April 12, 2017
After a long day yesterday, I fell right asleep. But staying asleep was tough the whole trip. I don’t know why, but I’d wake up and then my brain would not shut off. So I was able to solve all the world’s problems (in my head) and listen to my wife howl at the moon. Well…now howling…just deep breathing. I was so jealous! J
While Denise was getting ready, I went for a walk down to the little super market on the corner to see what fruit they had. I found some grapes and bought them. I also grabbed some Orange Juice too. As I returned back to the hotel, I also hit the little bakery shop on the corner too. I will miss that place. Everything fresh and warm every morning. So good. I had to pick up some nut bread and a ‘Pan de Cocolait’….or something like that.
We had decided the night before that we would get an Uber car to take us to the airport. To use the Metro and Train, it would cost some 20 euro for both of us…which is pretty cheap for that distance. But, we had been underground riding the metro most of the time and felt like we’d like a ‘car ride’ through Paris and it would be worth the price difference. Uber was 35 euro to get to the airport. Our flight to Chicago was at 11:15 AM. So we wanted to be there around 9:15 AM. We guessed it would be about an hour ride…which it was. I think Uber said the trip was 54 minutes. And it was at prime time and busy when in the city. Once we got on to the freeway heading north out of town to Charles de Gaulle Airport the traffic flowed well. Anyway, at the hotel, after requesting the Uber ride, Uber would not accept payment on ApplePay or my AMEX card. As a matter of fact, it did not pay for the ride from the previous day to the temple either. I still had to pay that. I had to sit down and enter my new AMEX card as the old one is no longer valid. ApplePay should have been fine. So I don’t know why it did not work. But once I entered my new card, I re-requested the car and the payment worked just fine.
The driver was a fairly young man who spoke very little English. But we made due. The drive through town was cool. We even drove through the Arc de Triomphe round. Amazing experience seeing him do that. Upon arriving at the International Terminal (Terminal 1), I was amazed at how poorly they handled the ‘queue’ of cars trying to drop people off. It was interesting that you actually pulled into a parking stall to get out, get your stuff and then get out. I’ve never seen that at an airport before. But it worked. Once inside this round terminal, we walked until we found United. We had already checked in on our phones which was surprising for an international flight. We still thought we had to check in with United. But that was not the case. A fellow pointed us to the place where we started our journey to get out of France. You first go through border control. Then, you walk a long ways out to where the gates are. But just before getting there, you go through security like we do in the states. It was different in that security was not close to the check in location. It was in a totally different building. That was different. We made it through OK with about an hour to spare.
We easily got seats this time. This plane was a 767 with a 2 by 3 by 2 seat configuration. So Denise and I were together, initially. Looking at my phone, I could see that the seat across from us was not going to be used. And the middle seat next to it was not used either. I suggested to Denise to move over there so she could have more space and be more comfortable. She interpreted that to be that I did not want to sit by her. Big mistake by me, I guess. Oh well, next time I will not suggest. But, it was a comfortable ride home. I even fell asleep for a couple of hours. This 767 needed to be retired though. The screens on the seats were these little 4x4 screens. They had no movies. I guess the new 787 Dream Liners have spoiled me. At least they had some wifi and you could watch movies and TV shows using those. They also have cool windows where you ‘tent’ the windows to a level you want light to come through. Lots of neat stuff on those.
The trip from Paris to Chicago went by fast, in comparison to the trip there from SFO. Upon arriving to ORD, we went quickly to our gate in Concourse C. As I sat down, I loaded the app to see what chances we had to get on. It did not look very good. But I noticed that a direct flight to SLC, in concourse B, had been delayed 3 hours. And it showed more seat availability. So, we made the decision to list ourselves on that direct flight and forego the flight to Denver that we thought we needed to take. That turned out to be a good decision. And although the flight did not leave until 4 PM, we arrive in SLC at 6:30 PM…much earlier than had we gone through Denver. Plus, for us, it is cheaper that way having flown less legs. So the flight home from Paris to SLC went very, very well! So pleased…
Some last thoughts about Paris…..
Public transportation is really easy to use. You can buy a block of tickets (10 minimum) for 1.40 euro. They are 1.90 otherwise per ticket. I made the mistake of buying two blocks of 10. We ended up not using 8 of them. I donated them to our Uber driver as a tip, even though he said he did not use the metro at all. He said he would give them to his friends. Maybe I should have just kept them. I have no idea what the shelf life of them are. Oh well. Moral to the story, don’t over buy if you can avoid it. Use the RER B train to get to the Rue de Nord Train station and then figure out the metro from there. Once you pay for the RER, the metro transfers are included. Cost 10 euro per person to do that. Don’t try to drive in Paris.
Paris is huge. So much to see and do. Honestly, 3 days is not enough to even touch it if you are a museum and art lover. People come alive around 8 PM. The restaurants are full at 9 PM. At 6 or 7, very easy to sit down and eat. Lines to sites are LONG! Plan on that. I was amazed at the length of lines we had to stand in. Look for ways to get tickets in advance or with tour groups. Get a hotel near a metro station. Makes your life easier. We really enjoyed being out by the Eiffel Tower. That worked out well.
Our hotel ‘Hotel Relais Bosquet’ was really nice. The rooms, naturally, are not big. Our room was newly remodeled and very modern. It had plenty of space. The hotel does offer a nice breakfast in the morning. It sounded like if you booked the hotel from their Facebook page, it was included in the price. We did not get that since I booked through Booking.com. It would have cost 16 euro person. My chocolate croissant each morning was a lot cheaper from the corner bakery.
The food is very good there and it is everywhere near where we stayed. I suspect that is the case near most metro stops. The bakeries we found were awesome. I’d weigh a ton if I Iived near one of them here in the states.
I found the people very kind. Those that would look me in the eye would usually respond nicely to my inquiries.
We had great weather. It was in the 70’s the first day…quite warm. It gradually got cooler each day. But still, it was beautiful. Great to go to Paris in spring time.
What can I say…another great trip and another country to add to my group of flags in my office!
No pictures at this point.....
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