Day 1 - Arrival

I got to the airport way too early, but it took very little time to drop my bag, go through security, and get to the gate.  It was a beautiful day to fly.  Blue sky, Mt. Rainier looming in the near distance with Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood lined up behind her. The flight took off on time and I had a nice (and good looking) Frenchman sitting next to me. He works for Amazon and few into Seattle on Monday for a meeting on Tuesday, so slept most of the way back to Paris on Wednesday.  He took a big box of king crab home with him.  As usual, I couldn't sleep on the plane - after all, it was barely my bedtime at home when we landed in Paris at 7:15 am Paris time.

Getting deboarded and on my way was a breeze.  It took a little less than an hour to get off the plane, stop at "les toilettes," grab my suitcase that was on the conveyor when I got there, buy a SIM card for my phone, and get into a taxi.

It took about an hour to get to the hotel as I was in the midst of the morning rush hour.  Riding in the taxi was a little unnerving because even though I gave the driver a note with the hotel's name and address on it, I kept wondering if he knew where he was going because for most of the trip nothing looks familiar.  It is all suburbia - dull, grey, hulking apartment buildings, commercial buildings, and lots of cars.  When he finally got off the expressway onto surface streets where I could see familiar street names and the arrondissiment number, I could finally relax.  However, the guy overcharged me.  It is supposed to be 50 euros flat to the Right Bank or 55 euros to the Left Bank. My hotel is on the Right Bank and I didn't notice until we were underway that he had 55 euros plus a 4 euro supplement on the meter.  I didn't want to mention it while we were in traffic, but did upon arrival.  He claimed it was correct, but I know it is 50 euros - no supplement - for up to 4 passengers and luggage.  Unfortunately, I don't know enough French to argue the point, so my 50 euro ride cost 59. Arrrrgh!

Once at the hotel, I was warmly greeted and checked in, and my room was ready at 9:15 am! So, I could go to my room, unpack and rest up a bit.  Nice.  The room is actually pretty big by Paris standards. I have a good sized bed - bigger than a double - and a little sofa in an alcove.  The closet is small, but there are shelves for storage and a place to stash my bags.  Bathroom is small.  It is billed as a "simple" single room and lists for 320 euros per night (according to the list at the front desk), but that is more than what I've seen it advertised for on the hotel's website, and my rate is only 123 because I booked so early and I'm staying for 10 nights, so got a special rate, including breakfast.  It is a 4-star hotel, but that is mostly due to the fact that they have a bar and 2 elevators (good sized ones by European standards).  The star system here is a little different than in the US as it refers more to the amenities than to the level of luxury. It has a lovely breakfast room in an atrium overlooking a garden. Mom and I stayed here in 1994.

After a short rest, I went out.  I was really hungry, but it was too early for lunch.  There is a McDonald's up on the corner and I thought I would go in to get something, but then I spied a
Starbucks and decided that was the lesser of the two evils (I never go to either when I am in Paris unless I need "les toilettes).  So, I got a chocolate chip cookie to tide me over.  I went down into the Metro station to load up my Navigo pass (22.80 euros for a week, but this will only last me through Sunday when I will need to reload for next week - worth it for the convenience, though, as I can go anywhere in the Ile de France, including Disneyland Paris). Then, I set out to find the bus stop.

The hotel is just off Rue Lafayette, which is one-way going east, so the west-bound buses run on parallel streets a couple of blocks away.  I caught the #42 as my destination was Rue Royal off Place de la Madeleine. The bus goes behind the Opera Garnier, so I was able to get a glimpse of the holiday windows at Galleries Lafayette, as well as around La Madeleine.  Though it wasn't a very long trip - its actually walkable in a more direct route - it took quite awhile because of the traffic and narrow streets.  I got off at Rue Royal and went to Laduree (famous for macrons) for lunch. I had their club sandwich, which is quite good.  But, only in Paris do they give you bread when you order a sandwich. Normally, I would pass on the bread, but it was warm and there was butter!  Usually, the bread is fresh, but not warm, and they rarely serve butter except at breakfast.  So, of course, I had to have some of that bread with butter. I skipped the macrons, though.

After lunch, I was so tired, I just went back to the hotel, and took a short nap.  After I woke up, the funeral service in Houston for George Bush was on CNN, and I was glad to be able to watch that since I didn't get to see the service at the National Cathedral yesterday.

I went out again around six.  The street the hotel is on is a small market street that has limited vehicular traffic.  When Mom and I were here in 1994 I thought it was rather dark without much here, but since then there are more shops and cafes as well as a lot of lively foot traffic.  I had a hamburger at a cafe down the street.  It would have been excellent except that the meat was practically raw.  The waitress noticed I was eating around the meat and asked if it was okay.  I explained that it was too rare, so she took it back to the kitchen.  When it came back, it was still rarer than I like, but I could eat it.  I can eat rare steak, but I like my ground meat cooked through.  She was very nice about it, and the pommes frites and beer were good.

It is pretty warm here.  Cloudy today, but it didn't rain. I was really overly warm in my raincoat, but saw so many people in puffy jackets and scarves wrapped around their necks.  The forecast is for cooling over the weekend, so I expect it to be sunny and colder next week.

There is to be a big demonstration on Saturday.  The plan is for the demonstrators to march from La Bastille in the 11th arrondissiment to the Arc du Triomphe in the 8th, so traffic on the route will be disrupted and it will be difficult to get across the river to the Left Bank from here.  I had tickets for a ballet demonstration at the Opera House on Saturday, but I received notification that it has been cancelled and my money will be refunded.  The booking  for a holiday lights tour I had for Saturday evening has been changed to Wednesday as well.  So, I think I will go to Montmartre on Saturday - that is just about as far from the demonstration - they call it a manifestation here (sounds less threatening?) - as I can get and still be North of the river. I just hope this will be a peaceful demonstration without the violence of last Saturday.

Well, that was a pretty full first day and I'm really zonked, so hope I can sleep well tonight.