Sunday, October 12, 2025
I am having a rough weekend. I think I got food poisoning or a flu. My stomach hurts and I have a headache and body aches. It’s happens to be the weekend I have to move. I got very attached to the first apartment. On Saturday morning I woke up feeling normal. It was still dawn and I looked out of my bedroom window at the many beautiful windows in my view and I got sad. My bedroom looks onto an inner courtyard of an entire square block of Haussmann buildings. Each building has 6 floors, and each room has a window, so there are a lot of windows.
Originally, I was going to move locations three times, however, I canceled my second booking and stayed at Lisa’s because I liked it so much and I didn’t want to leave.
Moving when feeling sick makes every task harder. Let’s just say I’m feeling lonely and grey.
I am trying to get excited about my new neighborhood-the 18th. So, I started to explore. I went up the hill to Sacre Cœur. It’s a 10 minute walk. It reminds me of San Francisco where there is staircase after staircase when you’re going up or down a steep hill on foot. I think this is the only large hill in Paris, but, don’t quote me. It was exciting to come across Sacre Cœur. I don’t anything about it yet-I’ll attempt to figure it out.
It is gorgeous and massive! Because it’s at the top of a steep hill it feels even more massive, more important. Location, location, location is a thing! It was also crowded! I’m sure it’s always busy, however today they have a fete, and people were out in great numbers. That also made me feel lonely because it was a party atmosphere! Street food vendors and wine stalls, fresh oysters, grilled meats, champagne, wine, beer. Not only did I feel lonely, but the smell of food was making me queasy.
So, I left and went back down the hill. I didn’t want to go straight home, so I passed a park and entered. It was a lovely park. Kids were playing, adults were sitting on benches reading in the sun. There was a beautiful fountain and lots of mature trees and gardens. It was terraced. I came across the sign pictured to the right as I was leaving. I didn’t know what it said until I got home and put it through Google translate. Then it became crystal clear and made me sad again.
Finally, I walked inside the local cathedral. The first thing I noticed was a statue of a woman saint-Saint Rita. Okay, that clinched it. I’m just having a sad day. I get it.
UPDATE-I’m not as sad because I just hung up from talking to our Lisa on WhatsApp! I love you Lisa!
