Day 7 - Trip Home and Final Thoughts

It's time to reluctantly say goodbye to Paris, these sights and experiences will be lasting memories.  Google Photos gives us a heat map of where we took pics (this excludes Versailles) - so we put a pretty good dent in seeing Paris.

Our flight isn't until just after 1pm but getting to the airport, and getting through all the things one has to do to get to your gate is going to take a while so we are up relatively early (like 7:30am) and are ready to head out by 8:45am.  It's 1 metro and 2 trains to get to the airport (metro line 8 and RER A and RER B) and it's rush hour too and the trains are packed.  We barely squeeze onto M8 with our luggage and on one of the subsequent stops another lady tried to squeeze in between us but she gave up when my knapsack gave her a subtle nudge indicating it would be quite uncomfortable for her.  We do the M8 to RER A without incident but as we are getting on RER B we see someone squeeze on before everyone gets off.  This is generally violating protocol as most people wait until everyone is off before trying to squeeze their way on.  I was watching the guy somewhat indignantly as I saw him push some people out of the way - but this was all part of his plan likely.  As I got on, he then circled around in front of me and got in my face (very close) speaking French very quickly.  I'm trying to process it but I think I make out that he's saying something about how he has to get on quickly because he has to get off at the next stop and then trying to tell me that I shouldn't be pushing my way on.  I wasn't entirely sure of what he was saying because there is a lot going on with a very crowded train and you are trying to vie for a seat and make sure you have all your stuff and are going on the right train (some RER B trains don't go all the way to the airport - a gentleman on the platform was kind enough to tell us this before we stepped on the wrong train previous to that one).  At any rate, the pushy guy on the train is still in my face and Carrie sees that he has an accomplice that is directly behind me and she figures this is a setup for a pickpocket and says "Steve, they are doing this on purpose" and she grabs me and helps guide me past this dude who was not going to let me by until his accomplice rummaged through my pockets or my backpack which was over my back.  I had let my guard down a bit since earlier in the trip as I got more confident with the transit system and Paris in general so I had left my wallet in my back pocket and cash in my front pocket.  Fortunately, I still had locked the zippers on my backpack where anything valuable was and I had buttoned closed my passport and into the pockets of my cargo shorts (yeah, I looked like an American tourist for sure).  That, combined with Carrie's quick detection that this was a scam going down, saved us from having anything taken - but lesson learned to never let your guard down.   The would-be thieves got off at the next stop (Gare du Nord where pickpocketing is common) and there were no further incidents.  I was a little shaken up but mostly from just not knowing what the hell was going on, but later realizing I was likely the target of a failed pickpocket.

Carrie read my version of the story and it wasn't exactly how she saw it - so I'll try to describe it from her point of view:

Carrie, always in threat assessment mode, partly from being a woman and partly from parenting a child with autism - skillfully detects a potential situation as she sees a large man rudely squeeze his way onto the train before everyone else gets off.  She gets on first and heads to get a seat and I follow but the potential assailant comes around the exiting passengers and puts himself squarely between me and following Carrie to our seat.  He gets very close to my face and starts talking very quickly in French to me to create a distraction and she also sees his accomplice come up around me from behind.  Aptly identifying the situation to be a setup she says "Steve, they are doing this on purpose" and valiantly pushes the thug out of the way coming to my rescue.  Not all heroes wear capes.

OK, the truth is somewhere between the 2 versions of the story.  It is for sure a fact that without Carrie there to disrupt their plan, I would likely have lost something in the exchange.  I have a bit of a conversational processing delay even in English at times so I was well behind processing just what was going on but Carrie has a knack for staying cool and collected in times like these.   Another situation where we make a good team.

So it can't all be sunshine and roses but the rest of the trip to the airport and through all the security was without incident.  Oddly checking your RATP pass by phone before you tap your phone on the scanner to get out of the metro - I again suspect that there is some organized phone hack going on.  Guess we'll find out in a month or so if everything has been compromised - but they weren't letting us through without checking.  Carrie seemed secured by the fact they were wearing Airport uniforms but my now paranoid brains figured that could just be part of the clever scam. 

We hit the duty-free store and get some more gifts and things for ourselves.  I get some dark chocolate and a bottle of Martel cognac.  I luck out as it's on sale (and a duty-free discount on top), but a very well reviewed cognac so I'm anxious to see how it tastes.  Carrie gets some more Mariage Frères tea and a few other gifts and then we head to the gate.  We somehow missed checking our bags pre-security as we had already checked in and printed baggage tags - we thought we'd just drop them off at an automated weighing station somewhere on the way but that wasn't the case.  The gate agent took them after some time and we grabbed a quick snack in the terminal before queueing up for the plane.  Our seats are the very last row of the 777 - we should be boarding first but we aren't.  The Paris airport terminal is beautiful with a grand piano, PS5's free to play and a very nice (for a change) public bathroom.  The service staff however lived up to the French stereotype in being a tad standoff-ish and really not caring if you wait - but that could be airport staff pretty much anywhere - it's likely a terrible job.  Carrie sleeps on the plane but I watch 2 movies.  I'm a little overcome with emotion watching Here - probably  because it's the end of a wonderful trip and the movie is a reflection on people's lives (and this is a life milestone trip).  I enjoyed that movie more than I thought I would and the food on the plane on the way home was better than the food on the way to Paris.  We had to wait for 45 minutes for our bags from the plane at an airport that is 100 times less complicated than Charles de Gaulle.  We Uber home and the doggies are excited to see us back home.  Ethan is glad too but he doesn't jump up on us and lick us all over like the doggies (that's probably a good thing).

Final Thoughts

... and advice for anyone planning a trip there

It was a great trip with great weather and few negative incidents.  You can never expect everything to go smoothly when travelling so the things we did have happen (the near pickpocketing, the noise in the hotel room) were not that big of a deal.  A younger me might have been more annoyed at the noise or the crazy crowds or the lack of a decent public toilet, but I've come to roll more with what life throws at you which can unlock more happiness.  The spots where the crowds get in the way are maybe skippable but maybe just better planning and you could avoid the crowds more.   

We both brought almost the exactly right amount of luggage (we each only had one extra top that we didn't wear).  I brought probably way too much electronics and USB cables and batteries but there were days where I went through 3 full cycles of battery as I was using my phone for navigation, ticketing, photos, research etc.  I had my phone, a charging case and then 2 backup chargers (a total of about 25000mAh of backup power) - one charger too many.  I also brought a back up phone (in case one is lost or stolen),  2 tablets (mostly for watching content or staying entertained on the plane) and 2 sets of earpieces.  The number of USB cables was ridiculous though - I could have charged 20 devices likely. Yawn - I'm even boring myself writing this.

I might have opted for better walking shoes - my feet were sore by the end of the day.  Switching shoes helped (the second pair my feet also go sore in faster but in a different way).   We walked a lot and I'm glad we didn't wait too much longer in our lives to do this as I don't think walking that much each day would be possible 10 years from now.

We used LycaMobile for eSIMs for our phones as we got a real France phone number for making calls and SMS.  Probably could have went with just a data plan but it was pretty cheap for 70G of data and voice calling and SMS are nice to haves.  Coverage was decent but I did have a few spots where I had to go in and out of airplane mode to get a fresh connection - though Carrie had no issues.  I got too much Euro cash as we had to use it up at the end on duty free purchases - probably could have got away with about 50 Euros instead of the 100 I got.

Paris is beautiful and I'm glad we got to go.  We were so happy to be able to go on this trip due to knowing that Elliot was in good care at his group home.  Carrie and I got some much needed time to reconnect and we travelled together as a good team. 

Au revoir Paris!

Day 6 - Montmartre and Pleasant Surprises

Shaping up to be the warmest day of our trip, we opt for shorts and I'm back to my comfortable GT Boutique wear of cargo shorts and a t-shirt (the cargo shorts are probably Amazon Basics - not Giant Tiger).   On Friday some very loud construction had started in the morning just before we headed out.  We tolerated it but this morning the noise was too much as we had to shout to hear each other.  Carrie asked the hotel to address it and they happily changed our room to a room facing the Eiffel tower with a bit bigger bathroom and a lot less noise.  We had to pack and unpack all our stuff though but it was a good inventory before the next day when we had to pack for home. 

The insane noise in the morning in the bathroom

We are heading to the Montmartre region today in the 9th arrondissement to see the view from the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur.   We get off the metro and there is beautiful violin music playing which we stop and listen to for a bit.  We wind our way up to the Basillica forgetting that there is a funicular to avoid some steps - that was quite a workout.  We make it to the top and it is another great view of Paris but from a different vantage point.  The line going into the church is long and winding so we opt to skip this and just take a few minutes to take in the view and have a snack.

We ride the funicular on the way down as going downstairs seems to hurt my knees more than going up.  Not crowded at all on the way down.  We then wind our way through the narrow, sometimes steep but lined with interesting shops streets of Montmartre.

A store dedicated to rubber ducks?

Those pies look good enough to eat!

The area of the Moulin Rouge is clearly more for night life as there are adult stores, lots of bars and pubs and live cancan show venues.  People camped out waiting for tickets to the Moulin Rouge and surprisingly there aren't throngs of tourists taking snaps of the Moulin Rouge itself.  Again the public toilet here is vile.

We do a bit of window shopping and Carrie picks up a beret in a shop.  For a while we saw a fair number of people wearing berets but we think it's just tourists and not a Parisienne thing like the baguettes, cheese and wine (only one sighting of a someone carrying a single rose, a few accordion players, lots of people wearing scarves but no black and white striped shirts - just to round out the French stereotypes).  We head over to a large cemetery right in the middle of Montmartre.  Lots of famous people are buried here like André-Marie Ampère, La Goulue, Edgar Degas and many others.  The cemetery is quite beautiful and some of the tombs are very elaborate and beautiful. 

Zola burial tomb

André-Marie Ampère - nerds (computer and electrical engineers) appreciate this

Built a roadway right over top the cemetery with only centimeters of clearance of the tops of the tombs

Rather unassuming tomb (and it's not "The Family of Gas")

People were dying to get in here

Ceramic Wreaths were on several tombs

Holding a spider web

This was free and not crammed with tourists but a very beautiful space.  The public washroom (which I didn't use) according to Carrie was "by far the most disgusting toilet yet". 

It was getting later in the afternoon so like any attraction that has it's gift shop at the end of the attraction, it was time to bookend our trip with some shopping.  We wandered our way through the streets of Montmartre and Pigalle region, grabbing a coffee and stumbling across a beautiful cathedral on the way.

My cappucino was literally over-the-top

Carrie wanted some specific tea so we walked to the closest place where they were selling the Mariage Frères which happened to be the Printemps Haussmann location.  We figured out it was a department store and not just a department store, a very high-end designer department store.  It was beautifully laid out in 3 separate buildings with 1 building dedicated to women's fashion, 1 to men's fashion and 1 to fragrances, housewares and food.  Google maps was saying the tea store was on the third floor which was just men's clothing but after going up and down all floors we finally deciphered the map which indicated we needed to go to another building.  The view out the walkway was neat.

We finally found the tea shop inside the Printemps Haussman and Carrie got her tea.

The lady in front of us dropped almost €150 on tea and took a tea's steeping amount of time doing it!

We headed up to the fragrance department - which like many other things in this store or in Paris, has an overwhelming amount of selection of high-end products.  Ultimately Carrie found a refreshing summer fragrance with a lovely experience with the lady guiding her through the choice.

We head back to the hotel and given the lavishness of the previous night's dinner we opt for some cheese, a baguette and some dipping sauces along with another couple bottles of wine and another cigar for myself.  We enjoy this on the terrace again and meet a mother and daughter from Chicago while there who openly discuss their disgust of their president.  Getting another American's take on their current political situation was interesting, but we didn't just discuss politics.  A couple of German ladies came up after that but they couldn't speak any English.  I got to try out one of my known phrases as I reached into my pocket and grabbed my few Euro coins and said "Das ist kleingeld" (this is small change).  A rather useless German phrase to know - but I also knew Danke as they shared the one ashtray with their cigarettes and my cigar.

Back to the room to pack and get ready for a fairly early start to head home the next day.