We MADE it!

 

Wow, today has been a really, really long day, and I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be able to stay awake!  I can NEVER, repeat NEVER sleep on airplanes!  So … up on Monday morning about 4 am, bathed, showered and out the door a little after 5 am.  You really never know about the traffic going on The 10 to PHX, so we wanted to be there early…. So … actually not much traffic at all, and we gassed up the rental car and returned it to the rent-a-car center for PHX and were at the PHX itself about 7:35 am.  We dropped off our one checked bag with a lovely agent who printed our boarding passes all the way to Paris for us, and we headed to security.  Believe it or not, we had our very own TSA agent to check our info and then –- really, truly – there was NO ONE in front of us to scan our luggage!  Wow!  Great deal!  So, while we didn’t leave until about 11 am, we had a great experience to start, which is always a good sign!   

Our room!

Made it to the gate and found that the computers were shut down in all the shops – great, as I was definitely in need of water, and about an hour or so later, we were all advised that the power in general was out to a portion of the airport, which might cause flight delays!!??  The Shake Shack was operating somehow, and we had some excellent grilled hot dogs (no onions, alas…) for breakfast!  However, as our plane had already made its way to the gate, we had no 

problems, and actually pushed off about 15 minutes early!  Easy hour-long flight to LAX, and other than the fact that this was a VERY tiny aircraft (E175, I believe, if anyone cares…) all went

well.

Nice, Comfy seating area

 

Landed at LAX at Delta’s chaotic terminal – it reminded us of a few years ago when the Southwest terminal was being renovated and was a zoo… So … we followed signage, expecting that we would have to leave Delta’s terminal and head to Bradley (is it still called “The Bradley”?), where we would get our Air France flight – but NO!  They actually have a shuttle bus that took us across the runways and inner part of the airport to put us in the new International Terminal and - VOILA!  NO second check from TSA!  That was a true PLUS for sure!  The only drawback was that they didn’t have any real restaurants in the B Terminal, so we had to make do.  They did have several areas where you could get sandwiches, salads and drinks, or you could somehow use the QR code and order on-line for someone to magically, I suppose, appear with your food!  We opted for the pre-packaged, which was definitely easier.  I had an excellent Chef Salad, and R had a very acceptable ham and cheese on whole wheat sandwich.  They also had a GREAT CUPCAKE vending machine – called Sprinkles!  Wow!  (I did get the sprinkle-filled cupcake with matching frosting, but Jay --  they weren’t a patch on yours – but they did happen to be handy!  Very nice and quiet places with tables and benches; very comfortable.

Big bathroom!

 

We boarded our Air France plane right on time, about 2:30 pm for a 3:45 pm departure.  Again, we did manage to leave almost half an hour early!  We had the last two seats in the front section of economy, which was lovely – just the two of us, while all the other rows had 3 seats across.  Not full airplane, but definitely more than I had expected to see.  We also had a great tailwind and made it across in something like 9 hours and 45 minutes.  I do have to say, though, that while the Air France food was basic “airline food” their entertainment selection was fabulous!  Old movies, new movies – TV; it was great!  I did manage to watch Jungle Cruise three more times, as well as The Meg, an old friend.  And just like that, we were in Paris!

Love "my" tub!

 

I do want to say that as most of you know, not traveling internationally has been very difficult for me these past 2+ years.  As we were flying over France, I started crying, so that R ended up with a soggy, sorry mess on his hands.  I guess I never really believed that we would see Paris 

again – and now we’re here!

Pantheon, as we exit/enter our hotel!

 

There was absolutely no line at all to process through immigration, and – our one checked suitcase was the very FIRST suitcase off the plane!  How great is that?!!  Then we were on our way to our hotel!  R has decided that because of his advancing years, we were taking a cab into Paris rather than taking the usual RER B, which goes very close to Les Grandes Hommes.  Now, anyone who has ever been to Paris knows that Paris cab drivers are notorious for doing all sorts of strange things – we’ve seen them back up on a one-way street, speed through lights and lanes like nobody’s business, and yet our particular driver – if he hit 40 mph the ENTIRE way into town, it would be something!  Got us right to our door safely, though – although I really do think that some of the views from the RER B train into Paris – Stade de France, Sacre Coeur, Tour Eiffel – were better than on the perpetually clogged and occasionally underground highway.

 

Front view of the Pantheon

  

So … our room was ready for us in about half an hour, which was lovely!  We have frequently stayed at Les Grandes Hommes, which is situated directly next to the Pantheon, and most of the rooms have lovely views. This time, however, I opted for the larger room with HUGE bathroom and a nice terrace out the back.  SO nice having room to get everything organized.  One thing we have noticed in many countries, is that the hotels don’t really have the wonderful American equivalent of DRAWERS or drawer space.  Our room does, however, and we are really pleased. 

Katy/Hil - first photo with wine!

I got us unpacked and organized, and R set up the computer.  Finally, we both crashed about 3 pm for a nap until about 4:30 pm.  Then up and refreshed and out to look for something to eat.

First stop, though, was to the Luxembourg RER station, so that we could see about getting new transit passes.  I had brought our old passes with me, but as the Paris metro/RER/Bus etc. organizations have changed their traditional way of doing things, I was thinking they were probably expired.  They were.  However, we were able to purchase new passes, which then needed photographs to validate.  Being accustomed to the Luxembourg station, though, we quickly made our way to the self-portrait machine.  We were actually able to make it work, although we had our doubts for a while!  We paid for R’s photos, but we didn’t know where they went!  Turns out, rather than coming out inside the little booth, they came out in the front!  Who knew?! Wonder how many times a day that happens…Went back to the ticket counter, and the lovely man there actually cut out our pictures and put them into place, and then by ingenious folding, secured the entire pass together and put it in the holder!  We are good to go on Paris transit!  YEA!

Delicious vegetable soup

 

So … on to dinner!  We caught our old friend, the #27 bus, exactly where we have caught it for years.  Our plan was to head to L’Ecluse Madeleine for dinner.  #27 got us part of the way – across the Seine, but then there was some huge police activity (no idea what!) on Avenue de l’Opera, so everyone off the bus!  Walked from there to the Madeleine and found our restaurant.  It seemed, though, that we walked past dozens of really up-scale stores – Fendi, Gucci, Louis Vitton – you name it, they were open and in business!  Some of the stores also have Christmas

 lighting up, and it looks really wonderful!  

R's Durade with sauce and rice

 

The young man at L’Ecluse checked our health cards and led us to a table.  They have the QR codes listed so you can take a photo of them on your phone and get to the menus on line.  Lovely meal!  We had some wonderful Bordeaux wine (by the glass) and both started with their wonderful vegetable soup.  It was great and, as it was a COLD evening, just hit the spot!  For mains, R ordered Durade, a fish dish, which actually came without all the bones!  Yeah!  I ordered their Boeuf Bourgignon, and, while not up to Julia and Robert’s efforts, was very good and I enjoyed it very much.  No room even for dessert, so we decided to head back to the hotel.

My boeuf bourgignon!

Caught a bus in front of the Madeleine which took us down the Champs Elysses and off at Roosevelt stop.  From there we went down into the Metro and went Roosevelt to Chatelet and then right on the RERB to Luxembourg, and voila, we were back at the hotel! 

 

It is now almost 10:30 pm, and has been a really long day, so I am going to post this through the blog without the photos – don’t worry, we’re back to food pictures again, and I will add them and re-send them tomorrow when the world slows down a bit!

 

Love to all –

SO glad to be back in France!

m

xxx

 

PS – Robert told me tonight that until I expressed myself through tears on the plane this afternoon, he hadn’t really realized how much I missed traveling.  I thought he already knew!

m

xxx