The pace became more leisurely. We decided to take the tram to explore all the areas it reached. The first line took us to a residential area with the hippodrome – a fancy way of saying the racetrack. The weather had turned rainy and cooler, so it was a good way to pass time anyway. Next on my list was a second visit to Ste Catherine street and trying to find La Flèche, a tall church spire that I kept seeing at a distance but never quite reached.

We stopped at Place Rohan, as I recognized it and started to walk towards the shopping street. We walked all the way down until we got to the not-so-swanky part. Then we arrived at another city gate (Porte D’Aquitaine) and yet more signs of being on the Compostela di Santiago. We found ourselves near a university. As we walked further, I started to recognize the area as the street near our hotel, but coming from the opposite direction of the train station. It would seem we were in a really nice academic area and never knew it.

Of course we stopped for a nice dessert during our walk. While we were in Sweden last year, we became familiar with the fica – the afternoon coffee and dessert break. I seem to have adopted that practice and find it a natural thing to do each afternoon. But I try not to eat a sweet with my afternoon tea at home. That day, I ordered creme brulé. I’ve been craving it eversince.

Eventually, we wandered towards La Flèche de St. Michel, with a quick stop at a very old church that was under renovation. It was actually under excavation as they wanted to add trees in the area for their cooling benefit. In order to dig for the trees, they had looked at what lay beneath, in the form of some old stone coffins. You could actually walk past those since they were now sitting in a fenced area across from the church. Notice in the pictures how the knight is wearing something from medieval times. The details on the outside walls were beautiful.

As we walked, we started to see how the old city was laid out, each neighbourhood having its own impressive cathedral. We finally found La Flèche, also under renovation, in front of Basilique St. Michel. After a brief tour of the church, we enjoyed a well deserved cool drink at the nearby bistro as the weather had warmed up again.

Dinner was at our now favourite restaurant opposite the train station. We had one last day in Bordeaux before returning to Paris and finally home. After checking out of our hotel, we took a walk to see yet another church that I could spot from our walk between the hotel and the train station. There was a couple leaving with their small wedding party. It was a bit rainy. Good luck for the bride and groom, I said to them.

We boarded the train back to Paris. Another 537 Kms back to Gare de Montparnasse and then to our hotel in the Aubervilliers area. That hotel was likely the most dreadful place I’ve ever stayed. The room reeked of smoke and the hotel looked like a social housing project. Yuck! I found out later that the Paris marathon had been on the day we arrived, which is likely why I couldn’t find any affordable hotels in our usual spots. As any rate, we packed up and went to another hotel in our usual 19th arrondissement the next day. We had a lovely omelette sitting by the canal de l’Ourcq and a quiet evening before leaving for the airport, early the next morning. Breakfast was a usual hotel room picnic, composed of the few items we had left – yogurt, rice cakes and a bit of cheese.

The ride to the airport and the flight home were uneventful, thankfully. The funny thing was that I saw this man at the airport in Paris that looked very much like a neighbour. He even seemed to wear the same hat. Later in the plane, as I waited in line for the toilet, I noticed him again. This time, we realized that we were indeed neighbours. He was flying home from India, via Paris. It’s a small world indeed.