Paris-Day 6: The Long Goodbye

We leave Paris today to return to Canada.

I woke fairly early and with a fair amount of dread over how Air Canada and airport security would conspire to make the return trip as unpleasant as possible. Fortunately, because I hadn’t packed my suitcase yet, it gave me something to take my mind off the impending trip and also gave Maggie something to worry about instead of thinking about flying the mediocre skies.

Paris-Day 5: Montmartre

Originally a notorious cabaret,
Chat Noir closed in 1897 .
The name and heritage
of the once famous nightclub
now graces a small hotel

Despite the fact that my limp is getting more pronounced from all of the walking we’ve done, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Paris but it is today that I have been looking forward to above everything else we’ve done. Today, when Maggie gets back from the last morning session at her conference, we’re off to Montmartre and if the Latin Quarter is Maggie’s favourite section of the city, Montmartre is mine.

In a city that measures its history in terms of centuries, Montmartre is old and has seen war and the arts in equal measure. Montmartre became known as the bohemian part of Pairs and was home to writers and famous artists like Lautrec and Cézannes.

Paris-Day 4: Just Being There - The Latin Quarter

Day 4 is a working day at least for Maggie and the real reason behind the reason we came to Paris. Maggie is attending a conference at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as Canada’s representative where she will be making a presentation to representatives from some sixty other countries on human resources planning.

I have teased Maggie in my posts about shopping but I am inordinately proud of her. She is an accomplished professional who has never lost her genuine human side. She is the Director General of one of the largest directorates in The Canadian Government’s central agency although you would never know it to talk to her. She is unpretentious. Her staff loves her and so do I.