Paris Arrival

Met our special guest star (Ronnie) at Charles De Galle Airport this morning at about 6:30 am. We had a very pleasant saunter through central Paris including a stop at Shakespeare and Company and a walk through the Tuileries Gardens. The highlight was lunch with an amazing view. Ronnie treated me to a belated 60th birthday lunch in the Madame Brasserie on the first level of the Eiffel Tower. It was delicious, the weather was perfect, and the view was spectacular. We saw several of the temporary sports arenas they’re creating for the Olympics — two in the Place de la Concorde and one right next to the Eiffel Tower. Paris creates a beautiful backdrop for these venues the way that they have them tucked into the Parisian cityscape. After that we returned to our hotel near the Gare du Nord so she could crash. That first day is tough with the time change and no sleep on the plane. Plus, we walked over 6 miles. I’m not sure if her nap will turn into a full night’s sleep but either way it’s fine. We’re close to Montmartre so I took a walk up there. I’ll head back up there if she doesn’t wake up. We’re in a strategic location for train travel, but the hotel isn’t great. We just needed something convenient and Paris is so expensive, so I kind of cheaped out on this first one. It was still really expensive compared to my little Spanish hotel rooms on the Camino. For the rest of the trip we’ll have nice accommodations but here we just needed a layover. Ronnie doesn’t seem to mind. She’s exhausted. The whole place though just seems like it’s ready to fall apart. It’s full of happy tourists who were all probably in the same boat — needing one affordable night near the station — but the guy at reception is directly out of the French videos Janice and I used to watch on PBS — French in Action. He has a cartoonish, Mr. Bean quality to him and bumbles through every interaction. I just spent 20 minutes with him trying to print our train tickets. Just when he finally got the computer figured out, only one page printed. Sure enough the paper tray was empty and so began the next Mr. Bean bit — didn’t know where the refill paper was, jammed the first page, need to reprint, back to the computer mayhem. And of course he says “É voilà!” when he hands over the printouts. He was so nice though, I just considered it part of the show. Ronnie just texted me that her nap is done, so we’re gonna go for a walk up to Montmartre.Read more