It has been a whirlwind, these past two days.
Julia and Kevin graciously gave us a lift to the airport where we boarded our flight to Seattle. We ate a second breakfast at the Dungeness Bay Seafood House before waiting for our flight to Aeroport Charles de Gualle.
There were no issues with the flights. It is always an interesting spectacle to watch people line up far in advance just to be packed like sardines into an aluminium cigar tube. We waited patiently for the plane to board, observing all of the interesting people. The flight itself was uneventful. It was difficult and uncomfortable to sleep, even with pharmaceutical assistance. One should note that Delta Airlines has not yet bent to the will of the anti-peanut pressure group and they go about distributing "lightly salted peanuts" to passengers without concern. Good work, Delta Airlines. In a world where our rights and liberties as individuals appear to be continuously eroded, Delta Airlines stands out as a beacon of freedom...whether they know it or not.
Customs was a breeze with one of us having an EU passport, although April was slightly disappointed she didn't receive a stamp. Bill with his single Canadian citizenship had no problem going through with her. After retrieving our luggage, performing our morning ablutions, and changing into a new set of clothes in the airport, we found the tourist information booth where we bought our Paris Museum Pass for 6 days, which we will be using later on this month when we return to this delightful city.
After procuring the pass, we found an enterprising taxi operator, who already had a couple, to bring us to the airport.
The taxi ride was a rather exciting cultural experience in itself. Traffic customs and conventions are different than in Canada. They are much different than Victoria. How drivers judge distance between themselves, other vehicles, and pedestrians, is perhaps the biggest difference, and lines on the road appear to be more of a guideline than a rule.
The hotel is the Signature, at 5 Rue Chomel in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. It is a lovely boutique hotel and we were greeted by warm and friendly front desk staff who found us a room even though we arrived four hours before check-in . It is clean! Very clean! Furnished with new fixtures and a great shower setup. The linens are top, top quality. We found this out because our one hour nap, exponentially became a two hour rest, which because a four hour post-flight crash.
We finally decided that we better adjust to the time zone and left the hotel to do some wandering around the town. We meandered through the streets of Paris, found a late lunch/early dinner at a Patisserie near the Jardins de Luxumbourg where Bill ate his Jambon baguette and April had her brie baguette in the late afternoon sun.
We then trekked off to see the Eiffel Tower, again, meandering through the busy streets of Paris observing Parisennes enjoying their after work libations at the many cafes. The gilded dome of des Invalides sparkled in the sun.
We wandered around the base of the tower and took the obligatory Paris-Eiffel Tower pictures and strolled back to the hotel, showered and prepared for our trip tomorrow to Marseille. 15,322 steps and 11.92 km of walking according to April's phone... not back for just the afternoon/early evening after a 10 hour flight.
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| Bill "navigating" our way through Paris |
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| Baguette...mmmmm |
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| mmmmmm....Baguette |
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| L'hotel des invalides avec Avril |
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| Obligatory tourist shot |
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| A picture within a picture. Bill takes a photo of the "Eco-mouton" which are used to "mow" and "fertilize" the lawns. It's a brilliant idea and at the end of the summer, bound to be very delicious. |
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