Getting there

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9/4/09

Well, I must say, Air France is just about the best for us Economy travelers! We boarded our AF flight to Paris at 3:30 San Francisco time and once we were on our way, out came the champagne for the aperitif. (all of this is free) Next came dinner that consisted of shrimp and tabbouleh for an appetizer, beef burgundy, mashed potatoes and vegetables for a main course, fruit, cheese, a brownie, of course the baguette and as much red or white wine as you could want. If perhaps after dinner you'd like coffee, tea or a cordial, that too is free. Wondered what the folks in First Class were getting - wow!

It's a long flight and that's all you can say. AF is a great airline and makes the trip as good as it can be for 10 or 11 hours. Not only is the food good and wine plentiful, but you can get up and go back to the galley and help yourself to water, soft drinks or juice at any time. Each seat has it's own movie screen and they have a wide array of choices for films, TV shows, etc. But of course, you can catch up on lots of great French movies you haven't yet seen - which I did: Coco Avant Chanel (Audrey Tatou - really really good!), The Class (interesting, gives a very different view of Paris - from the “projects”) and one called Lili and the Baobab Tree. Breakfast was a baguette, cheese, ham, yogurt, juice, sweet roll, canned fruit cocktail (when was the last time you had that??!), coffee or tea - very filling and certainly healthy enough if you just ditched the sweet roll.

Saturday, 9/5

Landed at CDG about 1:45 AM California time, 10:45 AM Paris time Saturday morning. We took a taxi to Paris (really really worth it at around E45 ) - such a great way to get into town and to the apt. after a long flight - the RER train and Metro is a lot cheaper, but unless you have one backpack and don't mind the up and down stairs of changing trains - spend the money!

It was so great to be back in Paris! The outskirts coming into the city from the airport look like any other huge city - passed the giant IKEA and other French versions of the same urban ugliness that we have. Except for the freeway signs and billboards in French, it could have been I-80 in Emeryville (ooo, maybe not that bad!).

But then, all of a sudden it seems, you are into Paris: tree-lined boulevards, old churches, shops and neighborhoods and it is suddenly very very different and very very wonderful. Our apartment is in the 7th Arrondissment or district of Paris, very close to the center of Paris. Paris has a total of 20 arrondissments all going out in a circular fashion from the Isle de la Cite in the Seine where Notre Dame is located. We are less than 2 blocks from the Seine, across the River from the Louvre and one block from the Musee d'Orsay. You just can't do better as far as I can see! Not one McDonalds or Starbucks here - although you will find them around the Sorbonne in the 5th as that's where so many young college students are - but you can more easily tolerate McDo's there as it is located in an area that also contains the Pantheon, the Sorbonne and the Luxmbourg Gardens - you kind of don't notice the McDo's!!

We got into our little “home away from home”, our studio apt. at 43 Rue de Verneuil on the 3rd floor of a very old building (as they all are anyway!). The third floor in France = the 4th in the US as the first floor is counted as zero. So it's a bit of a hike up 4 flights with a ton of luggage up a narrow wooden circular stairway - but who cares - it's beautiful and we're in Paris!! Our apartment is so cute and just perfect and feels like a nice cozy familiar home. Even though we've only been here once before, it all feels so familiar and comfortable!

Connected with Sarah, Jon, Bob and Bethia and it is so fun to see once's family and friends in a completely unique environment! What to do first? Decide on one of the hundreds of adorable cafes to have some lunch and wine! Which we did on the corner of Rue du Bac and Rue de Verneuil - the first difference you notice is that there is a family inside with their old Boxer dog sitting patiently by the table waiting for a hand-out France is a very very dog-friendly country and people bring their dogs to restaurants and everywhere and they always seem to be so well behaved and (or course) tres civilized!

For lunch: Tartine Mr. Seguin and the vin du mois (wine of the month). Wine is so cheap here and really good everyday reds for $4.00 or so a glass (E2.80). Cokes cost $7 so why bother with those?? Meals always include bread and carafes of water - that goes without saying. The Tartine is an open faced grilled sandwich - so good! Mine had ham, chevre, and another cheese, grilled to crispy and served on top of a green salad. Super filling and so delicious! Washed down with a light red, great company, laughing family and the very sleepy realization that we are finally here - it's a pretty happy afternoon!

Bob and Bethia checked into their little apartment on Rue du Bac, a block from us and also from Sarah & Jon. Renting a small apartment is absolutely the way to go here. It's less expensive than a hotel room and needless to say, you get lots more for your money. The 7th is a very expensive neighborhood so the hotels will run anywhere from $200+ per night. Rent a little studio for half of that and you are in business. Our undying gratitude to our friends Bill and Ed in Sebastopol for befriending us 3 years ago at a Santa Rosa book fair and extending to us the rental of their apartments in Paris!

After we all went our separate ways to try and handle our respective jet lags setting in, Dan and I did one of my very favorite favorite things in Paris: we went food shopping!!! Within a 2 block range, there is the Androuet cheese shop, the Boucherie/Charcuterie (butcher shop/deli), green grocer, Nicholas wine shop and the little Proxi for a little bit of everything (the Paris version of Mom & Pop corner store). I LOVE the green grocer in the next block of Rue de Verneuil. There is an elderly gentlemen who “works” there and he is a delight! Grew up in New York and then moved to Paris with his family after grammar school, he makes hanging out at the market an event you want to go on and on. After our initial greetings, we go on to picking out some fruit and he helps choose the freshest pieces - “Do you want this for today or tomorrow?” “How about one for today and one for tomorrow?” (the nectarines for instance) And the lettuce! Everything comes from the local farms and in France they have a head lettuce that looks like butter lettuce but is larger, greener and the leaves are thicker. It is so flavorful you can have it as a salad or steam it as a cooked green. Wow!

Next, it is on to the cheese shop, another heavenly experience. The proprietor does speak English, so you don't really have to know your cheeses and he helped us pick out a variety of goat cheeses - and the choices at even a small shop are a bit overwhelming! Goat, cow and sheep cheeses, some wrapped in grape leaves, some rolled in ash, some with olives, different rinds, different ages and all so fabulous! They also have the cured meats and jams that go so well with French cheeses: Saucisson (a type of salami), procuitto and other hams. Wow!

A quick trip to the Nicholas where the proprietor is good friends with Bill and Ed, so we introduce ourselves as friends and he helps us to pick out some nice everyday Bordeaux - my favorites - as well as helping us decide on the right champagne to bring for the after-marriage toast at the Church on Thursday. At the Charcuterie, we pick out a wonderful roasted chicken for tomorrow's dinner as well as some saucisson for appetizer, and roasted potatoes. Bob and Bethia are coming over for dinner Sunday evening so I think we are about set! Tomorrow is Sunday and everything except the Proxi and the bakery on the corner are closed, so we need to lay in some provisions. A last stop at the Proxi across the street for some eggs and yogurt and up the stairs to home.

It's now about 6 PM in Paris and we've been up for nearly 36 hours, so getting a bit frayed around the edges! But it is so exciting to be here, it's hard to settle down. I'm tempted to run out for a last glass of wine with Jon, my almost son-in-law, but finally let sensibility rule, and stay in to take a shower, get cozy and play with this blog. We can't seem to sneak onto a wireless signal locally, so will have to wait until we are at an internet cafe to check our emails and transfer this to the actual blog.

To bed at 8 and oops here it is 3 AM and we are wide awake! It's about 3:30 AM right now, Dan is reading and we are going to pretend to get more sleep before the sun comes up and we can officially start out day. That's one thing about being on vacation and especially in a place like Paris. You can't wait for the day to begin - and the bakery to open!

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