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Published: November 24th 2012
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page"~ St. Augustine
It's hard to believe that a passport can act like a mini-magic carpet that can whisk you off to any place in the world of your choosing. And thanks to that little magic carpet, here I am, finally in Paris!
We left Ottawa on a Dash-8 plane which is like traveling in a lunch box & being shaken up in a blender. We landed at Dorval and I tell you, we were all wobbly after we got off the flight.
We had a 2 hour layover in Dorval, so we went to have a drink. Marth suggested eating, and I reminded her I made food for our flight because I didn't want to eat, (for lack of a better word) crap on board and pay a fortune for it. So she says to me, "But I don't mind eating crap on the flight". Honestly after I go to all that trouble? Anyhow, do you want to know what I made us? OK...I made a cheese platter with old cheddar, havarti & brie, along with crackers, almonds, grapes, olives, a mini Greek
salad, and an Orzo Mediterranean salad and to top it off (ahem, Martha Stewart is getting jealous right about now), oven-roasted turkey sandwich with harvarti, lettuce & tomato with dijon-grain mustard on a baguette. I picked up two take-out containers for a couple of bucks and they worked amazing. I put my cooler bag in the freezer till we had to leave & I froze some grapes and brought a bag of ice to keep it all cold. I threw out the ice just before security then got fresh ice in Montreal at the bar to keep our food cold till our flight to Paris. (OK I heard some of you laugh right now; how well you know me to bring my own food.)
And guess who LOVED the little platter? Yep this person named Martha who darn near licked the container clean. AND the flight attendant noticed our plates and said, "that looks amazing" while the other poor dopes on the plane got rubber chicken. FYI: Marth is getting a bill for $25 in the mail for that meal. See side pic of my creation & Marth's empty container.
Thankfully we arrived safe and somewhat "sound" at
9 a.m. Paris time at Charles de Gaulle airport. (Paris is 6 hours ahead of Ottawa). We've been up over 24 hours now, after flying 7 hours overnight. I couldn't believe how quick we navigated through this airport and were on our way. I felt like the family dog with my head out the window taking in all the sights on the cab ride to the hotel!
Check in isn't till 2 PM, so Marth and I may be dozing off piled up on our luggage in the hotel lobby which I expect is highly frowned upon. I can hear the staff right now, "looook at zose dumb Canadians camping out in our lovely hotel, treating eet like a hostel".
Marth warned me about jet lag, and I did some research ahead of time on how to avoid jet lag. Me being the realist (pessimist) that I am, determined that there are as many remedies for jet lag as there are for curing hiccups, with the same kinds of success rates. I got a kick out of a few of them. Apparently someone has invented glasses that shine a light in your eyes when it's night, to fool
you into thinking it's day. Presumably when it's daytime, someone pokes your eyes out so you think it's night? Foolishness.
Someone just invented an 'Ostrich Pillow' which is a device that will "enable power naps anytime, anywhere," including in airport lounges and on planes. You wear it on your head, and it looks like a giant squash that's gone soft. You may end up avoiding jet lag but trust me, you won't have one shred of dignity left after wearing this contraption. If I see Martha running around the airport wearing this, I will pretend I've never met her in my life. (See hilarious pic of Ostrich pillow.)
Another jet lag remedy they say is to avoid drinking alcohol on the flight. Really? The person who wrote that little piece of advice clearly has never sat in front of kids who kicked the stuffing out of the back of your seat for almost 7 hours. Nor did they have someone taking a nap on your shoulder while snoring & drooling (thanks a lot Martha). Sometimes having a drink or two in my opinion saves worse things from happening, like er, um, lawsuits that ensue from throttling other people's kids who kick the back of your seat.
Overall, as much of a "die hard" that I am, I will kind of, sort of, maybe a little bit, admit to being a teensy bit tired. You know you're tired when you bring a neck pillow for the plane & instead end up using your purse leaving purse handles & zippers embedded in your face. Talk about jumping back when I saw myself in the plane's bathroom mirror. Forget "jet lag", this is more of a case of “jet hag”!
Flying overnight in my humble opinion helps curtail the jet lag, and the best advice I read seems to be that you adapt to your new time zone asap. And if absolutely necessary & you need to take a nap, it's recommended napping no more than 90 minutes. I shall let you know how all that goes. If all fails, a baseball bat to the head will be the best remedy to fix jet lag. I will try the bat on Martha first and see how it works. (god I hope Martha doesn't read these blogs). Oh and if she does, "Wow Marth, are you ever looking good these days...new hairdo?" (heh heh!)
Our hotel is as expected, small, refined, and with lots of charm. However, the elevator is SO small; Marth & I had to do rock paper and scissors to see which one of us got to go first cause it doesn't fit two people & luggage. I pretended to play the game and quickly hopped into the elevator when the doors opened & waved a quick goodbye to Marth. OK, I thought about doing that, but I allowed her to go first. See how you misjudged me? 😊
We've put our stuff away and have wandered out for lunch. One entree on the menu is, "Crispy braised pig’s trotter with lentils, frisée salad, and ginger vinaigrette." I must be tired because all of this sounds great, and normally I would refrain from eating anything with the word “trotter”, or “trot” in the description. But this time I may go hog-wild over this dish (get it, hog wild?) These puns just present themselves I tell ya.
Zoot alors! It's time to close my laptop as a beautiful glass of Chardonnay has been set before me by a very handsome Frenchman! (In reality I have no clue what he looks like, after a long day of travel, everyone looks good especially when there's wine involved!)
PS I will have to send a "part two" of our first day in another blog because I have extra pictures to go with our stroll around the city for 4 hours today!! My blisters have blisters because Marth said she knew where she was going. We are like something out of a comedy show; Lucy & Ethel are alive and well in Paris.
A Votre Sante!
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Joan
non-member comment
That is a marathon!!!
It is great to get your e-mail, I have been thinging of you. I am sure there is so much to see, where do you start? The title of that salad is not very appitizing with the word pig and trotter in it. Don't forget that I grew up on a farm and I saw alot of trotting pigs. Have a great time, Mom XOXO