Paris Day 1: May 18th, 2009

Zut Alors! Cody and I are here in France, in one piece having a much more adventurous time than previous trips. Adventurous is the word I am choosing to use since really the first part of the trip has been a mix of extreme challenge, panic and worry.

Let me start at the beginning, which was a great start. Marie dropped us off at the airport and we proceeded to the Virgin Upper Class lounge at SFO where we awaited our flight, sipping our complimentary drinks and nibbling at the free food. It was lovely, as was the the Upper Class cabin with giant seat that convert to lay flat beds, hot towels, champagne, good food and service. (It will be hard to go back to coach.) After landing at Heathrow, we collected our luggage and showered at the Revitilization Lounge and took a light lunch. It was all so lovely and civilized. So far so good (great actually).

Then a cab to St. Pancras to collect our Tickets for the Eurostar to Paris. Not thinking about the fact that our credit cards had been reissued due to a security problem at the bank, the clerk wasn't going to give us our tickets since you must have the same card you booked with to collect them. ACK. I was polite and asked what could be done. She hemmed and hawed and I must have looked sad, tired and pathetic enough to take pity on and she refunded the old tickets and book us new ones on the current card. Phew! On to the train, which was luxuriously empty. We each had our own row and were preparing to nap, when a family of LOUD, British, er, em, shall we say country folk, boarded the train with like 12 kids (2 of which appeared to be slow) 6 adults and a whole lot of hustle, bustle and noise. So much for the nap. Thankfully, they exited at Lilles so we did get an hour nap until we arrived at Paris.

Relief, but it was short lived. We took a cab to our apartment in the Marais. After climbing 5 flights of stairs with all of our luggage (except my suitcase which was still downstairs) we found ourselves in a small, beat up apartment, which was far cry from the pictures posted on line. The floors wreaked of chemical lemon oil, there was filth and holes along the baseboards and dangerous, rickity stairs leading up to the loft (which was a bed less than 2 feet from the ceiling). I sat on the couch, lamenting our plight while Cody went down the 5 flights of stairs and back up again with my suitcase. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and turned to see the fattest, cheekiest mouse eating crumbs out of the kitchen and looking at me unconcerned. I got up to shoo it away, and it didn't move. Not until I was 3 feet away did it lazily scamper away. ACK! Cody, panting after the second stair climb with suitcase, came back and I shared the news. Much tired, joint, cursing ensued. I called the landlady back and then called the agency. I told them we would not be staying there and wanted our money back. No one argued. In fact, the landlady returned promptly with our deposit and helped us find a hotel. The agency promised to call back first thing in the morning with some other proposals. Cody dragged our dragging selves to thankfully close hotel and checked in.

Then back out to the Falafel stand to pick up dinner for Salim and Jayme and ourselves. We climbed the 4 flights of stairs to their apartment and hugged our friends with relief. Dinner was delicious and the wine was calming. Our troubles melted away for the next couple of hours. We watched the sun set at 10:30 and then went back to the hotel where we collapsed into glorious sleep.