This day started well but ended with near disaster.
We had breakfast of bread, jam, coffee and croissants in our room, then headed out, finding a local farmer’s market at the train station and then boarding the A train to the Arc de Triomphe. We considered going to the top, but were deterred by the 16-euro ticket price. We took some photos then wandered down the Champs-Élysées. We were headed to the Place Bastille where we were told there was a farmer’s market on Sundays but never made it there. We took a detour in search of bread – a bit hard to find on a Sunday in this high-rent district – and eventually found some. We continued walking while munching the bread.
We eventually found ourselves at the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais – two institutions that I have never visited. I didn’t go in this time, either, but got some photos.
We continued to walk down to the Seine, and alongside it for a while. Got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, the Musee d’Orsay and the Louvre.
We crossed the Seine to the Left Bank and did some window shopping and found some dessert for dinner at Benjie and Junko’s place. The we found their place, figured out how to get in, walked up to their 6th floor apartment and had a wonderful scallops dinner. We met their “French daughter,” Leia.
That should have been the end of the evening but it wasn’t. We bought some more tickets for the subway but couldn’t figure out how to use them at the station we were at (the gate was open). So, after buying some candy at the transfer station (Chatelet), I put the tickets back into my wallet as we were transferring to the A train. We needed the tickets to get out of the station when we got to our destination near the hotel but when I reached for my wallet… NOT THERE! As in Madrid, I had lost or had my wallet stolen on the subway. Don’t know how as I don’t recall anyone being near me during that short ride (and I was sitting) but it was gone. We went back to Chatelet on the slim hope that I had left the wallet in the store where I had bought the candy. Nope, not there.
Back to the train. When we got off we filed a report with the transit police. Then walked to the hotel where I had to call the emergency number to get a key to the room (yes, that had been in the wallet too). Two credit cards (which I froze), a bank card (which I froze), my driver’s license (which I will have to replace when I get back to Florida, my medical insurance card (ditto) and about $300 in a mix of euros and dollars. I had learned in Madrid to not carry unnecessary stuff and really thought I was being careful on the subway.
Not careful enough.
This is going to make renting a car in Tampa difficult. And I am probably going to need to do a cash advance on my MasterCard to get us through to Rome. So painful. But not a disaster.
I am not going to carry a wallet on the subway in Europe ever again.