Adam Mallon Photography

Oct 24th Paris, France – September 2009

While both of us had an opportunity to explore Paris alone en route to Southern Africa, we had a very quick opportunity to see it together on the way home. However, our flight was delayed leaving Johannesburg, meaning we had significantly less time when we landed than we had originally anticipated. Nonetheless, I wanted to try to rush to see Sacre Coeur , so we hopped a train away from Charles de Gaulle airport and headed in to the city.

What I hadn’t realized is that Sacre Coeur is no where near a train station, and it’s positioned at a high point in the city, so we ended up hiking uphill through the city with time our constant enemy. Megan, who hadn’t slept much on our overnight flight was not overly excited to be trudging through the city and even less excited about the idea of missing our plane. We finally arrived at the basilica but with little time to spare, I had to settle for a few quick shots outside the church.

Hurrying away, we hoped to grab a taxi back, but there was a street market that day and several blocks seemed to be closed to automobile traffic. It appeared to be a lovely little market, but we had no time to appreciate it and just hurried through. We finally reached a large busy street but how to hail a cab here? Nearby I saw a restauranteur opening up for the day. The perfect picture of a restauranteur in Paris, he wore and apron and a moustache and was sweeping the step in front of his store. I speak but poor French, and he spoke no English, but I somehow managed to explain to him our predicament. He ran in to the road, waving his arm, and seconds later we were in a cab heading back to the airport and to home.

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