Paris to Saint Jean Pied De PortWe had breakfast at our hotel in Paris this morning, and after, stopped by the concierge to discuss an issue we were having. In Paris, to get into most restaurants and museums, you need to display a QR code on the TousAntiCovid app on your phone to indicate you have been vaccinated or do not have Covid. We have tried to have our code scanned multiple times, and it would not work. The error they received was that they could not read our region. We simply would state that we’re from the United States. They would say, “ok” (and I assume do an internal eye roll) and would let us pass. The concierge stated that we also should have had a Covid test prior to getting into France and that we needed a negative antigen test to travel. Jim’s research indicated that was not required. Given we were getting on a train in a few hours, we hoofed it to the nearest pharmacy. Since our itinerary to hike the Camino was dependent on receiving a negative test result, I (Greg is typing this) was slightly nervous and my legs were trembling. We went and had an espresso during the 15 minutes it takes to get your results back. Negative. Yay! In hindsight, maybe the trembling was due that third espresso. Once packed, we were off to the train station. We ordered an Uber to go from the Renaissance Hotel to the Paris TVG Montparnasse train station and it was only 10 EUR. In the train station, we had our normal challenge identifying what train to board, and we did need to display our negative antigen test. Thank you, Ms. Concierge! We are now in our hotel in Saint Jean Pied de Port. We made it safely! While on the train Jim held up his phone and asked me to look at a word on my ticket. I said, “I don’t have my glasses on. What’s it say?” He held the phone closer to my face and the word was “senior.” Damn! And I was definitely older than most of the kids on the train. I texted Joanne and she blamed it on the pandemic. “If you had been able to do the Camino when you planned, you wouldn’t have been a senior.” Damn Covid! Doing the Camino in your 50s sounds easier than doing it when you are 60. But goals are goals. Tomorrow we hang out in Saint Jean, go to the Pilgrim’s office, and get the lay of the land. We head out on the Camino Thursday.
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ParisWe had another day in Paris. Tomorrow we take the train to St.Jean Pied de Port, which is where we start the Camino. But today was about enjoying the city and getting about 10 miles of walking done. We walked up to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur and back down toward Les Halle. Back in 2001 (same trip after 9/11 that I talked about in my 8/22 post), we had our portrait drawn on Montmartre. We didn’t see the artist this time, but we had hoped to say hi and show her what she drew. We’ve included it below because it was 20 years ago and we look like hot sailors. It was a very accurate depiction. :) ParisWe made it to Paris, and what a beautiful day. We checked into our hotel and explored the city. Of course in Paris you must have duck confit, and that was lunch. We walked a lot and just hung out in multiple cafes and drank some champagne. We walked by Norte Dame and were quite saddened by the devastation of the fire two years ago, but also uplifted by the amount of work completed so far to restore it. We will never forget a service we attended there in 2001. We were in Paris and it was the Friday after 9/11, and we attended a mass in memory of those that died. It meant so much to us that Paris was mourning with the United States. Greg’s grandmother died on 9/11 (in Spokane, not Manhattan), and he lit a candle in her memory. The service was a moment of peace, love, and unity in a beautiful and historic building. Thankfully, it is on the road to recovery. We walked 7.5 miles today and hope to get another day with miles in tomorrow. 4 days to go to the big hike! |
AuthorsGreg and James live in Pleasanton in Northern California and are on a pilgrimage on the Camino De Santiago in Spain. Their adventures are captured in this blog. Archives
October 2021
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