For our final day in Paris everyone had different errands in mind and I needed another day with less activity. Lauri and Deiann headed out to spend the day shopping and JoBeth went off in search of another Harley store (are you sensing a theme?). She also wanted to visit the Chateau that was in our neighborhood.
I rested for a few extra hours and then took the metro to meet Lauri and Deiann. They were running a few minutes late and I was a few minutes early so I decided to take a peek in a shoe/boot store nearby. Viola! (as the French would say) there were my new boots in the store. They are cute and brown and sort of riding boot ish. Oh, and less than half the price of the pair in Italy. I did love those boots in Italy, however I loved
the price of these more.The ladies arrived just in time to give me the two thumbs up, I made my purchase and we were off to the covered passageways of Paris.
The covered passageways are sort of like the original indoor shopping mall. It is a small alleyway with shops on either side and they are covered with an arched ceiling to keep out the weather. Most of the shops are eclectic and very specific ie: rare stamp and old postcards, used and rare books, and lots of miniature (dollhouse type) or collectibles. We lunched at a sidewalk cafe and endured our final meal surrounded by French people smoking.
After lunch we went in search of a Monoprix (our favorite grocery store) and goodies to take home for our families. It never fails that I discover something new and delicious when I travel (even this time when I barely ate anything I discovered a yummy cookie that you frequently receive when you order a coffee of tea).
During our search for the Monoprix we ended up back near the Louve and Tulleries. There were rows of trees that were changing totheir fall colors. Another week and they will be brilliant. Even now they made for some beautiful photos. There were also two young couples playing Boules so that provided an opportunity for me to watch and photograph them at play.
Monoprix was a success and Deiann and I headed home loaded down with grocery goodies, my huge boot box, and an oversize cardboard box to take it all home in. We searched for a suitcase but never found one for a reasonable price.
So, I had been keeping track of all the funny things I had seen people lugging home on the metro.... everything from arm loads of baggettes to molding for their homes... but I never thought I would be the one to make the biggest spectacle of myself. Deiann very generously carried my Monoprix purchases which left me with the boots, the box and the other goodies I had purchased knowing I would have a way to get them home (now that I had boots that needed more than my backpack to get home).The cardboard box is long, the boot box is tall and the other stuff is heavy so all in all it was just plain awkward and hard to handle.
Now, picture me on the metro at rush hour.... have you ever been on a metro at rush hour? Lots of distracted people, no place to sit or get out of the way.... and me, in the middle of it with this awkward collection of things. As people distractedly stumbled over my box (low lying and a trip hazard), I received many confused/annoyed stares. Then I had to lug the box onto the bus.... at rush hour. We stepped put of the metro and there was bus 118. We hurried toward it as it began to pull away. A woman ahead of us ran toward it and the bus stopped for her, which got us within distance of shouting to the driver "Mouseir, Mouseir, Sil vous Plait" as he began to pull away. He stopped for us and we stumbled aboard. Of course with hands full, I had no free hand to get out a bus ticket. I put the box down on the floor and the bus lurched forward as I flew into the woman next to me. The bus stopped again to let more latecomers on and I just about had my balance again when the bus took off again and I bounced off the first woman and landed on another woman next to her. I was very apologetic as I shoved my box into the back of her legs to get out of the way of the latest arrivals onto the bus. Finally feeling well balanced I chanced letting go of the safety bar to get out a bus ticket. By this time I was yards away for the validating machine so I had to pass my ticket over several people's heads to give it to Deiann to validate (you don't want to get caught without a valid ticket...it's a minimum 75 euro fine). She had to hold it in her teeth until she could turn and insert it into the machine. By this time there were more people on the bus an through ticket filled teeth she had to ask the people in front of the machine to allow her access. As she returned the ticket to me the bus lurched and the woman I had rammed into earlier ended up in my arms which threw me into the lady who was already highly annoyed with me. Lady One and I just giggled over the absurdity of it all;) Meanwhile, every bus stop added 10-15 more people to the already packed bus. They shoved on the bus wondering why I was taking up so much real estate on the packed bus. As our stop approached I began to wonder how we were going to get off the at all, let alone with "the box". Deiann made her way past me and picked up one end of the box as I grabbed the other. As the bus slowed down I began to loudly call "Pardon! Pardon! Excus em moi!" A few people did their best to get out of our way but most just stared.The bus stopped and I continued to call out, afraid we wouldn't be able to get off. The bus doors didn't open and I began to become really concerned... all we needed was to miss our stop and have to walk from a further buststop. AT that point eDeiann whispered to me "we're not at the bus stop yet" (apparently we were just stopped in traffic).
Uh, no wonder the bus doors didn't open (hey,I WAS riding backwards and couldn't see EXACTLY where we were). We arrived at our stop and peoplke poured off the bus just to get out of our way!! As we stumbled off the bus I broke into hysterical laughter and Deiann giggled as she told me she felt like we had just moved a couch!
Needless to say I decided not to trust the airlines with my cute new, comedy filled boots so I packed their box with other shoes and put the box in the big cardboard contraption with my Monoprix goodies. The boots will be on my feet on the plane.
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