Day 14. I am ready to go home. The girls are not. Imagine that. ;-) We left this morning early enough to arrive at the Catacombs of Paris at least 40 minutes before it opened at 10am, but it appeared that a few hundred other people had the same idea in mind. We stood in line for 2.75 hours. It was worth it. One of the girls said she thought it was peaceful and compared the experience to going to the cemetery our first week here. Death isnt scary, she said. I thought I might feel different about it, she continued. I agree, I said. We had a quick lunch and then made our way to Little Africa. We hadnt seen that many people of color in one place since we arrived. There were bursts of vibrant colors in rich African textiles everywhere we looked and lots of languages being spoken that were not French. Nail salons and beauty supplies with loads of straight hair for sale lined the street. Babies were wrapped closely to the chests of mothers. Men sold raw peanuts in the shell at the Marché. We bought some and they were bitter. Overly ripe plantains were for sale everywhere. When we walked away towards the Métro, one of the girls said she wasnt sure if she liked Little Africa. Why not? I asked. Because there was trash everywhere and it was smelly. We havent seen that anywhere else we have been. she said. I wonder, I asked Whose fault is that? We walked in silence for a bit. Were back at the apartment and have one more errand to run; one more dinner to have as a group. There is whispering going on in one of the bedrooms. =) There have been a few tears already. Im guessing there will be more. Im guessing some will be mine. This was a good trip.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:43:24 +0000