PARIS! A Summer Vacation
Everyone has an uncomfortable flight story.
Thank the good lord that mine wasn't the worst I'd heard before, but it was certainly not a dream come true (you know, that maybe one day I'll sit next to an attractive guy with a great personality.) I had chosen a seat with the most leg room, right behind business class, and there was a lovely French girl seated next to me at the beginning of the flight. Before takeoff, the attendants came over and asked one of us to move because they needed to seat a mother and her baby there for safety. My seat mate agreed to change her seat so the woman moved in with her child. The attendant set up the bassinet on the wall in front of us, which took up a lot of space. Throughout the flight, I felt like my space was encroached upon due to the sheer size of the woman sitting next to me, her (almost equally-sized) husband, and the bassinet, which stayed up during the entire flight. I was climbed over, leaned over, and talked over since the husband was seated a few rows back and would come up to visit. I barely slept, though I desperately wanted to, since it was an overnight flight.
We touched down and the weather was steamy at midday. After I wound my way through the Charles De Gaulle airport, whisked along in a tram, and spot-checked through customs, I found my sister! Her flight had arrived about 2 hours before mine and she was waiting for me. We gathered our things, stopped by the toilette, and began our journey into Paris proper! It began by purchasing a train ticket pass and packet for transportation around the different Zones. When we made it into the inner circle, we transferred to the #2 (blue) line and waited for a train for 45 minutes. This was highly unusual, according to a very nice woman on the platform. The delay was due to construction, and there were no trains passing through the station in either direction for that entire block of time.
Thank the good lord that mine wasn't the worst I'd heard before, but it was certainly not a dream come true (you know, that maybe one day I'll sit next to an attractive guy with a great personality.) I had chosen a seat with the most leg room, right behind business class, and there was a lovely French girl seated next to me at the beginning of the flight. Before takeoff, the attendants came over and asked one of us to move because they needed to seat a mother and her baby there for safety. My seat mate agreed to change her seat so the woman moved in with her child. The attendant set up the bassinet on the wall in front of us, which took up a lot of space. Throughout the flight, I felt like my space was encroached upon due to the sheer size of the woman sitting next to me, her (almost equally-sized) husband, and the bassinet, which stayed up during the entire flight. I was climbed over, leaned over, and talked over since the husband was seated a few rows back and would come up to visit. I barely slept, though I desperately wanted to, since it was an overnight flight.
We touched down and the weather was steamy at midday. After I wound my way through the Charles De Gaulle airport, whisked along in a tram, and spot-checked through customs, I found my sister! Her flight had arrived about 2 hours before mine and she was waiting for me. We gathered our things, stopped by the toilette, and began our journey into Paris proper! It began by purchasing a train ticket pass and packet for transportation around the different Zones. When we made it into the inner circle, we transferred to the #2 (blue) line and waited for a train for 45 minutes. This was highly unusual, according to a very nice woman on the platform. The delay was due to construction, and there were no trains passing through the station in either direction for that entire block of time.
Me and my sister
These are the stairs we walked up each day (7 flights) to the apartment.
But the view was amazing!
In Starbucks, which is where we could find wifi, this is how they spelled my name...
When we took the trains inside of Paris, this is what they looked like:
You could walk from one end of the train to the other without the car doors, and the space between was constructed like a long bus with accordion sides and floor panels.
This is the Arc De Triomphe, which was only about a 10-minute walk from us! We passed this view several times during our stay.
One tip: don't try to cross this traffic circle. We saw some tourists trying, but it's incredibly dangerous and there are signs in plenty of languages surrounding the circle discouraging people from doing that.
One evening, after we had walked the entire Champs-Élysées, we decided to ride the ferris wheel to get a view of the city at night. Well worth the 12 Euros!
One evening, after we had walked the entire Champs-Élysées, we decided to ride the ferris wheel to get a view of the city at night. Well worth the 12 Euros!
Since we were there a few days before Bastille Day, we saw the city setting up for the Bastille Day parade all along the Champs-Élysées.
This is the absurdly massive Abercrombie and FItch store on the Champs-Élysées, which has a gilded gate, stone pathway, and four levels of cologne-infused American clothing. (You could smell it from outside...)
This is the Egyptian Obelisk that stands at the end of the Champs-Élysées.
After we spent time on the wheel, we decided to walk to get some food, since it was 1am and we weren't tired! (Not quite settled into French time). We went to an Italian(?) sports(?) bar one block off the Champs-Élysées, where the waitress spoke to us in Spanish and we ordered pizza, mozzarella sticks, and beer. The mozz sticks came with a sweet ketchup, which was not bad.
Then off to bed for us at 4am... More on the next day!
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