Les Flâneurs: covid-19

Showing posts with label covid-19. Show all posts

Grocery shopping on Place Monge and the Mouff, meeting an old friend for tea and BIG NEWS

10 June 2022.

We started our last bit of grocery shopping at the Place Monge open-air market. Located just around the corner from Pascal Pinaud's pastry shop where Susie did her two stages 15 years ago, this market is small but compact and with wonderful vendors.

As the pastry shop gofer Susie would have to go to the market and stand in this same line at the same vendor. And there was always a line because they had the best produce.

Leaving the market we made our way a couple of short blocks over to rue Mouffetard to finish our grocery shopping.

As we were about to turn a corner Susie grabbed my arm and pointed to a nearby street sign: rue Pestalozzi. Now for those of you who have followed our travels so far, you might recall our very first apartment was in Munich on Pestalozzistrasse. . . A coincidence? I think not. . .

On the Mouff we stopped by our favorite produce vendor from so many years ago where Susie bought -- that's right -- strawberries. We also stopped and bought wine at another vendor that had been a favorite as well. To finish things off Susie popped into a nearby Franprix grocery store to pick up a few basic items for our larder. With several large bags and four bottles of wine we took the metro home. I know, the walk wasn't that far but I was feeling lazy. . .

After unpacking our purchases we hung around the apartment relaxing until it was time to go back out to the metro. This time we had a very specific goal in mind: we were off to meet an old friend, Diane, for afternoon tea at the Hôtel de Crillon.

While the conversation was warm and the three of us spent the afternoon catching up, the food was underwhelming. Indeed, when compared to other afternoon teas we'd experienced in the UK back in 2019, this one left us unimpressed.

But the really BIG NEWS, for us at any rate was during our tea Diane's husband called her from Oregon saying he had just sent a link through her email to a breaking news story. The US government had that day decided to remove its mandatory negative test requirement for international travelers entering the US! It would go into effect this coming Sunday morning!

Since I had tested positive three times (two home and one official tests) I was almost certainly going to test positive on Monday when we had to test for our flight on Tuesday. The options for me staying behind were not terribly appealing and were in fact going to prove complicating to say the least.

But all that gone with one quick signature on a dotted line. The stress we had both been feeling for some days evaporated in the blink of an eye. We ordered two glasses of champagne (Diane doesn't drink alcohol) to toast the moment.

top to bottom: scone/brioche, sweets, savories

Diane and Susie

From the Crillon we all got on the no. 12, Diane heading north and Susie and I heading south to catch the no. 6 back home.

We were back "home" and relieved knowing that we would both be traveling HOME together on Tuesday.

A negative and a positive

8 June 2022.

The day began rainy and a gentle drizzle persisted off and on through much of the morning. Both of us just felt like a second cup of coffee and hanging around the apartment.

After some discussion about health matters we also decided to go get "officially" tested for Covid-19.

I began developing symptoms of a rather unsettling nature the day we left Gouda for Paris (June 1). By the time we had settled in I was feeling quite sick, sore throat, cough, aches, weakness, fever, no appetite. We had brought Covid home test kits with us and I tested positive on 2 June and again 6 June. Susan tested negative.

The good news is my fever abated quickly and my general well-being returned in fairly short order.

So, today we went to a nearby pharmacy for an official test (€40) and sure enough, Susie was still negative and I was still positive. But with a positive test in hand and being asymptomatic I qualify for a "documentation of recovery" in order to fly out of France to the US next Tuesday. That assumes I still test positive next Monday (in order to get into the US international travelers need to show a negative test result taken within one day of departure from the originating country). If I test negative then I'm definitely good to go, literally and figuratively.

waiting to be tested

After the testing and accompanying disappointment that I may in fact have to stay in Europe, we headed back to the apartment to decide what we wanted to do with the rest of the day. We eventually concluded that a good stroll down to the Jardin des Plantes was in order and so we did.

We walked down the Boulevard l'Hôpital and entered the gardens near the natural history museum. On the right of the entrance was a wonderful statue to the noted French animal sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet.

Not much was in bloom but the trees were certainly very green. We strolled then found a bench to sit and just take in being in the jardin.

there was a dwarf stegosaurus hiding in the bushes

Since the return trip was all uphill and we had our Navigos that just cried out to be used, after leaving the jardin we walked across the street to Gare d'Austerlitz. From there we took the no. 5 Metro two stops and a short walk home.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the possibility that one or both of us would not be allowed back in the US next Tuesday we hunkered down for the evening pondering the various options:

We had to be out of this apartment next Tuesday that was a given. But if I/we had to stay then what? Where to go? For how long? What about the flight next Tuesday and any future flight? When might that happen? Would I keep testing until declared negative or go for a "documentation of recovery"? And where might that "documentation" come from? And on and on and on. . . .

Stay tuned!

Mackinac Island day 3

Our second full day on the island began leisurely. We didn’t arise until well after 8am, got dressed and headed downtown to Starbucks where we grabbed our morning coffees. We strolled back to the hotel and relaxed (the operative concept at work for us here) for an hour or so.

Across from our hotel was a bike rental agency — one of a half dozen or so near town — and we picked up a pair of “cruisers” for our tour around the island. Indeed, our singular goal for the day was to ride the 8.2 miles of Michigan state highway M-185, the one and only highway in the state closed to motorized vehicles and that goes right along the coast around the island. And so we did.

Lots of road erosion for the first half or so of the trip but the second half was smooth and clean. We stopped at Arch Rock, or rather the base of it, and cruised on to British Landing, a point of no small historical value for you enthusiasts of the War of 1812. You can find out more about Mackinac Island’s part in the War of 1812 on the Mackinac State Parks website. There’s also a set of restrooms at the Landing and it’s a major junction for those wanting to head inland.

We completed the circumnavigation of the island in just about 90 minutes. After dropping off our bikes we walked back into town and stopped at the Pink Pony in the Chippewa Hotel for lunch. Table service was full but the bar was wide open so we opted to do self-service at the bar. Like Panera they give you a number and bring the food to your table. No muss, no fuss. Susie had soup and sandwich and I went for the whitefish tacos. Quite good all ‘round.

After lunch we both headed back to the hotel. While I took a nap Susie went back out for a stroll around the nearby East Bluff. We met up a couple of hours later downtown for coffee at Moomers and hung around downtown for a bit. Returning to the hotel I caught up on my travel notes and prepped photos for the soon-to-be-published blog notes.

That evening we had a late dinner (7:45) at nearby 1852 Grill in the Island House, probably 200 yards from our hotel. The atmosphere was lovely, we had a table at the front with a gorgeous view overlooking the harbor and beyond. The food was scrumptious: we shared a plate of BBQ shrimp with cheddar grits followed by the walleye for Susie and the wienerschnitzel for me.

A wonderful, relaxing way to spend our final day on Mackinac Island. It’s been probably 25 years since we were here last and the pace (and place) hasn’t really changed much at all.

Arch Rock from M-185

quite a lot of road erosion

British Landing

The Bridge, one last time. . .

Walleye

Wienerschnitzel with spaetzel and cooked red cabbage

BBQ shrimp with cheddar grits

Mackinac Island day 2

On Wednesday, our first full day on the island, we languished a bit in our room before heading over to the main building for coffee and breakfast. Since all the breakfast offerings were one form or another of prepackaged food we just focused on the hot brown water followed by a couple of bananas. Fortunately there’s a Starbucks just up Main Street where we made up for the bland coffee offering of the hotel.

Since we had to remain close by the hotel in order to be ready to move into our new room we just strolled through town: first downtown and then back east, just past our hotel, we popped into Saint Anne's Catholic church. Madame Laframboise was instrumental in helping to found the original building and upon her death in 1846 she was buried, per her wishes, beneath the altar of the church. Once back onto Main Street we headed east along M-185 briefly until we reached Mission Point Resort before returning to the Harbour View. We then had lunch at Bill’s Grill outside our hotel — light sandwiches — before settling in to our new room and relaxing before heading off to afternoon tea at the Grand Hotel.

About 3:30 we called for a taxi and headed off to our destination. Our taxi driver drove right past the “guard” at the entrance so we didn’t have to pay the $10 entry fee for nonresidents of the hotel. We made our way upstairs to the main level, found a comfortable place to sit and settled in for the afternoon. Susan had the tea and I just sipped a “champagne” label for the Grand Hotel. No idea where it came from.

Susan gave the tea experience a grade of C-, and indeed it didn’t look very impressive. But the harpist playing nearby was superb, her choices of music wonderful and we hung about until everything closed down, at 5pm. We made our way out of the hotel along the long porch and up West Bluff Street before turning back to the hotel and then down into town for dinner.

We ate at The Village Inn, a place run by a Jamaican chef and while Susan had a crispy, fresh salad, I opted for the house specialty, “planked whitefish”: Lake Superior whitefish surrounded by Duchesse Potatoes and perfectly prepared vegetables. Tasty and spot on!

After dinner we meandered through town and ended up back at the hotel where we sat out on our patio with a glass of Nocino from Long Road Distillery in Grand Rapids (we brought a small bottle with us).