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Geo: 48.4444, 1.48417
Woke up a few times during the night ("Gosh, it must be nearly morning!" Look at clock. "Oh. It's only quarter past two."😉, but I managed to get back to sleep pretty quickly each time. I had set my alarm for 7:00, but when it went off I reset it to 8:00. So, I woke up feeling not too bad, which I thought was pretty good for the first night. It's the
second night that's the test though!
The phone booth-style shower wasn't bad, and the Worst Hairdryer in the World ... well, it got my hair dry. (I'm writing this from my new hotel room in Chartres, and guess what: that damn hairdryer followed me!)
I went out in search of breakfast and was immediately struck by the humidity. Three, two, one: head o' frizz! It's not like I was cutting such a bella figura (wait, that's Italian) anyway, so might as well top everything off with a rat's nest.
Either I left the hotel a bit too early (probably ten minutes to 10:00) or nothing opens on Sundays, but I passed creperie after creperie and none of them were open. Quelle dommage! But I knew there was a Starbucks up 
Dedicated to Ricardo
Montparnasse Cemeteryon Bvd. Montparnasse, so I headed that way. Along the way another place caught my eye so I actually forewent (can't believe that's an actual word) the Bux and instead went into Pomme de pain and got a croissant with fresh-squeezed orange juice and a cappuccino. Not too bad for five euros.
Went back to the hotel to check out and leave my bag (using my best French: "Puis-je laisser ma valise pour quelques heures?" "Oui, madame!"; he understood me!), and then walked down the block to the Montparnasse cemetery. It's not as large as the one at Montmartre, but it's still a lovely and relaxing place (to the extent a big yard full of dead people can be relaxing). I didn't really feel like taking photos, but I took some of a few interesting graves. One has a glass and metal sculpture of a bird (it's kind of unsettling, actually) and an inscription that begins "To my friend Jean-Jacques ...," and it's signed "Niki." And another is dedicated to Ricardo by his friends and it's another glass statue, this time of a cat. (Speaking of cats, it wasn't unusual to see a grave with a cat sculpture on it. Not
sure if it's symbolic in the same way that a dog would indicate fidelity or it's just that the person loved cats. Perhaps it means "Here lies a finicky man." Still speaking of cats, I later ran into a fluffy Siamese cat who sniffed my hand and deigned to let me scratch the top of her head for a moment before she sashayed away.) I also found the grave of Philippe Noiret who starred in one my favorite movies, "Cinema Paradiso," and the grave of Jean-Pierre Rampal, the flautist. The grave of Jean-Paul Sartre was hard to miss because there are lipstick marks on it -- though nothing like Oscar Wilde's grave at Montmartre. I'm not sure why any woman would want to kiss Sartre; to each her own, I guess! The whole time I was in the cemetery I could hear flute music. I'm not sure where it was coming from, but it made the whole experience quite bittersweet.
It was after noon by this time, so I went to Exki. I was introduced to Exki last year on the Belgium and Holland tour; it's healthy food and quite good. I went for simple and had some apple juice (best
Chartres Cathedral
During the sound and light show. Not a great picture, but not too terrible for a little point-and-shoot. apple juice I've ever had) and a ham and cheese sandwich with a honey-mustard sauce on some sort of crunchy, wholemeal bread. Very tasty.
As I walked back to the hotel to get my bag it was starting to rain just a little bit. I got my bag from the very nice man at reception and when I stepped back outside, it was raining a little harder. I put my hood up. By the time I got around the corner and was crossing the street, it had started to absolutely pour. I didn't get more than halfway down the next street before I had to duck under a cafe awning for shelter. It was crazy! The gutters quickly filled up, cafe managers were bumping their awnings and creating waterfalls, and it seemed like it would never stop. If I'd left the cemetery 10 minutes earlier or 10 minutes later, I probably would've missed the whole storm. As it was, the rain didn't slow down till I got to Gare Montparnasse. I was soaked. My shoes were soaked (and I later had a terrible time trying to untie the laces), my trousers were soaked, the front of my shirt was soaked because I didn't zip up my jacket in time, my suitcase was soaked, and I even had a pool of water in the little well where the pull-up handle lives. I looked and felt like a drowned rat.
I bought a ticket to Chartres (the man understood me; I didn't understand him) and waited about ten minutes for the platform to show up on the big reader board. There were only four other people in my little section of the train, so at least I didn't have to worry about my suitcase being in anyone's way. The trip took a little over an hour, and the Timhotel Chartres-Chatelet is barely half a block from the station (and it wasn't raining!). I'm in a twin-bedded room on the second floor, and I've got one of those balconies that's about two inches wide. I also have a sliver of a view of the cathedral spires.
I started to unpack a few things and found that several shirts and a pair of capris got wet, probably due to where I had the zippers closed (i.e., the zipper pulls were at the top of the bag so the rain managed to get in). My slippers were wet too. Ugh!
The group met in the breakfast room at 5:00, and we have the full complement of 26 people. Our guide is Virginie, originally from Brittany and now in Lyon. She also spent roughly ten years living in the U.S.: first in Bozeman, Montana, and then in Tampa. And she's been to Seattle several times for the annual tour reunion. She reminds me a little bit of Daniela from the GAS tour and a little bit of Rolinka, so I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with her. There is only one other single traveler on this tour, but she's actually with a group with three couples; they all met on a Heart of Italy tour two years ago and decided to travel together again. So that leaves me being the only truly single traveler. It's a bit daunting. Our group consists mainly of people from the Portland area and California; one couple is from Boise, and I'm pretty sure there's someone from Bellingham too. The most "exotic" couple we have is from Newfoundland.
We chose buddies -- mine is ... oh crap. Well, at least I recognize him. Then we had a short walk around Chartres, which was a center of the Resistance during WWII, and then went to dinner at La Passacaille, an Italian restaurant. We were given a kir and a tomato and goat cheese salad with pesto sauce to start, and the main course was supreme de volaille. It was delicious! Dessert was a scrumptious raspberry tart with two dollops of cream to distribute as one wished. God it was good!
After dinner most of us walked over to the Cathedral to see the sound and light show. It was incredible. It takes place at several buildings around the town, but the one at the Cathedral is the most spectacular. I can't really describe it. It's a light show that's superimposed on the facade of the Cathedral and depicts in stylized fashion the building of the Cathedral. It's fantastically precise, the colors are gorgeous, and it brings the church to life. All the while there is music that matches the action, and it eventually ends with an operatic "Ave Maria." It takes 15 minutes but the time just zipped by. I tried taking a few photos before giving up. I would've tried taking a little film of it, but I'm still not sure how my new camera works.
After getting turned around a bit in the dark, I managed to get back to the hotel. My wet stuff was mostly dry, except my slippers are still pretty damp. I also discovered that my nightgown got a bit wet. Yuck.
It's 11:15 now and I'm completely awake. I'm really hoping that sleep will suddenly grab me and I won't be able to do anything
but sleep.
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Mary Chasin
non-member comment
Such an interesting cemetery! Perhaps the flute you "heard" was Rampal providing you with a bit of atmosphere. Your buddy is oh crap? Sounds less than charming. Sorry. Sweet dreams and wake well-rested for tomorrow's rambling.