Day Seven / homeward bound

 I guess if I have to go home, it is made a little easier cuz it's a very grey, very chilly, very drizzly/rainy day today.  After enjoying my last European style breakfast, at the table that I have claimed all week, in the hotel breakfast room, I returned to my room to pack.  (It sure is more fun to pack clean clothes in anticipation of leaving on a trip as opposed to packing all your dirty clothes to take home!)

I had bought a little box of Poilene sable butter cookies in a cute box and gave them to the owner of the hotel when I went downstairs with my luggage.  He blew me a kiss, grabbed my hands, looked me in the eye and kept saying "merci, merci"!  I asked him to hold my luggage while I went out for one last excursion.  I wanted to go to Notre Dame and see the status of the repair work.  My Metro pass that I had loaded 20 rides on, was empty.  I added 2 more rides on it and headed out.

Notre Dame is still so beautiful and the repair work is amazing...just the scaffolding alone in an achievement.  I went to Paris in 2019, just one month after the catastrophic fire.   At that time, I (along with most people) never expected Paris to pull this repair work off.  It's amazing that they plan to open it on December 7 of this year.  The first 2 years after the fire, no repairs were done...they spent that long studying and evaluating the damage, making sure it was safe and viable to move forward.  They now have a huge barricade around the perimeter with great graphics - kind of a time line of the work they are doing.  It was actually super interesting to read it all.  I took some time to really observe things there, I can't even imaging how long it will take them to remove  the scaffolding, once the work is complete!

She's still a beauty!

On my first trip to Paris I climbed to the top of Notre Dame with Opa to check out the gargoyles! (I am in awe that my grandfather walked all the way up there...he would have been the age I am today, and there is NO way I could do that!)

Some of the scaffolding, and wooden arch supports (which will be replaced with stone supports)

I mean, that is some serious scaffolding!

This is my "I'm so sad I'm leaving Paris today" face.

I headed back towards my hotel, and had one last meal in Paris.  Sitting at a cafe, enjoying tea and an omelet with salad and baguette - it seemed like a perfect final lunch.

Back at the hotel, I had Cristophe, the owner, call me a cab.  While I was waiting, he gave me his phone number and told me to call him on my next trip to Paris. I liked his optimist that there will  be a "next time", and assured him that my husband and I would definitely call him.  When my cab came, all the hotel employees  (the 3 that were working...it's a small hotel I told you!) lined up and  blew me kisses...I just about cried.  It was the perfect end to a perfect trip!

FINAL  THOUGHTS

Did you ever rad "Eat, Pray, Love?  I feel like this was MY Eat, Pray, Love trip!  It was truly a dream come true and I will be eternally grateful to Gary for not "permitting" me to do this trip...but for encouraging me to do it!  (There's a big difference.)   How lucky am I to have such a cheerleader to help me make my dreams come true?!

I felt confident the whole time, I felt stimulated and alive!  My nightly phone calls with Gary (night for me, early morning for him) kept any hint of loneliness at bay.  I think it helped that I'm an only child and have always been able to entertain myself!  I was able to walk WAY more than I thought I would...I figure (with the help of my FitBit, that I walked 44.5 miles this week.  (Just a heads up to anyone traveling with me in the future...start training now!!). The main reason for this trip (other than the fact that I love Paris!) was to retrace some of the steps from my first trip to this beautiful city with my wonderful grandparents.  When I think of the gift they gave me it actually makes me cry.  They imbedded in me a love of travel.  They taught me how to navigate the Paris Metro at a young age, and with that they gave me a great sense of independence.  And they always treated me like I was capable of anything. I hope they are smiling down on me now (as I'm sitting in Orly airport crying...if Oma were here, she would pull a handkerchief out from the cuff of her sweater and hand it to me!).  She might not approve of the tattoo though!!