LA VOIE DE LA MEMOIRE

The consequence of not packing the night before an early flight: waking up at 4:30 am. However, we determined the morning to be the nicest part of the day in Italy. Since it was so early though, I fell asleep in the car ride to the airport, even with totally crazy roads. I also fell asleep on the just over two hour plane ride, but that meant I was rested by the time we arrived in yet another city.

I awoke to another language, again. I had just been getting used to saying "grazie" instead of "gracias." Now, it is "merci." If I'm getting confused, I can't imagine how confused Mom, Dad, and Joey are.

First up on the list of things to do was finding a metro pass. These metro passes are fancy and require pictures, so that was going to be another adventure. They don't take your picture where you buy the ticket.

We weaved our way through the underground maze of metros and trains, with our luggage. Then, we found our apartment building. After calling the apartment owner to get the code for the building, we realized we didn't have keys. Mom started dialing the owner up again, but Dad jumped in, "try under the door mat." Sure enough, the oldest trick in the book worked.

The apartment is super cute, and there are no ants! Joelle and I will be cuddling up tonight, but there is a laundry machine and wifi. That's a win for us.

Settled in, we headed back out to explore and remember. Since we didn't get much of a breakfast and were hungry after traveling, lunch was a priority. Dad found a Lebanese restaurant on Four Square close to the apartment. It wasn't Italian, and I was happy. We all got falafels and hummus. It sure hit the spot and filled us up.

For our first trace down memory lane we went to Notre Dame because it is relatively close to where we are staying. It is just how I remember, except there is no longer restoration in progress. It is beautiful. Joey very clearly remembered gargles on the church that scared her five years ago. They, of course, are still there, and they creep her out a little to this day. From there, we walked toward the back of the church, letting Mom and Dad's memory take over. They were in search of the lock bridge, which Joey and I don't remember too clearly. Dad found a bridge that he thought used to be the lock bridge. However, he remembered talk of the locks being taken down, so we figured that must've been what had happened. Mom remembered the bridge being in a different location, so we headed that way. We never found it, so we thought Dad's bridge must've been the lock bridge. Google later proved us wrong though. Mom was on the right track, but we didn't go down the river far enough.

Next up: The Eiffel Tower and crepes. One of our favorite memories from our trip to Paris five years ago is eating crepes under The Eiffel Tower. That meant it was on the top of the list for this trip. We boarded the metro to head that way. After making a connection, we found the second train to be empty but smoldering hot. There was a nice lady, who lives in Versailles, on the train. Eventually, she asked us if we would like to use a water spritzer she had in her purse. She has kids.

Resurfacing from under ground, we ended up right in front of The Eiffel Tower. It's hard to miss, believe it or not. Mom wanted to test Joey and I's crepe memory, so she let us lead the way. While I remembered it being right in front of The Eiffel Tower, I guess I didn't remember exactly where. Mom did though. We got the usual crepe with strawberries. Unfortunately, the grassy hill we ate our crepes on five years ago is now dirt and has food trucks covering it. Instead, we went to the shady park to the side of The Eiffel Tower. While they were really good, I remembered better. The strawberries were more of a compote than fresh, which left San Sebastian slightly ahead in my crepe judging. However, the Eiffel Tower crepe left its mark on me as typical Hannah dripped it on her dress.

After we finished our crepes, Dad searched his blog from five years ago for the picture of Joey, him, and I in front of The Eiffel Tower. Now, we just had to find that spot to recreate it. After a little wondering and holding up the phone in comparison, we found a relatively close spot. The picture was snapped, and there you have it, five years later. Joey and I look a little older now. Joey is much taller than she was, and I am slightly taller.

Ready to get out of the hot sun, we got back on the metro to our apartment. Joey and I led the way. There are lots of apps and tools now to help with the underground world. Mom had a Marilyn Monroe moment while crossing a subway grate after coming back above ground, but, other than that, we made it back to the apartment smoothly.

Mom and Joey stayed in the apartment for the night since we ate lunch so late. Mom even managed to get the printer in the apartment to photo copy our passports for metro pass pictures. I guess that didn't end up being too much of a hassle after all. Dad and I went out to find a creperie though. I intend to try as many of Paris' crepes as I can in the next few days. We found a cute spot with both savory and sweet crepes. I stuck with just a maple syrup and fresh lemon crepe because I wasn't very hungry. It was so good, a true Paris crepe. Dad had a dinner crepe followed by a desert crepe, and they both looked very good as well.

Leaving the crepe restaurant around 10:30 pm, the streets were hopping. So many people filled the sidewalks and restaurants. After an early morning though, we were headed back for some sleep.

Eiffel Tower

Crepes under the Eiffel Tower

Momma

Retracing our steps 5 yrs ago

Notre Dame

Dinner crepe

Lemon and maple syrup crepe

Paris at night