The Parade That Wasn’t

Chuck’s version of our first day in Paris

We arrived at the Hotel du Continent at around 9 am and the legendary Annie, a short, dark-haired young woman from India, checked us in and locked our luggage in a secure room. She said our room would not be ready for an hour. Of course, I was not disappointed, because we knew that the normal check-in time is 4:00 pm. I had thought we would take the 40 minute walk up the Champs Élysée to the Arc de Triomph for the Armistice Day ceremonies. I knew one must be a dignitary to be admitted inside the building, but afterward there was to be a parade down the Champs Élysée I wanted to see. When we got to the foot of the avenue we found that it was closed not just to vehicles, but also to pedestrians. We had to detour and take the path along the Seine, before cutting a path northwest back toward the monument. That deviation was not a total loss, however. The place where we turned was also the entrance to the underpass where Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed met their death in a tragic automobile accident. Including this detour, what should have been a 2 mile walk had doubled in length. At the Champs Élysée barriers kept us off the famous street and a quarter mile away from the Arc de Triomph, where we heard military music in the distance. Starting at about 10 am we began waiting. The temperature was in the high 40’s (F). I had heard that a parade would follow the speechifying up at the Arc de Triomph so we continued waiting even when light rain started. I had asked several policemen lining the route about when the parade would begin. Several didn’t know, but one said vaguely, “Sometime after 10:00 am, maybe in an hour or so. I knew that the Armistice ending World War I had been signed at 11 am on November 11 (11-11-11), so I suspected that something would happen at 11 o’clock. As time passed, however, the rain got heavier and we both needed to find a toilet. As we walked to find a shop where we could buy a cup of coffee that would get us access to a bathroom, most were blocked by the police barriers or closed for the holiday. We finally found a little restaurant called Le Deauville. As we finished a hot bowl of onion soup and a cup of coffee that warmed our souls as well as our bodies, two horse troops came prancing by to the sound of a military drum and bugle corps. The Presidential limousine rolled between the two. That was it. That was the parade. But still we got to spend a wonderful morning seeing a big part of this magical city up close and on foot.

Glenda’s version of our first day in Paris:

We arrived at our hotel and had to check our luggage. Chuck said “ let’s take a little walk to see the parade. It shouldn’t be long and then we’ll come back and check into the hotel. It will be fun, I promise.” So off we go, with me wearing my slip-on airport shoes, my very lightweight, travel jacket, and no umbrella. It was cold and windy, but walking helped keep me a little warm. It started to mist, and then it started to rain and it didn’t stop raining for about an hour. We waited and waited and waited for the parade, but it seemed as though nothing was going to happen. At that point, we both needed to use the restroom so we started trying to find a restaurant. It seemed as though most of the restaurants were on the opposite side of the street, but there were barricades so we could not cross the street. Finally, we found a restaurant where we ordered some French onion soup and coffee. We then headed back toward the hotel. We arrived at the hotel five hours and 8.4 miles after we left . But guess what …….Chuck was right; it was fun and we have lots of memories of our first rainy day in Paris. Adventure is out there even if it is different from what you expect.Read more