September 6, 2022

Today was the mother of the metro day. We got up and found a wonderful Paris breakfast. Breakfast has definitely been my favorite meal here so far. After eating, we found our way to the Metro and headed to Montmartre. This is a charming old area of Paris with The Basilica du Sacre Coeur de Paris. Our Metro exchange took place in a literal city of tunnels and trains. Quite overwhelming. Our intent was to visit Montmartre and then head back to see the Orsay Museum and then be to our Crepe Class that we had scheduled at 4 p.m. None of us realized until later that the class was in Montmartre! By the time we realized this, it was too late to plan our travel day more efficiently so we wrote it off to travel snafus and tried to keep the best attitude we could. Montmartre was charming and the church was austere. All of us have our feelings about Catholicism and nobody wanted to go inside the church so we wandered around a bit and enjoyed the grounds. We tried to use a self serve water closet that ended up being time consuming and impossible. These bathrooms self clean after each person which makes it take a long time. And when it finally was my turn, I couldn't figure out how to keep the door closed. It was actually quite funny but we finally gave up without using the WC and headed back to the Metro. More trains, more confusion, more stations, more people. Oh my. So many people. So many stinking smells and so much confusion. We finally found our way back to the city of Paris to the Arc de Triumph. What an amazing structure. We reveled in the beauty and magnificence of the structure and just the absolute charm of standing in the heart of Paris. We had realized that the Orsay could not happen, just not enough time. We tried to have lunch and then aborted that mission too. Too many people and we didn't have enough patience or time to wait to be served. We decided to go back to Montmartre and try and get something to eat there. Back we went. More trains, more people, more confusion, more smells, more emotions. We got separated from David and Avi at one point and the station was so enormous that it was scary and frustrating for a moment. But we finally made our way back intact. Found a really good place to have lunch. Simple but I loved my food. Fries, simple salad with a mustard dressing that was wonderful and a piece of wonderful bread with some sort of meat and cheese melted on it. Just so good. After eating we headed to our Crepes Class. We learned how to make crepes from a man who was so passionate about the history and art of making crepes. It was fascinating to an extent but got so long. I was so tired while he was droning on about the history of crepes that it was painful keeping my eyes open. But the crepes were delicious, even though I felt simply awful after eating it. The class took over three hours and it was an experience, that much can be said. No need for more food anywhere today! Back to the Metro. More trains, emotions flared and we had some difficulty between all of us getting back home. But nothing big and we were all able to move on. But traveling, jet lag, metro stations in another language, too many people with all their smells, rushing on and off trains and feeling like you weren't sure what you are doing..........well, it did get to us. That's just the truth. But no matter what, it is wonderful being here. I'll be glad to leave the city though. Tomorrow is Versailles Palace. Not sure about this. But we will be appreciating the privilege of being here. That much is for sure.