Dee's Days in France: I Walked for About Six Hours Today

Today I took the Metro up to Les Invalides to meet Eddie and his mother Beatrice, who happened to be in Paris on business (and also happened to have a morning free). We sat and chatted in French for a few minutes and then chatted in English for the two hours or more that we walked around Les Invalides, crossing bridges, going hither and yon, and then talked some more over a beautiful lunch at a Spanish restaurant which was Beatrice's treat.

After lunch Beatrice gave me a warm, Gallic "good-bye," with admonitions to kiss all my family from her, and then Eddie and I got on the train to Versailles. The place was pretty much as I expected it to be. The mind boggles at the size, not only of the building itself, but the immense size of the gardens and parks that surround the place. The place was PACKED with thousands of tourists and, after about an hour and a half of walking through room after room, I began to tire of being in tight spaces with not enough elbow room. After we finished touring inside, we went outside and took one of the open trams that go all around the estate.

Afterwards we returned to Paris and, rather than going out with Eddie for the evening, I begged off. We went to a little corner cafe — the Sarah Bernhardt — and we each went "American" and had a cheeseburger and fries. It really hit the spot. I had the best drink consisting of vodka, lots of lime, and sugar.

Now home and resting for another big day out tomorrow. Not sure exactly what we're going to do, but it will be my last big fling. On Friday I will clean my apartment and pack and then perhaps do something light, like maybe wander over to Shakespeare and Company and see if I can find that E.M. Delafield book and just sit and read.