I came home in time for the sandstorm, spring break and Easter weekend. It’s been crazy since we got back. Three days later and the dust is still settling on all the surfaces inside our house.
When we headed to Paris we caught a late flight and landed around 6:30am. The Parisians were incredibly pleasant and civilized in their visa/customs process. They not only had fully staffed counters, but other staff at key places directing passengers to the shortest lines. Way different than the every man for himself, Allah doesn’t care if you wait in a long line experience we had last month in Oman.
We grabbed our bags (Just a backpack for each of us) and headed for the train station (connected to the airport). We had to buy tickets from an agent because our US cards don’t have the chip/pin technology that the Europeans use. It’s not an issue in stores, where they can be swiped as normal, but they don’t work in transit machines that only read the embedded chips. No big deal, it gave Josh a chance to practice his French. He doesn’t speak French, but he is a natural with languages. There was a college aged girl in front of us who asked us for help with buying train tickets because the agent didn’t speak any English. Josh whipped out “blah de dah deaux billets un Paris” or something like that and she was on her way. I asked him how he knew what to say and he said he saw the word for ticket was “billet” and the rest was easy. Okaaay. I’d be holding up 2 fingers and asking “Paris?” or “Dos ticketos?” and hoping for the best. I guess after Arabic, all languages that use the English alphabet seem easy.
Riding the rails — about 45 minutes into the city.
We switched from the train to the Metro system (again, piece of cake) and rode a few more stops to our destination, the Bastille area. As we came aboveground we were greeted by a misty, gray sky. Wet streets, the smell of rain, and the sound of cars driving through puddles made it a novel paradise.
Only a few blocks away from our apartment, we took notes of shops to visit and restaurants to try as we walked.
Raspberries! I bought 2 baskets each day. And several flats of strawberries over the course of the week.
Strawberries are expensive in the land of sand . . . at $6 each these were probably expensive, but not to us! (and at this point the Euro was almost equal to the dollar so it was nice to be able to shop without having to convert for a change.)
Almost there! Our apartment was located above the restaurant with the blue awning.
This bar was a few doors down. Each time we walked by, the name would make us laugh.
The cool entryway to our place. There was a keypad on the street and when we typed in the code, the door would swing open automatically leading to this tunnel-like walkway. It was like something from Narnia or Harry Potter.
Our apartment looked out on this interior courtyard. It was nice because the windows let in light, but there was zero street noise.
Up our stairs
and we are home!
The apartment was warm, cozy and comfortable. We had plenty of room,
a small kitchen with a dishwasher, laundry and refrigerator,
and a very comfortable bed. I slept like the dead here — I’d fall asleep for a nap and 3 hours later wonder where the time went. I almost think it might be more comfortable than my bed here at home, but part of that could be that I didn’t have to share it with any little people or animals.
After dropping our things we decided to go find somewhere to have breakfast and we ate the first of several ham and cheese (jambon and fromage) omelettes with our coffee and pain au chocolat. Then we decided to explore the neighborhood on foot, heading toward the Seine river and Notre Dame.
Approaching from the smaller island
I realized that the last time I was in Paris we came at it from the opposite direction so I’d never gotten a good view of the back side.
I think it’s even more beautiful this time around.
Josh and I wandered through, admiring the stained glass windows (but only took a photo or 2 since they never look as good as in real life). We didn’t stick around wait in the long line to go up to see the gargoyles. We thought we might have time later in the trip, but it turned out that there was never really a good time for us to wait in line when there’s always so much more to see.
We walked past St. Chapelle (again, too long of a line to wait) and over the bridge to walk the path along the Seine. This view of the Louve shows how huge it is. The bridge in this photo is the famous Love Lock bridge. Too bad what people think is a romantic memory is ruining the bridge. The weight of all the locks is causing it to collapse so the government is cutting them off and replacing the metalwork with plexiglass. Yuck.
The plywood is a temporary solution so people can’t attach more locks
The protective covering — though some persistent romantics won’t be dissuaded.
We continued over the bridge, in front of the Louve, and into Tuleries Park. The sun was warm and the recliners in the park were a nice touch.
A fantastic Day 1 — and we hadn’t even had lunch yet.
