Kathleen and I returned to Europe, this time for Amy’s graduation from the Université Côte d’Azur in Nice, France. We decided to spend a couple of days in Paris visiting family before meeting Amy on the French Riviera later in the week.
Sunday, Aug 30: Our 8:00 PM flight on Air France was crowded, but comfortable enough during the 8-hour trip, albeit with little sleep and a 7-hour time change.
Monday, Aug 31: We landed at 11:15 AM, Paris time, cleared immigration (all biometric, no agent contact), picked up our luggage, then took an Uber to our niece’s apartment in Nogent-sur-Marne east of Paris. We visited Marjorie, husband Murli, son Nathan and daughter Pia, in December for the holidays and had a wonderful time (post link: Nogent-sur-Marne, 12/31/25). Marjorie walked us down the street to meet her neighbor, Katherine, a Swiss woman living in Nogent who often hosts visitors and agreed to put us up for our two nights in town. She showed us to her third floor bedroom, where we napped, then walked in a brief rain shower to the nearby apartment of Kathleen’s sister Elizabeth and her husband, David. We were pleasantly surprised to see Maria, Liz and David’s younger daughter and Marjorie’s sister, visiting from Atlanta. We stayed with Maria and her husband Mike at their Brookhaven, GA, home in February before flying to Honduras (post link: Atlanta, GA, 2/17/26). Pia and Nathan were also there, and we spent the remainder of the afternoon chatting before walking back to Marjorie’s. Most of us ate dinner at Giacomo, a neighborhood Italian restaurant where Marjorie’s family is well-known. We finally made it to bed at 11:00 PM, jet-lagged and exhausted but happy. Map link: Nogent-sur-Marne, France
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| This dragonfly welcomed us at Katherine’s |
Tuesday, Sep 1: We woke up at 7:05 AM, showered, dressed then ate breakfast with Katherine, enjoying fresh figs from her backyard. We took the train to Paris and ate second breakfast at Café du Rendez-Vous on a perfect day, grateful that we missed the heat wave that plagued Europe last week. We had a 10:45 reservation to see the Catacombs of Paris, the world’s largest underground ossuary, which is a repository for human skeletal remains. The Catacombs began as a rich limestone deposit on the left (southern) bank of the Seine, and was quarried for centuries, leaving a network of unmarked and largely forgotten tunnels and caverns below ground. As Paris expanded, buildings were eventually constructed on top of these old quarries and a series of cave-ins and collapses in the 1770s led to a major public works project to map and shore up more than 175 miles of these cavities. Also during the late 18th century, Paris was facing a public health crisis from overcrowded cemeteries in close proximity to population centers—one cave-in emptied a mass grave into neighboring cellars. It was decided to create an underground graveyard, and the remains of more than six million people were exhumed and relocated to the tunnels over a two-year period. They opened to public viewing in 1809 and remain wildly popular, with slots selling out as soon as they become available—we only got tickets by booking a package tour with a Seine River cruise. Map link: Catacombs of Paris
We took the Metro to Port de la Conférence, for the river tour part of our package aboard the Bateau Mouches (“fly boat”). Our niece, Rachel, who studies at nearby American University, was finished with classes for the day and met us at the dock, then joined us for the cruise, a tour inside Notre-Dame Cathedral and lunch at La Crème de Paris Notre-Dame. Since reopening in late 2024 following a catastrophic 2019 fire, an estimated 30,000-40,000 visitors tour Paris’ most famous church each day, and minor exterior and artistic restoration work continues. Getting inside the cathedral was a must-do for this trip, after long lines and cold weather dampened our enthusiasm back in December. Kathleen made reservations in the morning, and we only waited 10 minutes in line. On the way back to Nogent, we made a quick stop at Les Halles mall, then went to Marjorie’s for dinner, which was Indian food cooked by Vasanthi, Murli’s mom, who lives with them for half the year. We got back to Katherine’s at 10:00 PM, packed for tomorrow’s travel, and went to bed. Map link: Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris
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| Compulsory Eiffel Tower photo |
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| Scaffolding from ongoing restoration is visible in the windows |
Bonus Question: I made a Connections puzzle! Sort the following 16 words into four groups of related items (answers at the end of post):
Barouche, Montecristo, Anvil, Elba
Landau, Kelpie, Hammer, Giglio
Chimera, Brougham, Pianosa, Griffin
Stirrup, Wendigo, Cabriolet, Cochlea
Wednesday, Sep 2: Kathleen was up early (my snoring woke her up), then we showered, packed up and said goodbye and thank you to Katherine for her outstanding hospitality. We left our luggage at Marjorie’s, then took Pia—who doesn’t have school on Wednesdays—to Karamela pastry shop, where we bought croissants and pain Suisse (actually French, not Swiss), then spent the rest of the morning at Elizabeth and David’s. At Noon we picked up spring rolls for lunch at Laka, then took the train from Nogent-sur-Marne to the Gare du Lyon in Paris. There we weaved our way through the busy station and boarded the high-speed train to Marseilles, averaging more than 140 mph over the 475-mile trip. I’d always wanted to see the French countryside by train and it did not disappoint, although many parts looked parched from the heat and drought. We changed trains in Marseilles, with enough time to get dinner, then watched the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea as we took a local train to Nice, arriving at 10:00 PM. After a short taxi ride and a winding walk—the streets and alleys in Vieux Nice (Old Town) are too narrow for cars—we met Amy at our third-floor AirBnb in the busy heart of the city. We had a fair bit of noise coming in through the window, but all quickly fell asleep.
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| Gare de Lyon |
Bonus Question Answer: Stirrup, Hammer, Anvil, Cochlea: Parts of the inner ear.
Barouche, Brougham, Cabriolet, Landau: Types of horse-drawn carriages.
Chimera, Griffin, Kelpie, Wendigo: Mythical creatures or spirits.
Elba, Pianosa, Montecristo, Giglio: Islands in the Tuscan Archipelago.
