Today I flew to Paris! My day started with Mom dropping me off at the airport and enjoying the sunrise on the drive to SFO. I had a short flight to Seattle, then transferred to another flight that took me to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. I had friendly seat mates on both flights, one was heading home after a work trip to San Francisco then the next week was going to Italy with his daughter. On the flight to Paris, I sat next to a young man who was taking advantage of his time off in between jobs to go to Dubai, Istanbul and Germany. He was very excited as he had not ever traveled outside of the US. Despite having a comfortable seat, I wasn’t able to sleep much on the flight, so I caught up on a lot of the Academy Award Best Pictures that I’ve been wanting to see – Anatomy of a Fall, Oppenheimer and The Holdovers- all excellent, if at times gut-wrenching, movies. I was impressed with how tasty the food was on the flight. I think this is my first time flying Delta, so far so good.
After traveling through the Disneyland lines at immigration, I hopped on the train to Paris then caught the Metro to Marie’s place. There was a light rain falling when we met up to exchange keys to the flat for Wheat Chex, an American cereal that her son apparently adores! It was a 25 minute walk to the flat, at times challenging for my roller bag through the narrow and uneven sidewalks, though much easier than schlepping it up and down all the stairs in the metro!
The flat is a sweet, small place perfect for a solo week in France. After I acquainted myself with everything there, I went for a wander to get postcard stamps, something I’ve learned to always do first thing or I end up with a ton of postcards I’ve written, but not sent! I was hoping to buy some postcards and sit in a café and get them written, but the neighborhood I’m staying in is not very touristy there weren’t any places to buy postcards nearby.
So I decided to head to the Rodin Museum, a place I did not get to visit on my first trip to Paris. On the way, I passed a little outdoor market and bought a delicious pretzel with brie melted on top. I talked to the guy running the stand about an unusual pastry that was black on one side. He said it was a specialty from where he was from, and it had herbs and sour yogurt and something else in it, he said it was delicious. I considered getting one, but had already bought the cheese pretzel, I may go back another day and try it. I avoided the stands selling nougat and macarons knowing there would be plenty of time and opportunity for desserts. 🙂
The Rodin Museum was lovely and just what I needed, to be able to be outside looking at art. It’s a lovely oasis there. I also saw excited school kids having their lunch and getting photos taken posing with the statues as well as sketching them. Inside the mansion the artwork was so impressive – how he could get such detail and expression from marble and other materials is amazing. The large windows and soaring ceilings helped make the rooms feel uncrowded and light despite the grey skies.
By the time I finished looking around, I was really tired, so took the metro back stopping at the local grocery to get food. The prices were pretty reasonable, especially the log of the most delicious chèvre I’ve ever had for three euros! I got back and laid down for what I had planned to be a short nap. It felt so delicious to get off my feet and stretch out that I slept on and off for four hours! I eventually got up, had something to eat, and feeling re-energized and wanting to look around a little bit more, took the metro to see the Eiffel Tower lit up. I saw quite a few people with their dogs on the metro and several fruit and veggie stands. A group of German schoolboys got on a couple of stops after I did, and then exited to go check out the Eiffel Tower. They had a lot to say to each other especially when teenage girls were around!
At the Eiffel Tower it was rainy and relatively busy, I’m sure it’s like that much of the time, but it wasn’t difficult to get around. I stopped to take a picture outside the Olympic tourism office, where there was a Paris Je t’aime sign. A family was taking a photo of their adorable three-year-old daughter. I commented on how cute she was and they offered to take a picture of me. On the way back, I walked by the Seine, then headed back to the flat, ready for a good night’s sleep.
