Paris: Day 1

We awoke on a US Airways plane just before we entered into France. Shortly thereafter, we landed at Paris Roissy Charles de Gaul airport. There was a little confusion over customs lines, but we quickly made our way out, retrieved our luggage, and were met by our driver. We knew he was there for us, because he was holding up a sign that said, "Elias Preston." We loaded the luggage into the van, strapped Rebecca into the child safety seat, and soon we were whizzing through the suburbs and onto the peripherique around Paris. As we were driving through the streets of the outskirts of the city, it looked very...urban. I'm sure Ramy and my mother were wondering why on earth I had wanted to come here. Soon, however, we got into the city center and within about 45 minutes, we were at our apartment in the 4th arrondisement (the Marais neighborhood). The previous renters were just checking out, and the cleaning crew was going to be there cleaning. We were able to drop our bags though, and we set out to explore the city!

The first thing we noticed was that we were just across the street from a metro station! This awareness was quickly overshadowed by our second recognition, which was all the food shops close to our apartment. Namely, there were two patisseries within just a few steps from our door! (There was also a Starbucks directly across from our apartment, but we ignored that). There was also a fromagerie (cheese shop), a boulangerie (bread store), a mielerie (a honey shop), as well as the Monoprix (supermarket that also sells things like clothes). Our first taste of how Parisian life is different from home is that, as we gazed with tongues lapping at the wonderful pastries and other goodies in one of the patisseries, we were astounded (and a bit horrified) to see that a pigeon had flown in and got into the display case! There was a pigeon walking on the fruit tarts! We were gawking, along with some other passersby (who were probably American tourists also), and the shop owner shooed us away. I am certain that a Parisian purchased that fruit tart without any knowledge (or concern) about pigeon feet walking on their raspberry tart!

We stopped into St. Paul's church briefly before continuing our Marais walk.















We ended up at the Place des Voges, where a lot of folks were hanging out and enjoying the beautiful weather. There were also many couples making out. Like, full on, making out. We noticed this in most every park. I think the Parisians really are into it being the city of love, because it's hard to imagine that making out in front of a bunch of kids playing tag is really that mood-inducing.

Rebecca enjoyed running and playing in the sun. There were a lot of children playing on the slides and swings and in the sandbox. Rebecca, not feeling out of place in the least, joined in without hesitation, never mind that all of the children were speaking French and she was not.

The adults in our group were starting to really feel the effects of an overnight international flight, so we didn't tarry long in the park, for fear we would all fall asleep.









We stopped at the Monoprix and loaded up on some goodies to stock the apartment, and on the way back to the apartment, we stopped for lunch. It was a perfect example of a little Parisian cafe. We sat at a small table on the sidewalk, having sandwiches on baguettes spread with Ementhal cheese, of which I was enamored. Barely able to keep our eyes open, we made it back to the apartment, just after the cleaning crew left. We glanced around, showered, and then took a long nap!

Although we may have slept the afternoon away, we were all up and ready for our first night in Paris! We had a date with the Tour Eiffel, and he did not disappoint! But first, we had to make sense of the subway system. This was a larger adventure than I had thought, as there were many intricacies associated with purchasing subway tickets! The screen of the first machine was all in French, and the diagrams did not help me. Being clever, I surreptitiously watched some experts use their cards to buy tickets, and then I discovered that the machines on the other side also had English versions. Finally, after realizing that you have to leave the card in the card reader while you are making the transaction, rather than just swiping it the way we usually do, I had a carnet of tickets. We got on the right subway, made the correct change, and felt quite smug when we got off at the subway station close to the Eiffel Tower. We all gasped when we first saw it! To make us feel even more safe, there were many military types walking around with automatic weapons. Who says the French aren't friendly?