Our hotel in ParisApril 12, 2008
Here we go! I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. We were off for a year in Firenze, Italy. TUSCANY! Sun, rolling hills, vineyards, Chianti, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and of course, Italian men in tight pants! It still didn’t seem real as we wouldn’t be there for another month or so but it was real-we were off!
I couldn’t believe we actually got packed and only had 44 lbs. a suitcase. 44 lbs. is all we are allowed flying to Europe. We get spoiled flying to the US where you get 50 lbs AND two suitcases! We had almost 44 lbs of books alone EACH so we came with very little to wear. (Little did we know we weren’t going to be able to afford to go shopping once we got there.)
We did a quick transfer in Korea and than got on our 12 hour flight to Paris. We got to Paris and quickly got in a taxi and was headed to our hotel in “Le Marais” neighborhood of “The City of Lights.” We had eight pieces of luggage including, camera and equipment, PC, carry-on, shoulder bag and the list goes on. We were constantly counting to see if we had eight pieces. We made it to our hotel with all eight, thankfully. We were on the third floor (which means the fourth floor to Americans.) which also means carrying our eight pieces of luggage up a very narrow winding staircase until my shoulders were ready to fall off. Oh, the drama.
It was cold and rainy in Paris. We spend four days seeing some sights, resting a lot. Jonathan, however, would never say we rested a lot but I felt we did. Poor Paris gets such a bad reputation for being such a rude city. Well, I beg to differ. I found the Parisians to be out of the way friendly and helpful and the majority of service people spoke English quite well. I’m embarrassed to admit that I minored in French and was so shy about using it. When we later went to Macon a city in Burgandy where no one spoke English I got to redeem myself a bit.
I enjoyed my mornings the most in Paris. Because of jetlag I was wide awake by 5 or 6 so I took wonderful walks around the city at this time. We didn’t bring coats as we thought Paris would be warm AND because we couldn’t have the weight on our flight so I basically froze on these walks. We did finally break down and get coats but not for several days. My favorite walk was around the Louvre museum. At 6 am there is not one other person around. I had that amazing museum all to myself. There is an inner courtyard you can walk into. It is huge. The mind can hardly grasp the scale of this building. I did a Julie Andrews spin and stared singing. It really was a glorious feeling. Then I walked toward the entrance where the controversial, glass pyramid was built. I I I I continued down to the gardens which stretch forever in front of the Louvre. Literally, not a soul to be seen. It’s a strange feeling to be at such a famous place all alone. But by this time I couldn’t wait for it to be 8 am so I could have breakfast and warm up. I finally did that right behind the museum in a little restaurant. I had the typical breakfast of a croissant, marmalade and café crème. Life was good. I then called my horse and buggy and I was taken back to my hotel…
Here we go! I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. We were off for a year in Firenze, Italy. TUSCANY! Sun, rolling hills, vineyards, Chianti, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and of course, Italian men in tight pants! It still didn’t seem real as we wouldn’t be there for another month or so but it was real-we were off!
I couldn’t believe we actually got packed and only had 44 lbs. a suitcase. 44 lbs. is all we are allowed flying to Europe. We get spoiled flying to the US where you get 50 lbs AND two suitcases! We had almost 44 lbs of books alone EACH so we came with very little to wear. (Little did we know we weren’t going to be able to afford to go shopping once we got there.)
We did a quick transfer in Korea and than got on our 12 hour flight to Paris. We got to Paris and quickly got in a taxi and was headed to our hotel in “Le Marais” neighborhood of “The City of Lights.” We had eight pieces of luggage including, camera and equipment, PC, carry-on, shoulder bag and the list goes on. We were constantly counting to see if we had eight pieces. We made it to our hotel with all eight, thankfully. We were on the third floor (which means the fourth floor to Americans.) which also means carrying our eight pieces of luggage up a very narrow winding staircase until my shoulders were ready to fall off. Oh, the drama.
It was cold and rainy in Paris. We spend four days seeing some sights, resting a lot. Jonathan, however, would never say we rested a lot but I felt we did. Poor Paris gets such a bad reputation for being such a rude city. Well, I beg to differ. I found the Parisians to be out of the way friendly and helpful and the majority of service people spoke English quite well. I’m embarrassed to admit that I minored in French and was so shy about using it. When we later went to Macon a city in Burgandy where no one spoke English I got to redeem myself a bit.
I enjoyed my mornings the most in Paris. Because of jetlag I was wide awake by 5 or 6 so I took wonderful walks around the city at this time. We didn’t bring coats as we thought Paris would be warm AND because we couldn’t have the weight on our flight so I basically froze on these walks. We did finally break down and get coats but not for several days. My favorite walk was around the Louvre museum. At 6 am there is not one other person around. I had that amazing museum all to myself. There is an inner courtyard you can walk into. It is huge. The mind can hardly grasp the scale of this building. I did a Julie Andrews spin and stared singing. It really was a glorious feeling. Then I walked toward the entrance where the controversial, glass pyramid was built. I I I I continued down to the gardens which stretch forever in front of the Louvre. Literally, not a soul to be seen. It’s a strange feeling to be at such a famous place all alone. But by this time I couldn’t wait for it to be 8 am so I could have breakfast and warm up. I finally did that right behind the museum in a little restaurant. I had the typical breakfast of a croissant, marmalade and café crème. Life was good. I then called my horse and buggy and I was taken back to my hotel…
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