It started with a really really long 10.5 hour plane ride (direct, thank Heaven!) to Charles de Gaulle airport outside of Paris. We found upon our arrival to LAX that Air France likes their passengers to be even more timely than necessary. The time that we were given as our boarding time was actually the time that they wanted to shut the cabin door and have everyone nestled safely in their vexatious airplane seats. So just as we got through security at LAX we heard our names over the loud airport PA system- ever so lovely though - as spoken by the lovely Air France employees with their Air France accents. I like my name, it sounds even better through French lips! We RAN to get to our seats as they shut the cabin door and we sat there for another 45 minutes until take-off time. UGH. I realize that I don't sleep on planes so I took plenty of backup sedation - to no avail. M slept as well as one can sleep on a plane but then myself.... not so much sleep. Needless to say that 10.5 hour flight was SO MUCH LONGER than 10.5 hours!
Arrival in Paris on Easter Sunday! We caught a cab to our hotel in the Paris Montmartre district on the hill - then I checked the room for Quel approval. CHECK - it was OK enough to sleep in. Then off to explore the city. We were hungry - not totally tired. I think I was running on adrenaline at that point because 4pm in Paris is 8am in LA. (or something like that, LA is 8 hours behind Paris). To start - I LOVED saying 'Bonjour' as we got in the cab and, 'merci' as we paid the cab driver and entered our hotel. The guy at the front desk greeted us with a cheery 'bonjour' as he checked us in. So lovely! So French! I was enjoying the trip already!
So we started walking the city - I had my camera out snapping pictures at everything as I was trying frantically to take it all in. I loved the architecture on all of the buildings. You'll see that I took several pictures of the doors- they have these big, colorful giant double doors on all the buildings. So Sweet! I took photos of all of the mopeds lining the streets and the cute little European cars. I loved seeing the cafes with all of the people enjoying their food and smoking. It was all so very French! So after exploring a few things, including one of the many cathedrals the Sainte-Marie Madeleine we decided we were famished and stopped at the adorable Cafe Madeleine across the street for a nosh. I was SO excited to have French coffee, French Coca-Cola, and of course food. It was delish and very French. I had omelet no cheese, fries, un cafe, and Coca-Cola. The omelette came with a side salad which met my high standards for salad and the whole meal was quite delicious and the waiter was very nice. There are no words for French coffee- its just so mmmm. There isn't a proper English word for it.
Arrival in Paris on Easter Sunday! We caught a cab to our hotel in the Paris Montmartre district on the hill - then I checked the room for Quel approval. CHECK - it was OK enough to sleep in. Then off to explore the city. We were hungry - not totally tired. I think I was running on adrenaline at that point because 4pm in Paris is 8am in LA. (or something like that, LA is 8 hours behind Paris). To start - I LOVED saying 'Bonjour' as we got in the cab and, 'merci' as we paid the cab driver and entered our hotel. The guy at the front desk greeted us with a cheery 'bonjour' as he checked us in. So lovely! So French! I was enjoying the trip already!
So we started walking the city - I had my camera out snapping pictures at everything as I was trying frantically to take it all in. I loved the architecture on all of the buildings. You'll see that I took several pictures of the doors- they have these big, colorful giant double doors on all the buildings. So Sweet! I took photos of all of the mopeds lining the streets and the cute little European cars. I loved seeing the cafes with all of the people enjoying their food and smoking. It was all so very French! So after exploring a few things, including one of the many cathedrals the Sainte-Marie Madeleine we decided we were famished and stopped at the adorable Cafe Madeleine across the street for a nosh. I was SO excited to have French coffee, French Coca-Cola, and of course food. It was delish and very French. I had omelet no cheese, fries, un cafe, and Coca-Cola. The omelette came with a side salad which met my high standards for salad and the whole meal was quite delicious and the waiter was very nice. There are no words for French coffee- its just so mmmm. There isn't a proper English word for it.
(Sainte-Marie Madeleine Cathedral)
We walked around that Sunday until after midnight. I knew that the pain I was feeling in my feet was just the beginning but I really didn't care. I was there to enjoy the city and take in as much as possible. The pain is only temporary. I'm sure we averaged walking at least 10 miles a day. We did take cabs and the Metro a lot too. Kudos to the Paris transit authority because the Metro system was relatively clean and simple to use. It was WAY less smelly than the Subway in NYC.
J'taime Paris!
More to come....I don't want to tease you for too long!
3 comments:
Do you speak french quel? You really are teasing me with only 1 picture! You talked about all the pic's you took, and only gave us one!!!
I speak a little French - I took 3 years of it in school. As soon as I booked my vacation I started brushing up again. I knew enough to order food (while making sure there was no meat in our meals- a little more difficult in Paris!), give the cabbies directions and etc. We tried to be respectful, spoke french whenever we could and usually asked in French, if they spoke English. Almost everyone there does so it worked.
sorry for the teases... I'm perfecting the pics to send them all at once! (Shhh I also drafted some of this last night and the rest this morning while at work... )
Looks like a beautiful trip Quel. So glad to hear about it.
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