Allo? Allo? Well, here we are in beautiful, downtown Paris! However, to begin, as they say, at the beginning … It was quite a rush to get through everything, clean the house and get packed and still get to the Phoenix airport for our 9:10 a.m. flight on Friday morning, but I did want to be able to see at least a little bit of the gem show as well! (I know…again?) Had a lovely day with Kathy and John Spiller poking around Tucson Electric Park and down near the freeway looking at rocks, minerals and jewelry; did find some wonderful Christmas presents! Then home for a fairly early night (it’s amazing … I normally don’t sleep the night before a trip … can we call this exhaustion??) – up at 3:45 a.m. and out the door by 4:38 a.m. Good drive to Phoenix, although looking for gas for our rental car was a challenge – got stuck by a VERY slow moving train…UGH! The frustration! Checked in at United with no problem, and were probably too early to have much of a line at Security! (The benefits of early-morning flights…) The plane was, in fact, already at the gate. Full but not packed flight, and we had great seats – first row behind 1st class (no business-class on this plane), three seats across and no one in the middle! So lots of room Phoenix-Washington/Dulles. We each bought a boxed assortment of goodies, and mine was great! (Much better than most airplane meals, actually!) It included a luncheon-size can of tuna mixed with lemon and pepper; gouda cheese and crackers, a small jar of hummus with pita chips, mini box of raisins and mini-Toberlone! Quite yummy; I was surprised!)
Arrived early into D.C. only to find that R had put his glasses in his pocket and that one of the lenses had fallen out! But unlike other glasses we’ve had, turns out that there was a very thin nylon wire holding the lens in! R tried to put it back himself with no luck … so, launched Backup Plan – as I had forgotten to pack extra glasses for either of us … duh… memo to the Packing Queen…Called Kathy Spiller, who has house key and lives 2 doors away. She fortunately was home (and is a WONDERFUL neighbor to rely on…or put out, as the case may be…) She went up to the house and found extra glasses stash – problem was, there were three pairs of glasses, and no way to tell which was “the” extra pair…so, send them all! Kathy and John then drove the glasses down to my office building and handed them over to Nicole, whose young man, Goyo, works for Fedex … and now they’re on their way here; should arrive on Monday! (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Kathy, Nic & Goyo!) So…back to Dulles…
Met a very nice couple while waiting for the plane; Louis and Colleen from Nashville, who were on their way to Paris to celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary! Very nice folks and hopefully we will be able to get together with them one night for dinner!
Plane was full again, but not packed (does make a difference). Good flight (somehow, after flying to Australia, any individual leg under 10 hours seems like nothing!!), good tailwind; 6 ½ hours; (how can I watch the same movie 4 times, we ask ourselves?). We had Premier Seating, which gives one a bit more room; no one in your lap; thankfully! Two seats by the window, 5 rows back. Food was OK; cheese stuffed pasta with tomato sauce, salad with Ranch, chocolate cake for dessert. Many seats were without working video (R’s included…), but not a problem – he slept! Grrr……I watched a very silly movie with Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman … Mr. Megiriam’s Wonder Emporium or something like that … very silly; also a movie with “The Rock” playing a pro quarterback and an unexpected daughter…still pretty silly, but better than the first movie! Also watch parts of Michael Clayton; not my kind of movie, but looked interesting. And before we knew it, voila, as they say, we were landing in Paris!
The usual anxious twinges waiting for our luggage … why is CDG airport always such an adventure?? It did come; YEA! Then we headed out toward the RER into town. And a brand-new system!! There is actually a shuttle train now that picks you up directly from Terminal 3 and takes you to the subway/train station! Really neat! We managed to get a direct train into town, and made it from CDG to the Luxembourg station in under half an hour! Half a block from the RER, and we were at our flat! Into the building, keys with the concierge, and we were in! And WOW! First thing to notice was a new flat-screen TV with cable!! WOW! (What a BIG difference from the rabbit-ears and trying to get the world cup games to come in fairly clearly…) And by this time, it was light! Actually doesn’t get light here at this time of year until around 8 a.m.! Temperature was somewhere around 4C; around 38F; clear and crisp; glad we brought winter coats!
I unpacked while R went downstairs to our boulangerie across the street for croissants and orange juice. Had a quick breakfast and gathered the carrier bags and headed out. First went to the RER station for a carnet of 10 bus/subway tickets; then back outside to catch a 21 bus down to Rue Mouffetard, our favorite shopping street. As we’ve never shopped in the winter before, we weren’t sure the outdoor part of the market would be open, but it was! But first, in our search for a computer “hot spot” we tried the local Starbuck’s (yes, sadly…) for coffee (R says it was weak) and chocolat chaud – which was GREAT! Unfortunately, their internet connection was down…oh well!
To be honest, I was fading by this time … and getting into my grid-lock mode where I couldn’t make decisions….poor Robert! We bought apartment basics – jam, butter, Kleenex, as well as some fruit and veggies (haricots verts, tomatoes and clementines) and lots and lots of cheese! (Two different shops – a cheese shop selling AMAZING Roquefort as well as our little Italian deli for parmesan and pecorino piquant.) When we had almost more than we could carry, we caught the bus back to the flat (the convenience of an apartment on bus lines cannot be overstated…). Grabbed a six-pack of bottled water at the 8a8 (huit a huit) next door (like a 7/11 only many fewer hours!) and jambon and fromage (ham and cheese) sandwiches (and two baguettes) from the bakery across the street. At this point I was gibbering, (it was about 11 a.m.) so after devouring the sandwiches, we decided to nap. Oh! As we were eating the sandwiches, R wondered aloud what all the cables were doing near the fireplace; they were different from our last visit. So, I investigated – to find that not only do we have a real TV, but Graciela has also gotten WI-FI in the apartment!! So we don’t even have to look for internet café’s or hot spots!! Yea! Thank you, Graciela!! Got up at 4 p.m. Showered (YEA!) and changed and headed out, renewed and refreshed into a beautiful afternoon.
Headed for the Luxembourg, where the first of our photos is taken. This is what Parisians do on the weekend! Go to the parks – they stroll, sit on benches, read books, talk with friends – play chess or petanique (like bowls or bocci) – but they do NOT sit on the grass! Amazing! We wandered through the garden and finally found the third Statue of Liberty that we knew was there but had never seen! (See picture!) This was done prior to the NY Statue of Liberty; just beautiful! So – through the Luxembourg and then headed out for a walk (remember those 10,000 steps…)
Visited St. Sulpice first, which will be remembered by anyone who read DaVinci Code as the church where one of the keys to the riddle was found buried at the end of the sun line. We have long collected sun lines. It was a way before published calendars for churches to figure out when Easter would be, based on where the sun fell at noon, shining through a small hole on the side of the building, on the bass line running through the church.
From there we walked down Rue Bonaparte all the way to the Seine. Turned right and headed back towards Saint Michel and l’Ecluse one of our favorite wine bars in Paris. Had the place almost to ourselves, and enjoyed a couple glasses of Saint Emilion (for me) and Pomerol (for R), served with small plates of salami. And WOW! NO SMOKING INSIDE, effective January 1! Really appears to be working, and for we non-smokers, it’s just a WONDERFUL change for the better!
By this time, (being the cheap drunk that I am) we decided to ride back to the flat, and there was a good old 27 bus for us to take. Did make it around the corner to our favorite wine shop (thankfully still open, as it was heading on for 7 p.m.); picked up two bottles of red and two of white (along with some chocolate…) and back to the flat. Had some of the amazing Roquefort and baguette as an appetizer, then headed out to the little Japanese restaurant across the street for dinner. We spit an order of shrimp tempura, and each had our own tepan-yaki – beef sauted with scallions and garlic, along with soup, salad and white rice. By this time, it was after 8 p.m. and talk about falling asleep in your food … so, back to the flat and to bed by 8:45; a truly wonderful day! I wasn’t aware of much until 9 this morning, so a great night’s sleep!
We’re now blogged and fed and ready to go; beautiful sunny day, not too cold! Not sure where we’re headed today; making it up as we go along. Don’t want to hit any museums because of crowds; may just wander! Also, one additional note. While some friends have been to Paris too many times to count, there are other friends who have never been. For these newcomers, we’re including some very basic Paris-type pictures – parks, streets, etc. – and hopefully even some of you old-time Paris travelers will enjoy!!
So, as they say – a demain!!
Much love,
M
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