This morning, I had scheduled a reunion with a French tutor I’d met last summer. (Her name is also Lisa.) We arranged to meet in her area, dans le 8ème arrondissement, pas de problème.

OK, what is it with me and maps?

I can follow the City Mapper application and Google Maps as pertains to buses and subways, but once on-foot, I feel a disconnect. The little blue circle, which indicates where I am on the map seems to always be going the wrong way. But I can never tell until I start moving and then I hear « Re-routing. »

Is it me? I know it is. I’m just looking for sympathy.

I need a lesson. It happened in Amsterdam, too, so I know it’s my brain. Yet, I do get to places, it’s just once in awhile, I don’t.

Today was one of those « don’t » days. Well, really, it was a late arrival kind of day. Twice. In one day. <sigh>

So, after finding my way out of the Saint-Lazare Métro (which is HUGE), I walked for 20 minutes and finally arrived at my French tutor session. I was hot and exhausted. It was supposed to be an easy trek. Switching platforms for the two subway lines was easy, as always, and then I was on foot. Turn left, turn right – when there weren’t places to TURN. What? I also find the directions are WAY ahead of where I actually am. For example, I’ll hear « You’ve arrived at your destination » when clearly I have not.

I literally had 3 map apps going at once, praying one of them would help me.

Anyway, I had a good session with Lisa. She knows my weaknesses in French, so she pushes me. She has invited me to a soirée next week, and I will go, provided I can find it. No promises because it’s in the 18ème, and it’s not a neighborhood I know well.

Just to be clear, it’s me, I know, I’m the problem, it’s me*, because everyone else swears by Google Maps, and I do too. Sometimes. What also gets me is when you are on foot, starting out, and they say « Go southwest… » I seriously don’t know how they expect me to know that.

*Swifties reference

End of rant. Until tomorrow when I get lost again.

I don’t know another place I’d rather get lost in than Paris, though, do you? I decided to try to find a pedicure nearby. My feet have suffered with all these walks and stairs and cobblestones, as I’ve mentioned. Sure enough, there was a salon around the corner. (Yes, I used Google Maps and found it with ease this time!)

I talked to the two managers all the while I was there. They were from Vietnam, and knew English as well as French. The one guy confided in me that his French was bad — he was so happy I spoke English. We had a lovely conversation. He does some cool nail art, too! He left home to live in Paris on his own. He’s a young guy. I told him he was very brave.

The woman who runs the shop is a family friend of his mother’s, and she told me in French that my face was « formidable ». I love that because that word has so many meanings. It could mean immense, terrible, enormous. And it could also mean magnificent, extraordinary, and stunning. So, I thanked her – in English and French. And she complimented my French, too, which you all know makes my day – especially having just come from a French language session, where French are known to say pas mal (not bad) as a compliment. Anyway, they couldn’t have been kinder.

I took my red painted toenails peeking out of my sandals to the next Métro Station, and made it home, no problem.

In an hour, I would be heading out again for my tour of the Marais. I was traveling two Métro stops away, so how lost could I get this time?

Don’t answer that.

I got lost. This time, in my own arrondissement. Can I just say that Paris is NOT a grid city. I cannot believe how many fits and starts I had once I exited the Métro. Turn left. Go straight. You’ve arrived. That little blue circle that’s supposed to be « ME » on the map, doesn’t work until you’ve walked 1/4 mile in the wrong direction.

I made it, but I was late – but lucky. Why? The family that was scheduled for the tour along with me had a sick child, and had to exit the event. So, it was just me and the guide – just like yesterday in Montmartre for the photo shoot. We had great tour, Sarah and I, and I learned a lot about the Marais (the old marsh land once outside of Paris, now part of Paris).

After viewing ancient buildings and enjoying the diversity of the quartier, I told Sarah she just had to see my apartment and its crazy beams. Since it was just the two of us, and we hit it off so well, I suggested she end the tour near the Bastille. I brought her up to my apartment, and let her see all the stairwells, and the beams in my place. She was astounded. Couldn’t believe it! So, we exchanged contact information, and now follow each other on Social Media.

I love Paris and its people.