This month in Paris has been three separate trips for me, all wonderful in their own way. On Friday morning, I said goodbye to Terryl and Megan. That afternoon I welcomed Susanna. We spent Friday evening chatting. I played tour guide a little and we had a French brasserie dinner with a bottle of wine, of course.

Sue is a very chill guest who has been to Paris before, so we didn’t have to do a ton of sightseeing, although we did walk over to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees just because. I did get a new pair of very cushiony Nikes to smooth my hip and replace the ones I’ve beaten up through a year of death marches and working out.

We had this notion that we would find some amazing fashion in Paris, but neither one of us loves shopping. We hit Samaritaine, which had been closed for renovations for years and reopened in 2021. The store is chock full of high-end clothes, shoes and specialty food items. I would still recommend Gallerie Lafayette over it, partly because the building is just so beautiful and the terrace offers that great view.

We had to get up early Sunday, so we had the classic home-cooked meal of salad, cheese and a baguette on Saturday night.

Why did we have to get up early Sunday? We had booked a tour to Giverny and Auvers sur Oise so I could play an overdue round of Dead Person Bingo. Well, maybe that was just a bonus. Sue had mentioned that she wanted to do something arty and I had never been to either place, so we set our alarms and met our tour guide, Valeria, and another couple, climbed into a van and drove about an hour to Giverny.

After a quick stop at the Giverny cemetery to pay our respects to Monet, some of his family and eight WWII soldiers whose plane crashed there, we headed over to Monet’s home and the home of the famous water lilies. Apparently, Monet’s garden was not well liked in town, but he was friends with Georges Clemenceau, who was to become prime minister of France, so he got away with being a bad neighbor.

I’m glad we got there as early as we did because as we were leaving, it got so packed we could barely walk on the paths. It is gorgeous and well worth visiting, but get there early if you don’t want to have to magic erase a ton of tourists from your photos. Speaking of photos, I think mine are as gorgeous as the real paintings! Do you agree?

From there, we climbed back into the van to go to Auvers sur Oise, where Vincent Van Gogh spent the last 70 days of his life painting and sleeping in a tiny room in Auberge Ravoux. In that short time, he made 74 canvases and the scenes he painted have remained.

Of course we visited the cemetery first. His brother Theo, who was so important to him throughout his life, is buried next to him. Theo’s widow, Jo, had his body moved from Utrecht, Netherlands, where he was buried, so he would always be with Vincent.

So odd to be walking through a Van Gogh painting. There are several restaurants, cafes and bakeries in town, including the restaurant at Auberge Ravoux, where Van Gogh ate at a corner table, but we had brought a picnic lunch, so we sat in the park and then walked the streets admiring the views.

The coolest part for me was learning that the inspiration for his painting, Tree Roots, which had been exhibited upside down, was discovered during Covid by the scientific director of the Institute Van Gogh in Amsterdam, Wouter van der Veen, when he noticed the roots in a postcard.

The next few days went so fast. Sue has a similar sensibility to Steven and I in that she likes to take random routes around the city just to explore, so that’s what we did.

I couldn’t let her leave without seeing the Tour Eiffel lit up, so after our farewell dinner at an Italian place, we headed over to Trocadero, which is now only partially closed. You can’t walk down the steps, but you can get a great view from the top after the cursory bag check by the guards. I don’t know why they bother. I could have anything hidden in my bag under my sweater. It seems like a silly formality.

Sue left Wednesday morning and I spent the day relaxing. Twenty or so days of playing tour guide and running around Paris with a cane took their toll.

Today, my last full day, I went to the Musée National Picasso-Paris in the Marais. I liked it because the building was beautiful, of course, and the exhibits demonstrated how artists such as Goya, Rembrandt, and Matisse influenced him. I took one last stroll around and headed back to the apartment to pack.

I’m sad my time here is coming to an end, but I am excited to see Steven tomorrow! (Good to know you are looking forward to seeing me! I am, of course, excited to see you too!!)

P.S.: I may do a photo dump blog at some point. Paris is very photogenic.