But first a catch-up on our last few days.

I wasn’t sorry to be leaving the quilt retreat, but I left with lots of ideas for future projects. Without loads of fabric, the options for making things were very limited. I skipped the trip to the quilt shop because I was told the prices were similar to ours (up to 18 per meter) but in Euros that makes it very expensive. On the final day I picked through my scraps and made as many fans as possible in various sizes so I can hit the ground running when I get home. I also put together scraps from my colour wheel kit that I hope will be enough to do the binding with. It was a very productive group for only five days.

The train we were supposed to take between Maçon and Paris was cancelled due to strike action. We had advanced warning so on the last day Pat headed for the station to exchange our tickets for an earlier train that was running. With the help of Google Translate he exchanged the e-ticket for “real” tickets, although when he got back and looked closely the train time on the ticket was for the one that was cancelled. The ticket agent told him (in English) to come back at 8:30 the next day so that’s what we did. We wanted to be there in plenty of time to sort out the ticket before the train arrived; we arrived about six but no one told us the station didn’t open until eight! It was a long wait but there were no problems with the ticket. It was a lovely ride on the train and we arrived in Paris shortly after ten.

We made our way by the Metro to the area of the city where we were staying. We weren’t meeting our host until two so we found a cafe and had lunch. The bar tender and Pat struck up a conversation; he is originally from Algeria but his English was much better than our French. While we chatted four armed soldiers strolled past, fingers on the trigger of their machine guns. Some of the Paris bombings occurred within the area so they are on high alert.

After lunch we found the apartment building that we will be staying in. We were about to check out the large grocery market just down the street when our host called to say he would meet us. The apartment is marvelous; small but with everything we will need. The view is stunning and we seem to be very centrally located for all the biggest tourist attractions.

I napped a bit in the afternoon and then we watched some football. We wandered out in search of dinner and then came back to watch another game. I think we could very easily become soccer fans; of course these games feature the best teams in Europe. There have been some fan “issues” but so far none in Paris.

We knew the Eiffel Tower would be lit at night and as it grew darker we could see the lights. About sundown it started flashing gold lights and that show lasted about five minutes. It settled back to regular spotlights but after the game it did the same light show but this time in silver. There were also a few fireworks set off but there were so few it may only have been fans celebrating.

We were out the door by nine this morning in search of what our host said was the best bakery in the area. Judging from the line up to get in the door he was right. I haven’t tasted my selection yet as we found a spot that served an English breakfast so we stopped for an omelette. I’ll have my treat later this afternoon with a cup of tea. As we enjoyed our coffee a group of five soldiers, with guns at the ready, strolled past but we didn’t think a photo would be appropriate. We had also seen armed soldiers at the Lyon airport so I’m sure they are a common sight.

This building is very typical of what we see on every street – shops on the bottom and apartments above.

The famous Père Lachaise Cemetery is just a few blocks up the street from where we stay so we toured around it this morning (we had our 10,000 steps in before lunch). It is 110 acres in size with more than a million people buried in it. There are many famous burial sites and we found a couple; Pat was on the lookout for several others but, without a map, it was impossible to tell where they were. Since we are close we may go back better prepared. New gravestones were intermingled with very old gravestones, and I’m going to do a bit more research to see if I can find out how that all works.

On the way back we picked up a few things for lunch at the grocery and ate lunch on our deck – a baguette, some cheese, some olives, some deli meats (for Pat) and some wine. The weather isn’t very nice at the moment but we may do more exploring later. Or we’ll just relax for the afternoon before we go out in search of dinner.