It was our final day in Paris, and we had some preparation logistics to coordinate prior to getting out into the city, so all were up early, packed and in the lobby to happily say goodbye to our residence on Kellerman Boulevard. We had to get our bags to the Austerlitz train station and in storage lockers to be ready for our evening train departure from the station. Our group of 24 is 70% girls, most age 21-25, so as you can imagine, there is always a lot of luggage to deal with. We luckily have some very gentlemanly guys in the group (most raised in the south), who are always helpful. The transfer to the train station took about 90 minutes, then everyone dispersed and went different directions for last minute shopping, sightseeing, etc. in Paris.
Keri and I had previously discussed finding a new part of town that would be scenic, have a nice park or garden, with some shopping and cafes, but also be low key. I referred to my Rick Steve’s, Best of Europe 2009 book, once more, and again, it pointed us in the right direction! We took the Metro to the Luxembourg neighborhood, which revolves around Paris’ loveliest park.
The Metro dumped us out on the main thoroughfare of Luxembourg’s shopping district, and my map directed us to an all English bookstore, The Village Voice, as Keri wanted to get a new book. We found the store, but it didn’t open until 1pm, so from there we wandered through some narrow streets full of local cafes, just opening for the day, cozy and inviting, quiet and friendly. I wanted to stop at every one!
The weather was so nice, as it was still cool, but the sun was steadily rising. There was no crazy traffic zooming everywhere; it was a quiet, sleepy Sunday morning… perfect! We walked through an outside antique book sale, unfortunately, all were in French, so we weren’t too interested in shopping. Our next mission was an internet café for a quick email check. My map took us straight there, and it was on the street of the famous Pantheon. While Keri did a quick half hour email check, I walked up to the Pantheon (on the same street) for a quick overview from the outside. I learned it was a monument to celebrate France’s history and people, and it is the final resting place of many dignitaries.
We found a nice corner café for some lunch and it was a great final meal in Paris! Keri had a super nutritious salad, nice glass of wine and espresso. I opted for an omelette, a signature dish of the French and a final glass of champagne in Paris! It was so nice to sit among locals, hear a mix of English and French in conversations, not be rushed, but just observe and absorb the culture of a Sunday morning in Paris. With our tummies full, we headed toward the Luxembourg Palace gardens to find a spot for reading and napping. It would be a short 7-8 minute walk from our café.
The Luxembourg Palace is not open for touring, but can be seen from the gardens, and is the first great example of French classical architecture during the 17th century, the culmination of the long tradition of the chateau as a building type. The Jardin du Luxembourg (garden at Luxembourg) is a magnificent, harmonious 25 acre green oasis.
The formal gardens are populated with many statues, fountains and beautiful flowers. In the southwest corner, there is an orchard where several hundred species of apple and pear trees blossom each spring. Children love the park, too, especially for its parc à jeux (playground) and the théâtre des marionettes (puppet theater); they can also rent sail 
boats and sail them in the glassy ponds. Sunday afternoon band concerts draw a crowd in the summer. It was truly a picturesque and perfect setting for Keri and I to relax, read, and wind down from the crazy few days in Paris we had rushed through trying to see all we could in such a short time.
We found the perfect place in what seemed to be a hidden, secret pond with fountain. Imagining the heyday of the palace, I envisioned it as a place of strolling, conversation, and courting among the royalty, dressed in the most beautiful and fashionable attire. In the distance I could hear a chorus singing from the bandstand. As I am always drawn to music, I went to check it out. It was a choir singing acapella show tunes, dressed in street clothes, both men and women. Unfortunately, it was all French, but I could read their expressions and very dramatic body language and choreography to get the gist of many of the songs. They were quite good and had drawn a crowd of several hundred. Paris is so artsy and cultural, probably another reason I have fallen in love with it!
Though we could have stayed in the gardens until the sun went down, we had some shopping to do before heading back to the train station, so we reluctantly packed up our little spot and headed back to the shopping district. Every store offered amazing sales, again, it is sale season in Europe. It was the day I had been saving for, and I lucked up on several things that turned out to be great buys, but also key contributors to my trip a little later down the line. Most of these fashion offerings from these boutiques are not available in the states, are very unique, fashionable of course, and then on sale – how could I turn all that down? We covered a lot of ground quickly, and I stumbled on a suit that should have had my name on the tag! I rationalized that a suit for business would be a practical purchase, meeting several objectives…. A fashionable souvenir with long term benefit! I bought it!
At the Metro entrance we stopped at a familiar shop, Starbuck’s, for a little familiarity from home. J Neither of us wanted to leave Paris, but knew it was time to move on, to head south or the final leg of the trip in Barcelona. We had only a few days before presenting projects, so on the train ride that evening I planned to do some work on the PowerPoint presentation.
It was quite an ordeal getting all 24 of our group (and all the luggage) through the tiny passages in the train to our couchettes (sleeping cars), but we all got on and the train departed right on time at 8:32pm.
I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the couchettes were. I have ridden night trains several times across Russia, was prepared for the worst, but was delighted with the provisions, cleanliness, etc. of the cabins. It was quite comfortable, and I settled in quickly to get my work done.
During the entire trip, the only hiccups I had to result to “Plan B” for are when my converter and hair dryer blew up in Amsterdam, and the fact that I didn’t have a warm enough coat. I had luckily brought a second hair dryer (as I had heard of this probability), had been borrowing converters when I needed to charge something, and finally purchased a coat in LeHavre. However, I had no possible Plan B for what was about to hit me.
All the hours of work our group did on the project in Paris, had been included in the most recent version of our Power Point file, which was saved on my flash drive. I opened up the pouch where my flash drive ALWAYS is…. it wasn’t there. I panicked, but took a deep breath, certain it had to be in another pocket of my backpack somewhere. I took everything out of it and every bag I had… nothing. I was devastated. I went to tell my team members, Jibsam and Nicole, hoping that either may come to the rescue and say I had emailed that version to them….. no such luck. Nicole came to my cabin and went through my bag again, but no luck. Because we have been so mobile, all has been recorded in the presentation as it has developed, so I had to rely on my memory to recreate much of what we had spent hours putting together. Nicole sat with me for a bit and helped me remember some of the details. I was devastated, but knew it was my fault for not saving it in more than one location. I was so sad and mad. I worked until I couldn’t hold my eyes open and then crawled into my bunk for the night. Tomorrow would be a new day….. and a new country – Spain!
On this afternoon, I opted to see more sights and do some shopping. It was blazing hot and dry, but I headed down the hill to the Maria Christina Metro station and set out for the famous Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s main boulevard in the old city. Las Ramblas begins at the Placa de Catalunya (pictured at the left), a vast central square that divides old and new Barcelona. North of the square is called Passeig de Graciaare, with all high end stores, and as you head south toward the beach, the entire atmosphere changes.
The grand boulevard changes from rich to rough, in a one mile stroll. It is said you can “raft the river of Barcelona life” past a grand opera house, elegant cafés, prostitutes, pickpockets, con men, artists, street mimes, outdoor bird market, great shopping, and people looking to charge more for a shoeshine than what you paid for the shoes. It is truly a unique walk down a crooked path that literally narrows as you go. Rambla means “stream” in Arabic, and The Ramblas used to be a drainage ditch along the medieval wall that once defined what’s now called the Gothic Quarter. I took in quite the sights during my walk, picked up some souvenirs along the way, and even a couple of great deals on boutiques engaged in sale season.
