March 8, 2012
I boarded my flight in Seattle on Wednesday March 7th at around 2 pm. I still could not believe I was on my way to Paris. It felt so surreal. Somebody pinch me, please!
After Andrew being away on business for nearly two weeks, this was a very welcomed getaway for the two of us.
Air France was nothing short of pleasant. First of all, the plane was enormous -two rows of two on either side and a row of four across the middle. I was seated at the rear of the plane next to a French woman. We exchanged our hellos and then enjoyed a quiet nine hour flight.
I realize that this being a transatlantic flight meant that I paid a pretty penny for it, however, I couldn’t help but feel a little like royalty. We were served champagne within the first 30 minute of the flight followed by one feast of a dinner and dessert. Dinner was accompanied by wine. Finally we were offered a “digestif” of cognac.
I snoozed for a few hours on the flight, watched a couple of movies, and read my books and magazines. The movies were at no additional cost by the way, and the selection was vast. The lovely accompaniments and what felt like extras certainly made me feel like we get gipped when flying domestic.
About 2 hours before our arrival we were once again served a large breakfast with endless amounts of caffe. I was still nervous to use the very small amount of French I have learned in the past few weeks with the flight attendant. I was afraid that if I said one or two French words, he would try to unleash the entire French language on me, so I refrained.
We finally arrived at our long awaited destination 9 hours later. The flight passed quite quickly for me. It was 8 am in France and to me, it felt like it should be 8 am. Andrew was due to arrive around 10:15. I had to get through customs, find my bag and make my way to the terminal where he would be arriving from Copenhagen. A lot of walking, a few shuttles later and I had arrived at Terminal 1 where Andrew and I were reunited.
We made our way back to the RER, the regional express train, which was about a 20 minute train ride into Paris. We then connected with the metro and found our way to the hotel. When I first stepped out of the metro above ground, it hit me. I was in Paris! This was really happening. We stowed our bags at our hotel as our room wasn’t ready for us yet. We were both starving, so we started around the neighborhood to find some lunch. We happened upon one of the many cafes and decided to venture in. Thankfully everyone here seems to speak English because Andrew and I barely speak French. It was a little awkward stumbling around the menu but we managed ok. The café quickly filled up with other locals who were ready for lunch. Andrew ate the mushroom stuffed chicken breast and I had steak au pouvoir. This wasn’t exactly a gourmet meal, but it still left a nice impression on us, especially considering the dessert that followed. I had crepes suzette and Andrew ordered the brioche pain de purdue. (After watching Chopped, I actually knew that was just a fancy way of saying French toast.) My crepes were only ok, but his brioche was amazing. I’d go back just to eat that dessert.
We left lunch stuffed to the rafters and made our way back to the hotel. Thankfully our room was ready. My dad’s sister Cheryl lives here in Paris and has for many years. We had plans to visit with her on Saturday night. She left us a nice surprise of a welcome package at our hotel front desk. It was so pleasant to be welcomed by family in a foreign country. We were quite disappointed that our hotel didn’t seem to have internet access. We wanted to be able to stay connected back home especially since we are without our little sweeties. Our last hope was to find a place that had free wifi. Andrew is a well traveled man, and in his experience McDonalds always has free wifi. We hoped to run across a McDonalds at some point.
I snoozed for a few hours on the flight, watched a couple of movies, and read my books and magazines. The movies were at no additional cost by the way, and the selection was vast. The lovely accompaniments and what felt like extras certainly made me feel like we get gipped when flying domestic.
About 2 hours before our arrival we were once again served a large breakfast with endless amounts of caffe. I was still nervous to use the very small amount of French I have learned in the past few weeks with the flight attendant. I was afraid that if I said one or two French words, he would try to unleash the entire French language on me, so I refrained.
We finally arrived at our long awaited destination 9 hours later. The flight passed quite quickly for me. It was 8 am in France and to me, it felt like it should be 8 am. Andrew was due to arrive around 10:15. I had to get through customs, find my bag and make my way to the terminal where he would be arriving from Copenhagen. A lot of walking, a few shuttles later and I had arrived at Terminal 1 where Andrew and I were reunited.
We made our way back to the RER, the regional express train, which was about a 20 minute train ride into Paris. We then connected with the metro and found our way to the hotel. When I first stepped out of the metro above ground, it hit me. I was in Paris! This was really happening. We stowed our bags at our hotel as our room wasn’t ready for us yet. We were both starving, so we started around the neighborhood to find some lunch. We happened upon one of the many cafes and decided to venture in. Thankfully everyone here seems to speak English because Andrew and I barely speak French. It was a little awkward stumbling around the menu but we managed ok. The café quickly filled up with other locals who were ready for lunch. Andrew ate the mushroom stuffed chicken breast and I had steak au pouvoir. This wasn’t exactly a gourmet meal, but it still left a nice impression on us, especially considering the dessert that followed. I had crepes suzette and Andrew ordered the brioche pain de purdue. (After watching Chopped, I actually knew that was just a fancy way of saying French toast.) My crepes were only ok, but his brioche was amazing. I’d go back just to eat that dessert.
We left lunch stuffed to the rafters and made our way back to the hotel. Thankfully our room was ready. My dad’s sister Cheryl lives here in Paris and has for many years. We had plans to visit with her on Saturday night. She left us a nice surprise of a welcome package at our hotel front desk. It was so pleasant to be welcomed by family in a foreign country. We were quite disappointed that our hotel didn’t seem to have internet access. We wanted to be able to stay connected back home especially since we are without our little sweeties. Our last hope was to find a place that had free wifi. Andrew is a well traveled man, and in his experience McDonalds always has free wifi. We hoped to run across a McDonalds at some point.
After getting settled into the hotel, we decided to venture out and begin our sight seeing. First stop: the Eiffel Tower. We hopped back on the metro. By the way, have I mentioned that the metro is a genius invention? It makes it so easy to get around a huge city like Paris, or New York or Caracas. It can be a little intimidating at first, but once you get your bearings, it’s quite simple.
The Eiffel tower was so beautiful and elegant. It was everything I imagined it to be. As we approached it, I realized that it is probably the most recognized landmark in the entire world. I was trying to think of another landmark that compares as far as being world renown and the only one that came close was the statue of liberty. The sun was beginning to set, which cast the most perfect light for taking pictures. We walked from the park on the south side of the tower, across the Seine and on to the fountain to view it from another angle. We were thinking of going up the tower to see a view of the city, but since the line was so long we decided not to. I wanted to see the city in the daylight, and since the sun was setting I thought that by the time we got to the top, it would be too dark to distinguish the view. We may go back to do just that.
The Eiffel tower was so beautiful and elegant. It was everything I imagined it to be. As we approached it, I realized that it is probably the most recognized landmark in the entire world. I was trying to think of another landmark that compares as far as being world renown and the only one that came close was the statue of liberty. The sun was beginning to set, which cast the most perfect light for taking pictures. We walked from the park on the south side of the tower, across the Seine and on to the fountain to view it from another angle. We were thinking of going up the tower to see a view of the city, but since the line was so long we decided not to. I wanted to see the city in the daylight, and since the sun was setting I thought that by the time we got to the top, it would be too dark to distinguish the view. We may go back to do just that.
Next we made our way to the Champs Elysees, which is basically a large avenue filled with shopping. The end of the street is where Napoleon built his Arc du Triunf. We walked quite a bit of the champs elysees. We went into H&M and Sephora which were both enormous. According to Sephora, it was fashion week! Fashion week in Paris, are you kidding me? Maybe we can find a fashion show. I didn’t buy anything, but the more I think about it, the more I want to go back so that I can. Along the way, we found the McDonalds that Andrew swears had free wifi the last few times he had been here. No such luck for us. We were beginning to feel very worried that we wouldn’t be able to connect to the internet at all.
By this time we were both very hungry for dinner. We walked past many different restaurants but almost all were packed with patrons. We are still feeling quite intimidated by the language, so we were hoping for some friendly English speakers. We finally turned down a side street and found a nice little spot called Cafe Victoria. I was determined to at least ask the waiter if he spoke English (in French) but he beat me to it. He took one look at us and immediately spoke English. It was very comforting. Our dinner was fantastic, as was our service from the English speaking waiter. I had the duck shepherd’s pie and Andrew had lamb. Both dishes were rich with flavor and very enjoyable. We got to talking over dinner about how I think that Americans should be taught languages the way that Europeans are. The way that learning a language stretches a person’s mind would be so beneficial to every one of us. What a wonderful tool to be able to communicate with people, who otherwise you would never speak to. Yes, most of us learn a bit of French or Spanish in school, but I’m talking really learn the language. I am all for foreign exchange programs, because as far as I’m concerned, immersion is the only real way to learn a language. It made me eager to practice Spanish with the kids.
Which by the way, my natural instinct when trying to communicate with people has been to automatically switch to Spanish. I’ve never had to switch to anything else, so again this is a mind stretch.
We wrapped up our dinner and made our way back to the metro. We had to switch trains twice, but we made it back without any trouble. When we walked into the hotel lobby, we were ready to complain to the front desk about how the wifi doesn’t work at all. Instead we pulled out our phones and gave it another try. Voila! Free wifi. Merci beaucoup!
By this time we were both very hungry for dinner. We walked past many different restaurants but almost all were packed with patrons. We are still feeling quite intimidated by the language, so we were hoping for some friendly English speakers. We finally turned down a side street and found a nice little spot called Cafe Victoria. I was determined to at least ask the waiter if he spoke English (in French) but he beat me to it. He took one look at us and immediately spoke English. It was very comforting. Our dinner was fantastic, as was our service from the English speaking waiter. I had the duck shepherd’s pie and Andrew had lamb. Both dishes were rich with flavor and very enjoyable. We got to talking over dinner about how I think that Americans should be taught languages the way that Europeans are. The way that learning a language stretches a person’s mind would be so beneficial to every one of us. What a wonderful tool to be able to communicate with people, who otherwise you would never speak to. Yes, most of us learn a bit of French or Spanish in school, but I’m talking really learn the language. I am all for foreign exchange programs, because as far as I’m concerned, immersion is the only real way to learn a language. It made me eager to practice Spanish with the kids.
Which by the way, my natural instinct when trying to communicate with people has been to automatically switch to Spanish. I’ve never had to switch to anything else, so again this is a mind stretch.
We wrapped up our dinner and made our way back to the metro. We had to switch trains twice, but we made it back without any trouble. When we walked into the hotel lobby, we were ready to complain to the front desk about how the wifi doesn’t work at all. Instead we pulled out our phones and gave it another try. Voila! Free wifi. Merci beaucoup!
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