arrival in Paris

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Our flight from SLO to LAX was uneventful if you don't count the process of going through the security which continues to evolve. We spent the night in Manhattan Beach with the Armstrongs (Toni's sister and husband Art). Reading the NY Times and the LA Times this morning with all of the ongoing disucssion about whether Greece will stay in the European Union I'm reminded about our previous trips to Europe . . . . it was a few years ago when we were in Paris and Governer Elliot Spitzer resigned and Bear Sterns blew up and the early days of the Great Recession were under way. Seems like we have a knack for being out of the US when big things happen and who knows how this current affair with Greece will turn out? But we'll be in Athens ahead of the June 17 vote but many other events can play out before that. First and foremost we have Paris and France on our minds and our visit with the Davidsons. The flight from LAX to ORD was pretty good and landed ahead of schedule but no meal; sitting on the aisle is the way to go. I finished Larry's book on my kindle and started in on Aesop's Fables. Upon arrival in Chicago we noticed that there was a waitlist screen and our names were not on it so we talked to an agent and vois la we are now 1 and 2 (tip to for the future), 1 is for sure but we told the agent that unless we got two we'd stay in couch, Toni asked about meals and we do get a dinner and breakfast. We talked about the next transatlantic flight which we both agreed should be to London and maybe we fly to NY and spend a week and then fly across the pond.

The flight to Paris was fine and our shuttle to our hotel was right on time. We walked about the l'Isle for 30 minuntes while our room was being made up and now we're checked in, we really like the location and our room is well appointed; we took a little nap and are now heading out for some dinner. This won't be a late night as we still need to get our brains in gear with time zone.

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Photos

we're waitlisted in 1st place
we could have had one but not two

the view across the Seine
Notre Dame just downstream

Comments

[Martin]

welcome to Europe
I also like Aesop fable, but the appropriate literature right now, would be the greek mythology. Europe is a greek word and not only for this reason I am sure that it will always be part of the european community (hopefully for the greeks sake though with another currency because the Euro is way to strong for them). According to the creek mythology Europa (Greek Ευρωπη) was a Levantine woman in Greek mythology, from whom the name of the continent Europe was ultimately taken. She was seduced by the god Zeus in the form of a bull and carried away to Crete on his back. Zeus was enamored of her and decided to seduce or rape her, the two being near-equivalent in Greek myth. He transformed himself into a white bull and mixed in with her father's herds. While Europa and her female attendants were gathering flowers, she saw the bull (the symbol of the Frankfurt stock exchange is a bull) and caressed his flanks and eventually got onto its back. Zeus took that chance and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus later re-created the shape of the white bull in the stars which is now known as the constellation Taurus. ....have fun in France