Letter from Paris 27 April

Late morning we took the Metro "downtown" heading for rue Sainte-Anne and a dish of noodles for lunch.

After exiting the Metro we walked through the Palais Royale heading in a rather roundabout way for "Japantown" and the score of noodle bars in the area.

The two of us ate lunch at Noodle (54 rue Sainte-Anne 75002) after which we walked to Opéra Garnier where Susie got on the Metro line 8 to go to school and I got on the 3 to head east for an afternoon of "working" at Père-Lachaise.

Later that afternoon while in the cemetery I received a message from Verizon saying I was being charged $25 for overages on my data usage. Our plans, we each had one for our phones, allowed us 100 minutes of talk, 100 outgoing texts and 100mb of data. Apparently I had eaten through the 100mb of my data plan for the month already (and Susie would too soon after).  I failed to notice that we had always used iMessage for texting (thus using data).

Anyway,  I assumed that Susie was receiving my texts (I had turned off my cellular data at this point). I sent her a note saying I was exploring the environs of Place de la Concorde and would come to LCB and pick her up after school. But no response. Hmmmm.

When I exited the Metro at the Tuileries on rue de Rivoli walked up the street to W. H. Smith bookstore to browse a bit.

Afterwards, I walked across the street and near the western end of the Tuileries came across a curious group of plaques along the wall beneath the Jeu de Paume and close to Place de la Concorde: They were memorials to nine men and one woman who died near the corner of rue de Rivoli and the Place during the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944.

I then made my way into the Place de la Concorde to look for another piece of French history: the location of the guillotine used to execute Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Princess Élisabeth of France, Charlotte Corday, Madame du Barry, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Antoine Lavoisier, Maximilien Robespierre, Louis de Saint-Just, and Olympe de Gouges.

Place de la Concorde

execution of Louix XVI

same view today

Internet rumor had it there was a marker somewhere near the statue dedicated to the city of Brest and close to the Hotel Grillon. I found the statue of Brest -- it's one of 8 placed at the corners of the Place. But no marker.

Oh, and in front of the Hotel Crillon I saw this bit of French automotive history (thinking of Richard Horsman now):

Leaving the Place I walked up the Champs d'Élysées to the metro at Champs-Élysées–Clemenceau and headed off to Le Cordon Bleu.  I arrived at the school right about 8pm and sent her another text saying I was in the lobby. Twenty minutes later no Susie and no other students either and ominously no response to my texts.  Hmmmm. So I called her.

Turns out they had been let out early and she was already home! She had tried to text me but I wasn't receiving her iMessages (of course). So it was back to Metro (10) to Austerlitz and then we met on the street soon after and went in search of a late dinner. (OK pizza but great atmosphere at Café d'Italie, 76 Avenue des Gobelins, 75013, off Place d'Italie).

The upshot is now we use "text message" only and leave iMessage off. Cellular data is still turned off until we need it for the highway. That's right kids, we're renting a car to drive to the Netherlands. But more about that next week.