France 2023 - Day 13 / Paris

Steps today : 27 766 / 18.3 km

Today was the day we reserved to visit the Louvre.

I hate that you have to make appointments now-a-days to see things, I really don't like not having the flexibility to go according my own schedule. Furthermore, could there be a worse time than 11AM? But it was the earliest slot available when I made the reservation months ago.

Well, T.H.A.N.K. G.O.D. the reservation was for 11AM and not earlier because I woke up sick as a dog. Vomiting sick. I thought perhaps I was hungover from the night before, but that didn't make sense. Sure, I had a few - but not enough to make me that sick! My mom wondered if it wasn't a touch of food poisoning. I wondered if it had something to do with my ears because I was so dizzy that I had trouble walking straight.  

Jumping ahead in the time line, out of curiosity my mom took a Covid test when she got home from vacation and it was positive, so I tested too and was also positive.  Could that be the reason I was so sick that morning? Covid never even crossed my mind at the time, but it seems so obvious looking back now.

SLOOOWLY we made our way to breakfast near the hotel by 9AM and it was tea and toast. My mom was feeling better than the day before, but said she would play the day by ear and see how she felt before committing to more plans after the Louvre.

Our first stop was the Saint Germain des Prés Church that is so beautiful following the years-long renovation.  My mom and I were a sight! She sat and admired the church from the pews. I wandered around to take pictures, but stumbled on my feet many times when craning back to get pictures of the ceiling. I just could not shake the dizziness.

I rubbed St Peter's foot for luck - and made a very specific wish! Please make the spinning stop!

We made it to the Louvre by about 10:15...  we're not just wearing sunglasses for the sun...

This was my 4th (5th??) visit to the Louvre and my mom's 2nd. Our purpose for this visit was specifically to visit the Napoleon Apartments. How did I miss them on previous visits??? I remember once looking for them getting turned around and giving up - but why are they so hard to find??

Beautiful rooms, really incredible, but I had such a hard time taking pictures without falling over.

I needed to sit down after this, I was holding onto the walls to stay up. Then I wondered: could this be because of low blood sugar? We went to the cafeteria and I bought a slice of apple berry pie and it really did help!

Apartment visit done, next I wanted to see "Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss". It was a nightmarish search. We didn't have a map (stupid us) but knew the room number - except what room number were we in now? I tried to go on line but there was no reception. And the peeeeeeeoooople! it was too much, we were both getting bitchy and crabby.

I finally found it, got my shot and we were out of there. It was so loud and crowded that it was a pleasure to leave.

We wanted a quiet place to sit down after all that chaos, so made it to a nearby café. There was no way I was going to risk having alcohol, so it was a round of fresh squeezed orange juice. I really think this second dose of sugar helped because the dizziness was quickly fading. Thank God! 

(or maybe St Peter liked my foot rub?)

It was just after 1PM, but following the snack we had at the museum cafeteria, we weren't hungry enough for lunch.

Next, I wanted to visit the Eglise de la Madeleine. I visited before, but I saw on line that there was a neat art installation inside with glass tear drops, but I didn't pay attention to the end date.

As we walked towards it, I was hit with a sudden intense wave of fatigue. I calculated that I hadn't had a coffee since yesterday's breakfast so maybe I just needed a hit of caffeine. It worked.

Off to explore the church...  Thankfully the inside was not as marred as the outside by renovations. It seems half of Paris is being fixed up in preparation for the Olympics next summer.

The "Tears of Joy" installation was over..  last year! ha!

Our next destination was the Chapelle Expiatoire. It was constructed over the spot where Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette's headless bodies were buried until they were dug up again and reburied in the tombs at Saint-Denis.

We stopped for another coffee after this, such a small pit stop that I didn't even bother with a picture.

A few shots of some interesting sights along the way:

After the pit stop, we headed back to the hotel so my mom could have a 20-minute micro-nap. We were both pleasantly surprised that we weren't too exhausted and had managed a full day, but she was starting to feel the fatigue descend.  I was finally feeling like a normal human being again. 

After a short rest, we headed back out again around 4:30 and visited the Saint-Etienne-du-Mont Church

It was so nice to be able to take upwards pictures without the feeling that I was about to fall over! My mom just observed from the pews again like this morning, the fatigue had descended for good and she said she was calling it quits after supper.

We ate at a nearby crêpe place, and I loved mine. Chicken and mozzarella with tomatoes and pesto. It was extra tasty to me because it was just something OTHER than what I felt I had been eating for almost 2 weeks. My mother absolutely hated hers! she said it was the worst dish of the vacation and doesn't even count as a vacation meal! LOL

I dropped my mom off at the hotel after this and I was on my own for the evening.

I felt totally fine, fully recovered from whatever that was this morning, but I still was not going to risk a cocktail, so I found a café around 6:30 and had a different kind of treat!

So, what to do with my evening? The weather was not the best and it started drizzling, but it was not cold and windy, thank God, so I put up my hood and just set out on a long walk from 7:30 to 8:30, then took the metro back to the hotel.

Here are some of beautiful Parisian sights I saw along the way