The Adventure Begins

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THE TRAVEL

The day started early 4:30 am on Wednesday the 22nd the alarm went off and we slowly started preparing for the trip. I always have mixed emotions when beginning a trip 1) I hate to leave the cat Taraggon, even though he has a cat sitter, he knows were leaving and always seems sad 2) I hate flying. That aside, the first day of any trip is always long and hard.

We had finished packing early the night before, so only had the last minute items to pack. After a long good bye to Taraggon we called a cab and were off to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time to check in, for Jerry to smoke and get through security with time to spare. The best part was as we were chekcing in the attendant asked the purpose of my trip, I immediately said it was for my 50th birthday and she upgraded us to econonmy plus, it isn't business class but still 5 more inches of leg room is 5 more inches of leg room.

The flight from Portalnd to O'hare was uneventful except for the 30 minutes of hellish turbulence, did I mention I hate flying. We didn't crash, but I had to survive it with out the benefit of liqour as at $7 a drink I have better things to spend my money on in Paris.

There was a four hour lay over in O'hare, so we hate lunch. To our surprise we found a decent place to eat, sit down with waiter's. So if you have the time, got to Concourse B and eat at Stefani's Tuscanny Cafe. It was very good and it was in an airport, it in fact was the only place to really eat other than the tired fast food and kiosk vendors.

We boarded our flight to Paris and left on time, we didn't even have to wait in line to take off, just taxied out and took off. The flight was 8 hours long. I slept some, watched movies and practiced some French. Again we hit about 20 minutes of turbulence just south of Iceland, again no liqour.

We arrived in Paris on time and undamaged. The airport Charles Degaul, has had some major work done since I was last here in 1994 (been to Paris since then just not the airport). Immigration was a breeze, they asked zero questions stamped the pastport and on we went, they actually just seemed bored with the enitre thing. Luggae arrived fine and customs was non-existent, no forms, no questions, no searches barely a look as we walked out the gates, guess they don't care what you smuggle (and I didn't smuggle anyting, just in case Big Brother is reading).

We took the RER from the airport to Gare d Nord, one of the many train stations in Paris. From there we were to transfer to a metro to get to our hotel. The metro system is undergoing some renovation, which of course we were not aware of. We had mapped our route out earlier, but unbeknownst to us, that was not going to work becuase of the construction. We did have a bit of good fortune however. I want to say right now, what anyone has ever said about the French and specifically the Parisienes be rude to Americans are simply wrong. If it had not been for this one man we would have been totally lost. He (and no we didnt' get his name) saw us looking at the metro map after getting of the RER and asked where we were going, he then took the time to lead us through several ups, downs, passage ways to insure that we would get to our destination. He was on his way to work, which happened to be the same direction as us but he truly went above and beyond as when we got to the final stop where we would go our separate ways, he took Jerry to the ticket counter, so I could stay with the bags, to make sure we got the right tickets. Jerry's debit card would not work in the machine, so this kind man actually purchased our tickets for us. Who in Portland would go that far to help a tourist.

A bit of digression, I highly recommned taking the RER/metro to Paris from the airport 1) it is cheaper by far than a taxi 2) you see a part of paris you will never otherwise see. Now you might not like what you see, becuase it is the real paris, not the pretty Paris. We went by project after project (yes I mean projects like in New York, where you don't want to grow up and our lucky if you survive) 3) it just gives you time to get use to being in a new place.

To be honest, Paris is no different than any other big City. It has all the same charms and vices of say New York, or Boston. Of course the huge difference is the hundreds of years of history and culture.

After we came up from the Metro, we then headed for our hotel. Now, my very first trip to Paris in 1994 I stayed in a small hotle on Rue Cler (Rue Cler is this great little street full of bistro's, markets, etc., everything is fresh and beautiful, a great place to shop and cook a dinner to die for. I specifically want to stay in this area on my 50th birthday trip, the only change is more resturaunts the outdoor markets are the same.) Any way, I got a little turned around and had us going the wrong way, we were checking the map to get out bearings, when yet another very helpful Pariesenen offered her assistance. Two in one day. She walked up to us and asked if we needed help, actually volunterred, again I rearely see that happen at home.

We did find our hotel, dropped our bags off and headed for a little early wine thirty (keep in mind we have now been up for 20 hours). We sat at the bar, and becasue we did so they assumed we spoke French, locals typically sit at the bar not tourists. We fumbled through the langague issue and had some nice wine. Afte that we checked into the hotel, freshened up a little and head off to pick up our Paris Passes.

BIG TIP

When going to Paris, always purchae a Paris Pass, not a musum pass but a PARIS PASS, it gets you into over 60 attractions and museums and you get an unlimited metro pass. You can get 2 , 4 or 6 day passes. Even if you don't go to three attractions a day, it is worth the money for the metro and the time you save by not standing in lines to by tickets or get in, there are special lines for holders of the Paris Pass. As I blog, I will let you know what was part of the pass and what we had to pay extra for.

We found the location to get our Paris Passes, pretty easily, only one wrong turn. We then headed back to the hotel and explored our little home for an hour or so. I was lucky enough to find this wonderful place I ate 18 years ago, and we will be eating dinner there later tonight 17 euros for a three course dinner (the exchange rate is 1.3 dollars to the Euro) this is a great deal.

Finally, we walked to the Eiffel Tower and took our first picture, which I decided to use as the blog picture, what really says Paris more than the Eiffel Tower. We had wine-thirty at a little bistro on Rue Cler, then went to the market and baught a bottle of bordeaux wine, good bordeaux, for $6.11.

That about recaps the day. Closing note on the room. We are staying at Hotel Du Champ De Mars. The rooms are bigger than most, the bed is a little small, but we over look the street. It is reasonably priced and has free WiFi.

I hope you enjoyed this first entry, tomorrow we have a full day of art culture, and COLE PORTER, your not fully gay unless you track down the house Cole Porter lived in in Paris.

for now, Au revoir

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Photos

Eiffel Tower
A Portland like day In Paris