It was brief. Two weeks from Barcelona to Pamplona to Saint Jean Pied de Port to Lourdes to Paris. We ate the freshest seafood in Barcelona, feasted on pintxos and met with family in Pamplona, walked the camino from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles, trained into Lourdes and finally reached Paris. We left Paris just as the riots broke out following Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the Champions’ League. Should have been a grand celebration of the football club’s victory but on the eve of our departure, we sensed the danger as some metro lines stopped working and the metros grew crowded with noisy, rowdy, alcohol-fed youngsters cheering loudly and even jumping on their feet inside the metro coaches.
We reached our hotel after several underground transfers owing to some metro lines being shut off. The crowd was growing thick by 8pm and we were tired after a whole day of walking and sightseeing. One of us is visiting Paris for the first time and we wanted it to be a meaningful experience for him. Crammed Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe, Moulin Rouge, Sacre Ceour in Montmartre, Pantheon, Louvre, Tuileries, Champ Elysees, Jardin de Luxembourg, Latin Quarter, Saint Germain des Pres etc in just a few days. We even spent an entire day in Versailles where we luckily snagged a table for lunch in Angelina Maison Fondee. On our last whole day in Paris, we joined an “Emily in Paris” Tour. Reminded me of those Dan Brown tours made popular in Paris (Da Vinci Code 2006) and Rome (Angels and Demons 2009). Those were nearly 20 years ago! I remember reading and re-reading the books and I even watched the movie adaptations!
Paris has changed. No offense meant, but I long for the “old” Paris. Way too many tourists now, dog poop everywhere and by and large, too much trash. That is NOT to say I don’t love it now. Just that I loved it more in earlier days. It just feels quite different not feeling so safe as I did in those late nights in Paris some years back. I kept my own sentiments to myself and allowed my grandson to enjoy Paris this first visit. I am sure he’d want to go back. So with my niece who is visiting a second time. Her first time was likewise with me but that one was even a shorter visit so there wasn’t much she enjoyed then. And then there’s Barcelona and Pamplona. Still grand, and the early evening spent at the beach was truly a welcome respite from the tourist crowd. The dining scene was also superb and since the city of Barcelona was our first stop, we readily and greedily dug our fingers into some favorite pintxos and paellas. Being summery, the tinto de verano became a favorite thirst-quencher. So with cava.
lifeisacelebration 