Plane to, and first day in Paris

My flight was at 7pm on Thursday and was supposed to get in at 8:30 am, on Friday in Paris. At the terminal I was one of the lucky people who was flying Air France instead of Delta. Since we were a small minority on the plane, we didn't have to wait in line and were able to get to our seats almost immediately. I was given no choice but a middle seat. This turned out to be an aisle seat since the couple I was sitting with intentionally reserved the outer two seats, in the hope that nobody would take the middle.

They are a young couple originally from Austin Texas, who moved to NYC on a whim four years ago, and are doing well. They were going on a short vacation to Paris, Budapest, I think, and Prague, meaning we shared two destinations. The husband and I had a lot in common: engineers, New York City, Paris, and Prague. We had the same bank too, but that's not a good conversation starter. I could tell they had good senses of humor when they started joking about the social hour going on in the middle aisle; two groups of strangers had made friends and were standing and conversing while everyone else was sitting or getting ready. They were possibly the best neighbors I've had on a plane ever.

The food was quite good, and the wine was decent. I happily read my phrase book and began to master the five phrases necessary to get around: hello, thank you, please, I don't speak French, and where is the.... I shared some advice I'd been given, always say bon jour or bon soir when you greet someone. This was paramount when interacting in France, but I saw this detail was forgotten when we arrived. After two hours of plane time, we had the tools necessary for the trip. If you can't remember these phrases, the other option is to simply break into English whenever someone is speaking French at you. I think everyone has employed this tactic.

We decided that we were all going to watch The Hangover together and then pass out. The three of us put the movie on our individual screens and had synchronized movie time. It was great because we were all laughing and chuckling together. My new friends made it part way before falling asleep. The movie was pretty funny, but never made me burst out laughing. It reminded me of Dude Where's My Car, but the characters weren't as dumb.

Since my neighbors were asleep I decided to watch another movie. This time I chose Terminator Salvation. The movie wasn't great. The special effects were cool, the story was decent, but some parts seemed irrelevant or impossible, like anyone fighting a machine in hand to hand combat and living, or the dude giving his life at the end. The funniest part was when Arnold appears and looks twenty years younger. Bravo to the special effects people for that. I also liked that Marla Singer was in the movie, I think that's her name. I was happy when this movie was over and when breakfast came. They gave us bread and bread with chocolate, coffee, and orange juice.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, and we arrived thirty minutes early to a rainy Charles de Gaulle airport. It has to be one of the nicest airports I've seen, there was lots of lime green colored glass, it was well lit, and it didn't smell of old cigarettes. To get out bags we had to take various escalators, a train, moving walkways and had to go through customs. Our bags came quickly, so we left that area and went to get money. The first ATM was broken, but the one upstairs worked. While we waited on line there was an argument going on between two security people, the girl standing behind us was crying, and some random guy started talking to us. I told the girl to cheer up, but I think she misunderstood me and started to talk about the weather, which saved us both some embarrassment, but didn't cheer her up since it was raining. Turns out my friend couldn't withdraw money, so I got mine and then we proceeded, a little more annoyed than before, to the train area. We waited on line for tickets but were cut because the machine didn't accept bills. While we got change, we were asked by someone for money, but we couldn't understand him so we just told him no. We finally got our eight fifty euro tickets. On the train, the wife fell asleep, while the husband and I talked. We exchanged information and said goodbye.

My ticket wouldn't let me get on another train so I asked information and they gave me a new ticket. Turns out the hotel is right in the middle of the city and is only two blocks from the train station. It's five blocks from Hotel de Ville, and therefore only a little farther from Notre Dame. The lobby is very nice, especially for writing, there are many wooden tables, and chairs. The style of renovation they used left the wooden beams in the ceiling exposed, thus giving the place an old look, but making it brighter and clean. The stairs are strange because they're very short steps, and crooked, but they're a spiral as many of the staircases here are.

Two little things happened on the way to the hotel, some guy jumped in behind me hitching a ride on my ticket, and when I was walking to my hotel three police officers stopped a kid on a bike. When I looked back he was pushing the bike.

I spoke to the receptionist or whatever it's called. I smartly, as it was ten am, used my newly acquired French, “bon jour.” Then went straight into English. I couldn't get into my room until three pm, so I had to leave my stuff in the luggage room. Luckily it was only an hour before my aunt and uncle arrived, but the lack of sleep was making it very difficult to wait even that long. The phrase book was putting me to sleep so I went for a walk. There is a middle or elementary school around the corner. Some kids were sitting outside it smoking, while inside the gates a group of younger kids ran laps around a sandy field. I forgot to mention it, but this whole time I was hiding my hair under my bright orange hat, so people weren't giving me that many strange stares. Well actually I was still getting stared at because I was wearing discordant clothing. My blue and pink/red hair poked out from under the orange hat; my black shirt described the knowledge gained from video games; my white shorts were pinstriped, and had cargo pockets; my white socks were different lengths. It was chilly so I think I was the only person wearing shorts that day. I thoroughly didn't match, but that's normal for me.

Window in the hostel

My aunt and uncle laughed a little when they saw me. I was told we were going for a long walk and would be meeting our friend at seven in front of Shakespeare and Company. This is an English speaking bookstore in Paris that I'm told is famous. I put on a hood and we commenced our walk. There are two islands in the Seine which are right near my hotel/hostel, Ile St. Louis and Ile de la Cite (I wish I knew how to accent these letters). We walked through the narrow streets past many small shops and even past the hotel that my parents stayed at when they came to Paris many years ago. We stopped at a cafe and had some cafe and food.

At a Cafe

The cafe from a bridge

Our walk took us past Notre Dame and over the Seine a couple times. The river and the stone lining and banks are beautiful. The walkways at the river level are really cool and look like a fun place to hang out or walk along. On one of the bridges we saw a bike tour group, which was really cool especially because they were on mini bicycles. There was a very long line for getting atop Notre Dame. We cut through the people, past the bookstore and into the Latin Quarter. I was becoming very fatigued, so we decided that I would nap at their apartment while they went around. We walked back and I took a much needed nap on their bed.

I went back to the Hotel at 6 to get checked in and to change for dinner, since shorts aren't appropriate. The room is nice and sleeps four people. There is a shared shower for the room and a shared bathroom for the floor. I took a top bunk by putting my stuff on it, including my hat. I walked to the meeting place meeting my aunt, uncle, and our friend Shelly. She took us to a restaurant a short walk from there and we sat eating and talking until late, maybe ten or later. We had a delicious goat cheese salad to share, a bottle of wine and sparkling water. I got penne, which was pretty good, but it didn't matter since I was hungry. We all had cafe and then went for a walk through the area.

Shakespeare and Company

Notre Dame at night

Hotel de Ville at night

The area was bustling with people, doing all sorts of things, some people were walking around with drinks, some sitting, some smoking, some riding bikes. There were many wonderful looking restaurants, including one that had an amazing looking balcony that was barely big enough to fit a table. We went inside to warm up and take a look around. I thought the menu was not too pricey for a fancy restaurant, but my aunt pointed out that thirty euro is like forty five dollars. I was very lost at this point, only knowing we were on the left bank (I think) of the Seine. We went through the “tacky” part of the Latin Quarter, where there were some cheap t-shirt shops, along with some club looking places and many bars. We were going to a jazz bar, but the band or whoever had already left, so we decided to have a drink across the street. However, when our friend asked to go to the bathroom the manager told her to drink first, so we had to leave. We went to a quiet place around the corner, and I paid eight fifty for a French beer. That's like twelve dollars or so, and I thought I was going the cheap route buying a beer, instead of a liquor. The conversation was lively and the drinks good, but I had to retire before they locked me out of the hostel at one.