Notre Dame

Last night I was feeling like I was coming down with some cold or other.   Coughing, bit achy.  And  I was trying to plan my 3 days and gave up and decided to  worry about everything after going to Notre Dame first. I had read that the queue were less first thing in the morning.  So as soon as I woke up at 6ish, I organised myself and left. The metro was not too crowded, but I was not happy at Chatelet, where I got off. I was about 3 levels  undergrund, i tried to follow all the signs to all the exits to other train lines ( which i didnt want)  but i had no idea where any of the streets were , except one, where i stayed in 2019, so i chose that one  . Coffee, croissant for breakfast on the way, then I arrived at the Cathedral 10 min before the opening at 7.50 , the 28th ( I counted) in the queue, so by 7.55 was in. A service was about to start, a sung Eucharist, with a priest with aa good loud voice, which was good. Initially one side and all the back was roped off. But it was opened about 9ish. I spent ages there, looking at the little chapels, the lovely bright new colours. A bit of the front seating stayed roped off even after the service. There was a lady there letting people through if they just wanted to sit and pray. She was  there when I arrived . She was still standing there at 9.45. I went and spoke to her. She said, to her,  it was not a chore but a privilege. 

So after I went out I chatted to some other people who were just milling around, then decided I would just start walking back here , stopping first for more coffee and croissant, then later for lunch, my main meal for the day.  The most direct route, according  to Google was 5km. I got diverted a few times from that ( the same problem as I have mentioned before  -  when I am not concentrating hard  '2nd left and 3rd right' sometimes becomes ' 3rd left and 2nd right' )  Never mind. Also I walked a fair bit around the church and , after leaving here 1km to the metro station  . According  to my trusty watch, I have walked 10.5 km today. But I have been really relaxed and not coughing, so hopefully I will get better and not worse.

At  The first cafe I walked into this morning I stood outside thinking, now I have to say ' bonjour' not ' buongiorno'. I walked in and the guy greeted  me with 'buongiorno'. I stood there speechless, my brain had stopped. He then said ' hullo madam'. I said, ' Bonjour, I am sorry I was slow to speak, but I have just come from Italy and was confused.'  I am not sure how much  he understood. All future conversations were in French. But, I was wearing my purple jacket for warmth.  After the Cathedral  I was stopped by a guy standing near a little van advertising a brand of Italian coffee that I have forgotten  but in all our supermarkets.  He said . ' Buongiorno, madam' but he was French and it was part of the sales pitch. His English was good.  But I don't think he was as good at Italian as he thought he was because I said, in parting 'buon giornata' which is a slightly more formal way of saying good day to someone who you are unlikely to see again that day. He didnot know the word.

Some french bicyclists have the same disregard to pedestrian crossings and direction of traffic as Italian cyclists.