Paris, France

Said farewell to our host Suzanne and cousins Marshal and Alissa and headed to the airport. As luck would have it we gave ourselves 2.5 hours and were sitting at the gate in 15 minutes munching on our travel food for lack of anything better to do.

We finally got on board! The plane was a massive 777 with those great 180* flat folding seats in first class...which we did not get to sit in, nor the 3/4 folding seats in 2nd, nor the extra leg room seats in third. Nope, we travelled with the rest if the French teenagers...in the back of the plane. Boy were they rowdy! I think mom stayed up partying with them most of the night but I put in my earplugs, rolled up in my towelette sized blanket and went to sleep.

We landed safe and sound at Charles de Gaul and made our way across three full lengths of the airport from gate to passport control to customs to train...why do they put all these thing on opposite ends of the longest airport? Boy we put in the miles and hadn't even left the airport yet!

We took the train to Gare du Nord where we fought our way out of the station...only because we couldn't find the exit...and rolled our hungry selves down to the not nearest cafe. Ah! Our first real French coffee...I don't think the swill they serve in the plane counts and I swear that croissant was a rice cake.

Tummies and tastebuds happy we rolled further down to our little Hotel Williams Opera and got settled in. Neither of us knew how to use the bidet and we were both too embarassed to ask the front desk, so we hit the streets of Paris "mostly" clean.

We walked down to the Opera Garnier, but were too late to get in. So we went to a decadent little chocolate shop that sold single serving gelatis in lucious flavors like salted caramel and chocolate tatonka...no, not buffalo, cinnamon.

We miraculously saved our ice cream long enough to walk over to the church of
Magdalene...which looks like a very well preserved Parthenon for Christians (only a couple tiny crucifixes)...and ate our ice cream on the steps.

Sated and sticky, we walked on...and on...and on...to Pont Alexandre and eventually La Tour Eiffel! Mel, being the ingenious girl she is found the shortest line. Only after we stood in it for 45 minutes did we realize it was the "stairs only" line...sigh. Up, up, up we climbed...150 meters to amazimg views.

We stood in another line to go up to the top, but after 1/2 hour waiting we found that we needed to stand in ANOTHER line to get another ticket to get to the top. Damn the French lines! We opted to go down instead...another line for the lift...and decided to take the stairs...& couldn't find them! Notice a theme here? Trapped on the Eiffel tour! Like a bad sci-fi movie.

Eventually we got down with aching feet and hobbled off in the direction of the nearest subway.

After la tour we went to grab a bite to eat a bit away from la tour (the menu was still in English). There we met Lauren and her dad Brian, travellers from the OC. We exchanged travel stories and enjoyed dinner...I love that you can order wine by the cl here...14cl for 6e, 25cl for 9e, 50cl for 12e etc.. Of course we did the 50.

After dinner...which by the way was at 10pm, mom and I went back to the tour to view the lights. We hiked up to Trocadero and the lights did not disappoint! Amazing how many families with kids were out too, at midnight.

Finally, exhausted, we metro'd back to our hotel and zonked out...what an exceptional first day!

Bolted up out of bed at the crack of 9:50, realizing that breakfast ended at 10. We stumbled down, down, down to the basement for coffee and croissants, and they actually only reprimanded us at 10:30 for being late.

After breakfast we decided to go check out the Latin quater. We took the metro to Les Halles first but it looked like a big shopping mall. So we wandered up to the streets. First we crossed Pont Neuf and then went to look at the flying buttresses on Notre Dam. Thought about going inside but, again, the lines were ridiculous. I swear it's worse than Disneyland! We didn't get the e-ticket either.

We finally wandered into the Latin quarter and decided to stop at a creperie for galettes and cidre brut. Wow! Fantastic! And the cider wasn't super sweet...and was acoholic!

Fortified with food and drink it was time to settle down to some serious shopping! Boy did we shop! and walk...for a day that was supposed to be easy on the feet, we put in some serious miles. Mostly it was because we were looking for Laduree...the famous French bakery that makes the best macaroons. Not the kind we're used too, either. These succulent gems look like pastel colored Oreo cookies and taste like a bite of heaven. With flavors like caramel, rose, pistachio, black current violet, mom and I put ourselves in a sugar coma. The kir Sauvignon really hoped fortify our blood, so we survived. Now we're trying to figure out how to take a suitcase full of them home with us.

Off we went to try to find the fabled Rue Mouffard, which moms friend Lynne recommended. We walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg and admired the roseless rose garden...full of pretty flowers...maybe "rose" means somehting else in french. Then we walked over to St. Sulpice and went inside to see if it looked the same as the movie. We had just started looking for crypts and the rose line when shouts of "la fermer" had us running out the door, and on to the mouf.

We stopped in La Place de la Contescarpe for dinner and more kirs. The square was packed with artists and people giving massages and people sitting in the four or five cafes that surrounded it. Suddenly it was pouring rain...and just as suddenly, the square was deserted. We waited out the rain with our salads and kirs and then wandered off down the mouf.

Managed to wake up in time for breakfast. Afterwards we packed up, stored our luggage, strapped on the shoes that hurt the least and headed out to find a museum...cuz...ya know...there aren't many in Paris.

We took le metro to the Louve where we wandered through the grounds. That wasn't our museum of choice so we oggled the pyramids and headed off through the Tuileries. Destination: L'Orangerie...a small museum...read: no crowds...that houses a collection of Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso and Monet. The climax of the museum is Monet's "water lillies." the 8 paintings circle two large eliptical rooms that make up an infinity symbol. The largest Of the 8 is 17 meters wide! The shortest is probably 6. The colors are georgeous and vibrant. They are really remarkable and I had no idea how big!

After L'Orangerie we went back ti try our luck at the opera garnier. This time with success and we got into an English tour. We had a little time to kill and strolled over to galleries Lafayette where we lost track of time in the city-block long purse section (I am my purse). Fortunately we discovered we were out of time before several purses and cashmere cardigans found new American homes.

Our tour guide was witty and knowledgable and led us into the auditorium with it's Chegal ceiling where she dispelled such myths as "the lake under the opera"...really a water tank to counter balance the weight of the theater...and the opera ghost...who supposedly always sat in box 5. But, she said a cleaning girl really was killed when a weight from the chandelier fell...and Gaston Leroux used this story in his book.

I loved that Garnier built the theater as a temple of music to honor the god Apollo...who was also the god of theater and drama. As you enter the auditorium there stand two giant muses of music and drama like two jackals guarding an Egyptian temple. There are tiny (compared to everything else) salamanders to protect against fire. A necessary caution as 12 other theaters had burned down in Paris since 1690, the average life span for a theater was 13 years.

Our guide ended our tour in the grand foyer, a gold laden room with incredible ceiling paintings and chandeliers. Funny to think of how much ones social standing was determined by how one dressed/acted at the opera. People went to be seen more than to see and the garnier was designed exactly for that.

Off the airport for our flight to Toulouse and driving in French!