London -- The Cotswolds -- Paris
May 15-29, 2005
On our second day we took a leisurely walk to rue Cler. We got there early and watched as the shops prepared to open. We had breakfast at an outdoor cafe where I'd had lunch on a previous trip. They offer an "American" breakfast. Rick Steves has put rue Cler on the radar for tourists, but it's justified.
Following breakfast we went in search of 29 Rapp Avenue where I remembered taking photographs years ago. Shirley had a serious camera with her -- a digital SLR with a wide-angle lens. She was able to photograph the entire building with one shot -- something I couldn't do with my camera. Speaking of cameras, this was my first trip using digital and I found it superior to film. I bought a 7-megapixel Canon PowerShot G6. Great camera. Anyway, 29 Rapp Avenue is a beautiful building. And if you look carefully, you find it in the film Gigi. From there we walked to the Eiffel Tower where there were lines of at least 45 minutes to enter. Even the line to walk up was long. Did people think it would be cooler at the top?
Next on the agenda was Pere La Chaise. I felt as if I was on The Amazing Race, looking for clues on how to get there. I decided we should travel by bus, and determined that we needed to get bus line 69. Not so easy. We managed to get into the center of Paris, but that was the end of easy. We stopped into a hotel and requested assistance from the concierge who was not a great help, although he tried. We asked a bus driver who directed us, but to no avail. After much walking we decided to grab a quick lunch and get on the Metro. As we were about to get on the Metro we finally see a bus stop for the 69. Much laughter and astonishment. We waited about a minute for a bus to arrive. Our luck was changing, or so it seemed. The bus was headed in the opposite direction and we didn't notice until we were almost at the end of the line. It must have been 30 stops to the other end of the line to Pere La Chaise. Shirley reminded me that, "It's the journey, not the destination, that matters." Someone on the bulletin board recommended taking the Metro one stop beyond the cemetery, to the top of the hill and work your way down. I wasn't sure what that would be by bus, and we wound up starting at the bottom of the hill. Whoever is reading this, follow the advice as it is a steep hill. We did not look for where famous people are buried; we just strolled through in awe of how beautiful it is. May I also suggest you take a taxi and leave the bus for another time.
