June 25--Paris

We left the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport at 5:30, and arrived in Paris at 9:oo a.m. local time. Did anybody manage to sleep more than 3 hours? Not likely, despite the freely provided sleep mask, ear plugs and head phones for the inflight radio.

We landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, which is larger and more confusing than is believable, even without the language barrier. However, we sailed through customs, f0und all our luggage, and made it to a taxi stand.

Thus came my first real test with a native English speaker. Our taxi driver did not speak much English, and I last studied French back in college. Even though that was only six months ago (ha ha). I did manage to get him our address and paid!

We found this B&B on the internet, which looked amazing--and then we saw it in person, and there was no way that photos could do this place justice. It is GORGEOUS. An ENORMOUS apartment a block from the Seine, decorated in glorious colors and textures and objets d'art--very very French. The girls were speechless, and Emily grabbed a camera and documented just about everything in the place.



Then we told them to look out the window. At that point, Hannah's eyes just glowed, and Emily could only say "Dude!" Yup, it was just that impressive.
































That is the actual view from our bedroom window. No lie.

We were greeted by the housekeeper Jola, a woman about our age from Poland who has been in France 10 years now and has very little English. We managed with Cris's and my limited French and her limited English. Thank god for the excellent and expressive Franglais language.

We got the keys, got a tour, and were on our own.








So of course, we went straight to the Eiffel Tower. What can one say about the overwhelmingly ubiquitous symbol of France? That it is taller and more beautiful in person than you can begin to appreciate from the pictures? That is it swarming with tourists from everywhere? That it is delicate and lacy and each of the four legs ("pillars" officially) has a small elevator that runs up to the first and second landings? At least two pillars had people walking the stairs as well--hundreds and hundreds of stairs.

And much less junk than you might imagine. Sure, there were some unofficial sellers of key chains and models of the tower in all sizes, but they were clearly novices, as they ran in packs of at least 3-4, saying only "un euro? Un Euro?" Nothing like the hoardes of street vendors you find at D.C. tourist spots. At one point, a tribe of about two dozen ran by, with variations on the same few pieces. I wonder how successful they are.

The Eiffel Tower is hard to comprehend all at once, and from up close. So after a quick lunch quayside, we piled onto a Batobus and toured the Seine. Which was just about as wonderful as you would imagine, except for the severe jet lag.


















So we got out and walked around Notre Dame. Which is just as amazing as you would also imagine, except for the lines. So we walked to the Conciergerie and viewed the huge medieval hall and the prison cells of the Revolution, including the reconstruction of Marie-Antoinette's cell, where she spent her last days before being tried and executed.

In front of Notre Dame is a "Crypte Archeologic" remains of building construction on the Ile de la Citie dating back to Roman times. Of course, under ordinary circumstances, this is the kind of location where we would trace the ebb and flow of populations over time, link dates with significant events in Western Canon, and basically be the biggest geeks imaginable. Because we are loopy with jet lag, we note that it is cool, and then we move on.

Then it was back to the Batobus, with a brief stop by Cris and Hannah at Shakespeare and Co., a famous used book store on the Rive Gauche about a hundred yards west of Notre Dame. We circled Ile de Saint-Louis and Ile de la Citie, and started looking for a place for dinner. We ended up at Chez Andre, a recommendation from Scott and Barbara who ate there about a month ago. Wine was drunk, bread was scarfed, dessert was gulped--and there was food there too. Cris got the best, a to-die-for risotto with grilled scallops that he made many happy noises while eating.

Once we got back to our rooms, I completely checked out. I lay down on the bed, and woke up the next morning, still in my clothes and still on top of the covers. It's amazing just how good a good sleep feels.

More pictures later! I promise!