I hope that you enjoy the photographs and stories. If you have any questions about any of the places or our journey please leave a comment. ;) It was a wonderful journey and I feel so blessed to have shared this trip with such a wonderful friend!!!
Saturday - October 2, 2010
As we began to descend the country looked familiar and reminded me of my childhood in Aviano, Italy. I had butterflies of excitement dancing in my stomach, I grabbed Monsieur B's arm as the plane bounced down the runway.
The CDG airport seemed huge. Everybody moved along so quickly. I noticed that even the airport architecture seemed beautiful and each detail methodically planned out.
As I waited to go through immigration I was so excited to say, "Je suis en vacances" (I am on vacation) and then wait for the sound of the first stamp being placed on my adult passport.
We then got our luggage...., "YAY" I see my hot pink luggage sliding down the conveyor belt. :) Now it is time to look for the RER B train. We passed by the drivers holding signs for arriving passengers. Monsieur B noted that these signs would typically be what he looks for when he lands. This would be a first for both of us. We wind through the airport, winding, upstairs, downstairs, "Ou est RER B?" (Where is RER B)
Ahhhhhhh it is closed!!! We find out that we need to take a bus to get on the RER B further down the line. The bus is actually 2 buses connected together by a large, "accordion" looking piece. Imagine a scared, anxiety yet excited Guurrrl staring at Monsieur B holding luggage between her feet trying to figure out what to hold on to without sliding all over the place. As soon as the bus takes its first fast turn we realize that the section we are standing on the floor also rotates. The luggage rolls over my toes, Monsieur B slides one direction, my arm squishes in the accordion piece and we both laugh.
We make it to the RER station and happily get on to the train. We get off at Gare du Nord. We rush to find La Chapelle and get on the Metro Ligne 2. While hauling our luggage up lots of stairs we see a purse snatching. My fear meter increases. We make our way to the platform and soon realize we are on the wrong side so back down the stairs we go and back up to the correct side (poor Monsieur B hauling his over sized backpack, duffel and luggage). We were so out of breath ahhh here comes the subway. "Ouvert" Ligne 2 towards Porte Dauphine.
We were crammed in like sardines. Right before our stop however almost everyone had gotten off. We noticed a group of guys jumped off roughed up a guy and stole his iPod before jumping back on our car, nice!!! At this point my eyes filled with tears and I thought Je deteste le metro.
We got off our stop at Blanche with people whizzing by us and we climb the steps and view our first view of the red light district and a view of our street... our home away from home. We checked into Hotel Le Chat Noir. The hotel was decorated with fun silhouettes. We opened our door and immediately opened the windows. The smells and sounds of Paris filled the room. The first thing I noticed was the sweetness of the air (I later realized this was the candy stand at the Blanche entrance). It is noisy, foot steps, car horns, chit chat, whistles, sirens, silverware, laughter, ah we have arrived in Paris. It had taken us 2.5 hours to arrive from the airport.
We decided to eat lunch at the Le Chat Noir Bistrot. Monsieur B had beef bourguignon and home mashed potatoes (these are roasted potatoes NOT mashed potatoes). I ordered a salad. The salad had salmon, anchovies and caviar. The salmon was not fishy, the anchovies were salty, and the caviar crunchy. I'm not a huge seafood person so this salad was probably not the best choice for me but an adventurous choice. ;)
We tried to nap. Monsieur B was successful I was not. We then headed out of the hotel for Nuit Blanche. We found out from the hotel staff that the last train for our ligne was at 2. So we knew we could only fit one location of our itinerary in. We chose an area near the Eiffel tower. At this point I was still nervous about the Metro.
We arrived quickly and safely at our destination only to realize that if we waited in line we would not make our train back to the hotel. So instead we decided to walk to the Seine. We took pictures of the Eiffel Tower and Monsieur B smiled when I got super excited watching the lights sparkle on the hour. It was exciting to see something in person that I had dreamed of seeing for so long! I think I slapped Monsieur B several times in the arm!!!
We made it back to the hotel exhausted and excited. It took me forever still to fall asleep. I lay there listening to Monsieur B sleep. I got up to look out the window and watched people throw bottles at each other, heard what sounded like a car crash, and finally fell asleep dreaming about croissants. Bonsoir.
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