We land in Paris just after noon. It’s our first trip to Europe together! The flight was 8 hours and we managed to get some intermittent rest. We go through customs, where my passport won’t register electronically, and I am ushered to a lady who examined it closely. She playfully tells me that this picture isn’t me and I’ll have to go back to the U.S. She hands me back my passport with a smile. My heart rate is up just a little, but I am happy for her lighthearted welcome.
We gather our luggage and I am thankful, as I took many hours carefully choosing and packing for this six week adventure. Our Uber driver takes us through Paris and I am holding back tears as the beauty of the tall, old buildings is indescribable. As we approach our destination, the beauty seems to fade as we enter a less desirable area of this quaint town.
Before we began this trip, we reminded ourselves that as travelers, we will be gracious, flexible and adventurous. I took slow, easy breaths and told myself to relax. We were dropped off on the street in front of the apartment building. As directed, my husband went into the little market across the street to get the keys. We find the entrance, take the elevator up to the sixth floor and are greeted by a completely dark hallway. Black. We search for a light switch for about five minutes. Once the light is on, we find the door to our apartment by trial and error. We try our key in three different doors before we are successful. The doors are not numbered or labeled in any way.
We walk into the room and again, tell ourselves that it will be okay. It’s not, though. We’re tired, as we’ve been up now for over 30 hours. As flexible as we want to be, we realized this place is not the place for us. We quickly find another place to stay. Shawn calls the gentleman who rented us the apartment and lets him know that this won’t work for us and shares the details. In short, it was not clean. The bedding had not been washed between customers. There was dirty laundry spilling over the basket sitting out on the balcony.
We take a breath, find a new place and are able to book online for the week. We return the keys to the market and an Uber picks us up and drives us several miles across town. We walk into our little hotel, Hotel Garden-Elysee, and are greeted by two smiling young ladies who get us checked in. They explain to us that to get around the town during opening ceremonies of the Olympics, we must apply on line for a pass. We are in a red zone which means that security is of great importance. They help us begin that procedure and we are thankful for the direction. We are not guaranteed to be granted the pass.
We get up to our room which is small and functional, as well as clean. It overlooks a beautiful garden. We shower, change, and go out for the evening.
We find a sweet restaurant with sidewalk seating and enjoy our first meal of the day at Brasserie le Kleber, as well as a delicious glass of Bordeaux. We notice a lot of police activity at many intersections. Our server goes out to speak to the police officers who are all very young and interactive with each other, as well as with the people on the street. He comes back and tells us that they are practicing for the security of the Olympics. He said that also, the President of France is expected to arrive here in Paris tomorrow.
There are people driving cars, riding motorcycles and bicycles, walking in groups, in couples, solo, pushing baby strollers and suitcases or simply walking quickly to get to their destinations. They are going in all directions on the street with no seeming order, maneuvering around each other. Two ladies who know each other run into each other on the street and stop to have a long conversation. Shawn and I both took French in high school. Now I wish I had taken a refresher course. This is all such a busy sight to see.,
After enjoying our dinner, we stroll through the city blocks. There are chain link barriers guiding people in ongoing preparation for Olympic security. The Eiffel Tower is visible to us throughout our walk, and we also can see and hear helicopters overhead. We pass a group of military personnel, also young, like the police officers, and have an understanding of just how important security seems for the upcoming event.
At nine p.m., we land back at our hotel. Our bed is comfy and we drift off to sleep…we are thankful to be on this adventure together.
I am looking forward to reading your book .
Thank you! It will be my focus after our travels! I’ll keep you posted!
Paris is a beautiful place. I am happy that you and Shawn are enjoying your visit.
So beautiful! I know you’ve enjoyed it as well!