Chapter 38 -My 7 weeks in Paris, London, Scotland and Ireland

To the reader: The following are recollections and impressions of my 12 year old granddaughter, recorded by me. To experience the world through the eyes of a 12 year was a true gift. I am grateful to her parents for their trust, my husband, Richard, for his ongoing support and to her brother, for letting her go.

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My adventures begun on June 30th, 2019 when I woke up to a beautiful sunrise at the beach in San Salvador. After many hugs and kisses, I said goodbye to my family and Aba (my grandpa) – who had come to El Salvador to accompany me- and I got on the plane to Miami where we met up with MoManAziz (my grandma).

We had and overnight stay in Miami giving us a chance to go to Target for some last minute items and have a very delicious Cuban meal at Versailles restaurant.

We flew out to Paris on July 1 and arrived there on July 2, in the morning. We had rented our friends’ apartment on the 5th floor of a building right in the heart of Paris, close to everything we needed. The only thing we had to get used to was the climb, up 100 steps, to the apartment

Our first outing was to a shopping mall called “Galeries Lafayette” where we went to the rooftop for my first view of the Eiffel Tower. Pretty amazing!!! Walking back I saw the Grand Opera, had my first Parisian Starbucks drink at the oldest Starbucks cafe in Paris, and a freshly made crape from a stand right outside of the Starbucks.

The next day we got our metro passes which required a photo ID. We had fun taking photos in the photo booth and the very nice attendant cut the photos to size and made our passes for us. These passes are good for metro, RER and busses so we did not have to bother with buying individual tickets. I had intentionally not brought many cloths or shoes. Our friend suggested that we go to the biggest mall in Paris. She was right. I was able to buy a couple of nice and comfortable shoes. I then had my first Parisian Macarons. Not bad!

I had my first visit to Eiffel Tower, from outside. It is really awesome. On the way back I saw a man creating some pretty art using names. I decided to get one for each of my parents.

We had many unexpected and wonderful experiences during our travel. The first was to have breakfast with our friend from the States, Erica, her family and some others friends, at the well known Angelina restaurant. They have the creamiest hot chocolate. In the afternoon, we went back to the Galeries Lafayette and bought some cloths.

That night we were treated to a homemade dinner of steamed artichokes – my favorite — and other yummy food at our Parisian friends’ home.

I take horseback riding classes and like horses so my Dad had gotten us tickets to the “Longines Global Champions” event. We had a great time watching the world class horse jumpers in a very beautiful spot and I got to have an autograph from one of the World class French riders.

The following day we went to the D’Orsay museum. It is a beautiful, open and airy place. I liked many things but specially loved the statue of the boy with the dog the modern chairs and, like my Mom, the Monet’s paintings!

Our cousins from the States were in France for FIFA Women’s World Cup. It was awesome that they could come to Paris and join us for a special visit to Thomas Breakwell’s grave at the Pantin cemetery. He was one one of the early Baha’is in Europe. We bought some flowers and planted them in the boxes on his grave. We also said prayers and the special tablet which was revealed for him.

We then went to the neighborhood of the apartment where ‘Abdul’l-Bahá’ stayed in Paris in 1911, walked along the Seine River and had Pizza together.

I took a 5 day long art classes in Paris. There were seven students in the class which was led by a cartoonist. We had to create a fictional character with a good and bad personality and in collaboration with my classmates created a comic book.

We attended the observance of the Martyrdom of the Bab at one of the Baha’i friend’s home on July 10 at 1pm. It was good to meet several French Baha’is and see our cousins again.

The same evening we visited the Louvre museum and got to see the statue of Venus de milo, the Monalissa , and the middle eastern arts. I took some very nice photos.

I got to walk up the Champs–Élysées and climb up to the Arc de triomphe for a magnificent view of the city. It was my MoManAziz’s birthday so I tricked her in to telling me what she liked at the gift shop and I got her a pretty ornament, that she had liked, and a box of chocolate. Nice to surprise her and a good way to celebrate her 69th birthday.

The next day we went for a visit to the inside of the apartment where ‘Abdul’l-Bahá’ had stayed in Paris. We were to meet the guide somewhere nearby. While waiting we met other Baha’is who were going on the visit. Among them was a family from Perth, Australia. The visit was wonderful. We got to say prayers, have some tea and chocolate and learn about the history of the place from our very kind gentleman host.

After the visit we joined our new Australian friends for lunch at the oldest restaurant in Paris, Le Procope, where Napoleon’s hat was left to pay off his debt to the restaurant’s owner. Many other famous people had eaten there.

Along with our friends, we went for a walk up Montmatre to Sacre-Coeur basilica. Along the way, I got a French berets. Our visit to Sacre-Coeur included a walk up 350 steps up and down. You just can’t get away from stairs in Paris but after walking up and down the 100 steps at the apartment, my legs could handle it.

We made plans to see the new Spider Man movie at Paris’ best movie theater but when we got there they said all movies were in French. We decided to go see the movie, at a Theater near our apartment, the next day and I got a chance to see a great movie with my Australian buddies.

We visited the Musée de l’Orangerie. to see the magnificent Monet’s water lilies and then went the National Baha’i office and the bookstore. We finished the day by having our first Persian and best meal yet, Kabab and basmati rice with saffron, yogurt with cucumber and fresh bread. Our day was finished with a visit to the Disney store where I got my little cousin a belated birthday gift.

We took a day tour to the Palace of Varsille. There were way too many people in the palace so we did not get much out of it The best part was the walk in the gardens and the water show. It was a hot day so we were glad to get back to our cool and breezy apartment.

We had not planned to go to Disneyland, Paris. I was really happy when our kind Australian friends, invited us to join them there. I had a great time and was sad to say goodbye to them but guess what. We learned that they would be in London, in the same hotel, when we are there so we made plans to meet them for dinner later in the month.

Because of the recent fire, we were not sure if we could see much of the Norte Dam but to our surprise we were able to join a FREE two hour very informative tour and see all sides of the Norte Dom from outside.

We concluded our first stay in Paris on July 21. We took the train to London looking forward to our next adventures.

I had signed up for a weeklong course called “Minding Manners” near Hyde Park. Our hotel was about a 10 minute walk through the beautiful Kensington park. The gardens were amazing which made for a very nice, twice daily walk.

While I was in class from 10-3, MoManAziz got to explore London. We had taken the Big Bus tour of London earlier and since I had been in London last summer, I had suggested a few must see places to her. I think she was able to see and enjoy them all.

There were 20 attendees, ages 11-15 from at least 6 countries. 5 guys and 15 girls, in my Minding Manners course. We learned all sorts of things including proper eating, drinking, posture, handshake, etc., etc. One of our sessions was held at Kensington Palace.

The highlights of London stay was a visit to the resting place of Shoghi Effendi – Guardian of the Baha’i Faith – with some very nice friends of my MoManAziz. The custodians were very nice and gave me a beautiful booklet as a gift. After the visit we had a wonderful sushi lunch and were treated to a desert and hot drinks at a cozy cafe. I really like these very sweet friends.

We also got to meet up with other good friends to visit the Science Museum and was invited to a yummy dinner at their home.

On our last day, we visited the National Baha’i center of the United Kingdom and the bookstore and said goodbye to our dear friend, Patria, who is on the staff at the center .

The next day we took the 5 hour very scenic train ride to Edinbrough, Scotland and met up with some other wonderful friends who took us on a mini-tour of the city, highlighting the Harry Potter attractions. I really liked the story of Bobby the dog and the great lesson of loyalty.

The next day we started our, what I call our Harry Potter train ride, tour. Our two days was filled with excitement. We headed to the highlands of Scotland and saw some breathtaking scenery. Everything is green and there are so many mountains, lakes and rivers. We had an overnight stay in a very nice guest house and a great breakfast before taking the Jacobite AKA Hogwarts train. I was able to take many wonderful photos of this trip. On the way back we stopped to pet and feed a Hairy Coon (cow). They are really cute!!!

Our next adventure was in Ireland where we attended the 8 day Irish Baha’i summer school (IBSS).

The school is held on the large campus of Kilkenny college. Over 400 people attended the school, 25 of whom where about my age. We had an awesome time of learning on how to improve the world through our actions, socializing, playing, attending dances and entertainment, eating (three big meals a day), going to Circle K for slushy’s — oh so good- and developing life long friendship. I was up at 7am and in bed and 12am (one night till 2am) and never felt tired.

I was extremely sad to leave my friends at IBSS and had a hard time saying goodbye but was so happy to learn that I would be able to go to Bray to spend the afternoon with one of my best friends from IBSS. While in Bray we visited the resting place of a revered Baha’i, George Townsend, had ice cream on the beach and a great Asian dinner.

We flew back to Paris the next day and with exception of an exciting ride to the summit of Eiffel Tower, we spent the last couple of days resting and repacking our belongings — now including a duffle bag filled with 24 kilos of stuff.