Friday, June 7, 2013

THE LONGEST DAY!

I'm writing this in Paris...I THINK it is Thursday morning!  Was it really 2 days ago that we left California?!  We got up Tuesday at 4:30am (part excitement...part a plan to ward off jet lag!)  We ran around doing all those last minute things like finishing packing and emptying the fridge.  The plan was to meet at Russ & Adrienne's home at 11:30am, but at 10am I got an email from United Airlines saying our flight would be "delayed until 5pm due to a late-arriving aircraft"...but they wanted us to be at SFO at our scheduled departure time of 2:45pm!  WHAT...this was not in my plan!?  Oh well...anxious to get our trip started, we headed over to Russ and Adrienne's as planned...and this is what met us there!
 We laughed so hard in that limo ride, just talking about the early days of our friendship, that Gary  cried 3 times!  By the time we got to the airport, the flight was delayed until 6:10 pm...oh no!  We got to know every inch of the International Terminal in the 6 hours we had to kill!  Oh...did I mention ?that we this whole time, not only did we have our carry on baggage...we also had THE WEDDING  DRESS to hand carry to France!  This was such a heavy responsibility that it took four of us to properly guard and transport it!  The flight was uneventful...just long (11 hours). Of course Gary did manage to spill a glass of water, a glass of wine, and a packet of sugar during the dinner service!  I think next time, I will NOT sit next to him...it's too dangerous!  We all dozed a little during the flight...but not enough to prevent us from feeling like zombies when we arrived in Paris.  Russ and Adrienne took a car to their apartment as they had many large suitcases (& of course the wedding dress!). Gary and I opted to take the RER train and then transfer to the Metro and walk to our apartment.  This all went fairly smoothly, but when we surfaced from the Metro we were in desperate need of some caffeinated refreshment, so sat at the first cafe (Les Deux Magots) we saw for some "cafe glacé".  It really did save us and gave us the strength to walk the last few blocks to our apartment.  Unfortunately I got turned around, and off we marched in the wrong direction!   Ooops!  As I stood there looking at my map, trying to get my bearings, a lovely, impeccably dressed, elderly French woman asked (in French) if we were lost!?  Her husband came to our aid, and I had to jump right in and and use all the knowledge from those years studying French in school! (my teacher, Mme. Bardot would be so proud!). It  worked though, and the old gent complimented me on my French!  They were totally charming and told us (in French!) how they had been to San Francisco and rode the cable cars and drove down Lombard Street!!  His pantomime of driving down the crooked street was adorable...I wanted to adopt him!  With his directions, we were at our apartment in no time!  The apartment  is great...spacious, modern bathroom, high ceilings, and quiet since it faces an interior courtyard...and came with a bottle of wine on the table just waiting for us!  we couldn't have been happier to finally be "home".
We went out to explore our neighborhood...we are at 8 rue des Saints Peres in the 7th arrondissement...lots of antique stores and art galleries around us...but with a little deeper exploration we found a produce market, a cheese shop, and a little meat market and came home fully stocked with gorgeous strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, onions, eggs, ham, yogurt and some compte, gorgonzola and brie!  We were set for breakfast and afternoon snacks.  It was fun to practice my french...and I felt very successful!  Back at home we busted out the cheese, opened the wine...and toasted to our first night in Paris!  After a while we wandered around the corner to Bistrot du Paris and had a charming waiter, Jean, who took us under his wing and told us all about his trip to California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.  When I complimented him on his English, he said "When I was young I was a very naughty boy...and my principal was also my english teacher...do you see why my English is so good?  I spent a lot of time in the principal's office!"  We had a nice meal, wandered over to a small cafe facing the Louvre and had sorbet and decaf and marvelled at how light it still was at 10pm...street lights didn't come on until 10pm!  We had a nice chat with some Aussies that sat next to us. We were exhausted and headed home.  After this long day, bed never felt so good!  We both slept very soundly until about 5:30am (time change/jet lag?!)  Sweet dreams...we are in Paris!

2 comments:

  1. Haha that dinner service made it sound like you are travelling with Jeremy Young! Keep laughing, exploring, and having fun!

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  2. Wow! Except for what she saw on the drive home from the Airport, my wife has not seen the sights of Lombard Street is famous for a one-way section of the street to see more..lombard airport Lombard Taxi services to and from Midway, O'Hare and the Loop

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