Clearly, I still have it. I had only gotten as far as Paris’ baggage claim before the first young and pretty French woman threw herself at me, even with Meredith standing there. Mer thought the woman only wanted me to grab her luggage before it went by me, but that was clearly a flimsy excuse. Sorry, ladies – this one is taken.
The first day is a long travel day, and while our travel was smoothly uneventful, from waking up in Ohio to getting into bed for a nap in Paris was about twenty-eight hours. Lesson one – make sure your hotel is easy to get to by public transportation from the airport. Our hotel is really nice, and it is in a quiet business sector, but it is south of the Seine River, while the airport is fairly far north of the city. Getting to the hotel required two Metro trains and a tram, and then a half-mile wander through a maze of streets, all on a foggy brain. I need to remember this for future travel – make the first hotel an easy one to get to.
We did get to our hotel and checked in around 5:00, and we slept until 7:00. I was in charge of today, so we walked though residential neighborhoods, which we like to do, for about thirty minutes, ending up at a crepe restaurant with a limited view of the Eiffel Tower. After a fine meal, we walked over to the Seine, where I wanted to walk along the man-made island called the Ile aux Cygnes (Swan Island). It is only about thirty feet wide, and has good views of all the river traffic. Much of the path is lined with fine mature trees, and one end of the island looks up at the Eiffel Tower, while the other end is the location of a small version of the Statue of Liberty. We had never been on the island before, and it was a mellow way to be in the heart of Paris.
After the Ile aux Cygnes, we walked back to the hotel area. I had hoped to explore a park, including the scientific balloon you can pay fifteen dollars to ride up in, but sadly, the park closed at 9:30 and we got there at 10:30. Next time.
On to Belgium tomorrow, if all goes well. Paris got an abbreviated treatment today, but it treated us right well.