Last few days in Paris

 Thursday, October 17, 2013 (writing this from a bridge right next to Notre Dame as the sun sets on a beautiful fall day in Paris...Aviva, try desperately to box this up and return to it once reality resumes...)

A great past few days. On Wednesday, I went on an all-day trip to Caen and then Normandy (the D-Day Beaches). I boarded a train at 7am and we made the 2 hour trip up to Caen. I was met there by our guide (Saundrine) and the rest of the group (8 of us total...Megan and Andrew on their honeymoon from New York, Susan and Will retirees from Los Angeles, Jim and Kay from Charleston, and then Paul, who was an older guy visiting his daughter in Paris. And me.) We started off at the DDay Museum in Caen and we learned from Saundrine about a lot of the events from WW I through DDay. We ate lunch there and then made our way to the British cemetery (the American cemetery was closed due to the Government Shutdown...how embarrassing). It was really moving/emotional as we walked around (it was cold and raining, which seemed fitting for the place) and read the names, ages and quotes (mostly from parents of the young men who died on DDay). I found one Jewish gravesite (Levy) and said kaddish.

We then got into our van and drove to the various key sites...Pont du Hoc, Omaha Beach, Juno, etc. It was pretty intense and I could almost close my eyes and picture the terror that so many young men faced, and the immense courage they embodied. And the reality is that they really saved the free world as we know it. I don't think this is something that my generation really understands enough about, and I worry that the last eye witnesses are nearly gone, and feel a need to ensure that we preserve the history and the stories.

At the end of the day, we boarded a 7pm train and I was back in my apartment by about 9:30pm (and totally exhausted after a powerful day).

Then, today, my last day in Paris, I got up and walked to a bakery on Ile Ste Louis for my morning crossiant and coffee. I then walked to the salon for my 10:30am haircut. What an experience. Mark Clement is probably in his 60s, African-American, gay, from Pasadena, CA and has lived in Paris since 1980. He was a total gem....so kind, open and talkative. I was there for two hours and had a total blast (and got a great haircut). We talked a lot about his experiences in Paris, and when he found out that I was Jewish, he started telling me about all of his clients (who are older women in their 80s and 90s) who remember the round-up of the Jews by the French police in the 1930s and 40s, and how there is still such a mistrust of French (rightfully so) by the Jewish community in France. There was another client in the salon (Helen, an African-American lady from the US who has lived in France for 10 years). We all had great conversations and it was such a reminder that human beings really are good.

Afterwards, I grabbed a crepe for a quick lunch and made my way over to L'Orangerie, where I saw some more Monet and the Frida Kahlo/Diego Rivera special exhibit. I walked back to my apartment, rested for a bit and am now heading to my final dinner in Paris. Off to Nice tomorrow for the final few days!!!