over to Shakespeare and Company bookstore. When you purchase a book, they stamp the inside cover with this cool logo, so of course I had to buy a wonderful book of quotations. It’s such a tiny shop, that a mere handful of people can make it seem quite crowded and claustrophobic so I don’t linger too long.
Next we walk over to Ile-St.-Louis for lunch at a cute café and some shopping in the fun and interesting little stores that line the streets.
It’s a holiday, so we navigate through large crowds of shoppers and then decide to take the bus back to Rue Cler. Information about the bus routes and schedules is very sketchy, and so we assume that we can take bus 69 which has a circular route that drops passengers off at the Eiffel. As we climb aboard and tell the driver our destination, he vigorously shakes his head while trying to explain with hand gestures and loud French exclamations that we won’t be able to get there from here.
That’s okay, we say, thinking that he is somehow not understanding that we wish to ride to the Eiffel Tower….a main destination point in town that bus 69 regularly goes to! Forty-five minutes later, we arrive at the end of the line and are booted off the bus, miles away from where we need to be. Down into the Metro tunnels during rush hour amidst hundreds of people pushing, crowding and jostling one another.
This Metro station is different from the other ones we’ve been using and the ticket vending machines only accept commuter pass cards. Nightmare!
Back up to street level to locate another bus, which we do. The ride from the right bank back to the left bank takes nearly an hour and I have plenty of time to observe the locals:
~~Elderly women fashionably dressed and impeccably color-coordinated. No granny shoes or purple hair for these old dames!
~~A certain fondness amongst the 30-somethings for dressing like 19th century aristocratic stable boys. Lots of tall boots and jodhpurs. Flowing shirts open to expose hairless chests. Long, dramatic trench coats and scarves. Scruffy, unshaven facial hair. On the tall, thin women, the costume du jour is black tights and short skirts worn with tall boots. All casually stylish and relaxed as though it is an afterthought to dress so well.
~~Baguettes and cigarettes: The National Pastime. A good 80% of observed humanity either consuming, purchasing or carrying baguettes while simultaneously juggling lit cigarettes.
~~Elderly Asian couple boarding the bus, wrestling with a new litter box and a big bag of litter. This is the first evidence I’ve seen of the existence of felines…..so many people have dogs; many of the small ones are being used as accessories to the aforementioned stylish outfits.
~~Flower stands overflowing with greenery and blooms, inviting one to come in and gather a bouquet.
Older couples walking arm-in-arm down cobblestone streets, pausing to admire an artful display of tangerines, avocados and pineapples.
~~Couples of all ages sitting on the steps near the Seine, holding hands and kissing as a solitary musician plays 1940s love songs on a violin, a woven basket in front of him, collecting the change of those passing by.
Shakespeare and Co.
Notre Dame
Pere Lachaise Cemetery
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