Paris- the Journal excerpts #1

Day One
Just got off the plane, after an all night flight. I have slept maybe 4 hours and feel terrible. Advil is my best friend. And I desperately need coffee. 

Arrive by taxi at our hotel, a black and white dogs runs out of the hotel entrance and up to the cab...Must be the host. The hotel lobby is cute and tiny, everything miniaturized. This cannot be more true in the elevator- only two people can fit, I can see that Wendy and I will be face-to-face a lot. The room is lovely, the view nice. I'm here!

We get started. So hungry, confused, overwhelmed, exhausted and thinking this was a mistake. Wendy assures me it is just the jet lag. How can that be?

Cafe. Order a jambon panini, I think. Yes, it is. It's okay, at least I have some food to fuel my body now.

Off the metro, walking towards the Eiffel Tower. First con-man spotted, he picked up something on the sidewalk in front of me and asked if it was mine, I kept walking ignoring him...It's an old con. Building covered in moss and plants, so cool. A couple who get Wendy to take their photo- the boy is prettier than the girl.

Eiffel tower, it's a little underwhelming when you are fighting off these vendors and feel like crap. We wait forever to get in the elevator up. Views from top are pretty. Wait for hours to get down. A lot of body odor. Damn, I feel like shit.

After the Eiffel we walk and look around. Ride the metro. Have dinner near the hotel. It's delicious: warm goat cheese slices on a bed of greens with walnuts and a light dressing. French onion soup (which I guess is just onion soup here, as Wendy pointed out). Back to hotel before dark, thank God for a good shower. Goodnight at 9:00 pm.





Day Two

Woke at 6:00 am here, feel like a human being. It is amazing how unbelievably bad jet lag makes me feel.

Breakfast: a chocolate croissant "pain au chocolat"...coffee is not sold with pastries here, you have to get it at a cafe.

The weather is gorgeous, so much nicer than we could have hoped for. I don't think I will even need my trench coat.

The metro is an experience in itself. Smell of urine, hot then cold, people crammed into the cars. Buskers singing or politely yelling for money. Thank God for Wendy, she is in charge of navigation. I just follow her around and bitch at her when I am tired of walking or climbing.

Today is Louvre. Stop for our first cafe creme at a cafe near the Louvre. It is okay. The building and streets are glowing in the early morning light. Into the Louvre. There is so much to see and so little time....I adore the breastfeeding art! The Mona Lisa is small and you can't get closer than 8 feet to her. Lotsa walking. Wearing a skirt without tights was a bad idea.

Metro back to the hotel for a quick wardrobe fix. See macaroon shop across form the hotel. It is so beautiful. Taste my first candy in 3 years. Holy shit. I will be taking some of these home to my family. I want to take it all home and share it with them. Back to Metro, stop at Madeline, time for what I have been so looking forward to...Montmarte! The land of Amelie.

So many shops to look in: found a cute dishtowel (I love souvenirs that are practical, that I can use everyday and remember where I have been), chocolate soap, music boxes. We eat lunch at Bella Italia. See a Parisian women in a pink beret, it's like seeing Bigfoot!

Sacre Cour. Gorgeous white church on a blue velvet sky backdrop. Crowds, street performers. We wander around behind and up and down streets. We find Van Gogh's house! The blue door. Children are getting out of school, their sounds remind me of my girls. I miss them. The french after school snack: chocolate chip baguette. oh my girls would be so jealous! Wendy stops to pet every dingy dog or cat she sees. Montmarte is the quintessential Paris neighborhood, it's what I had pictured in my mind that Paris would look like.

Bought some macaroons, shared with Wendy. Later realized that macaroons and I don't get along. Feels like I swallowed a rock and it's lodged in my throat. Carry on. We arrive at the square where artists sell there work. I buy three little paintings of Paris from three different artists. Walking, walking. We find Moulin Rouge, no Ewan McGregor though. Hop on the Metro to Arc de Triomphe.

Do you know how many steps it is to the top? 284. In a tiny winding staircase, I got dizzy and my legs were SCREAMING. Wendy and I huffed and puffed our way to the top. She took three photos and the camera stopped working. WTF!?

She asked three people with big ass cameras like hers' first if they spoke English and secondly if they could fix it. It was her husband's so she was familiar with all the buttons. Finally an Asian guy with the same camera got it working. We got our shots all the while I am thinking about walking back down, "Oh it won't be so bad going down" Wendy says.

I felt like crying by the end. My knee actually started squeaking.

We stumble over to Champs Elysees. It is hopping. Lotsa richy stores. Found a Swatch store, made me nostalgic for my swatch from 1986. Wendy whips out her iPad to find our metro station, a nice french guy tells us her iPad map is wrong. He whips out his iPhone to show her the better app. He walks up to the station, I am ready to die I am so tired.

We get off near the Trocador. We take lotsa night shots and karate kick obnoxious vendors away like something out of a Bruce lee movie. We find a place to eat with outside seating. Everywhere we go everyone is smoking. Wendy and I both hate smoke. By the end of this trip we might as well buy a carton of cigs with all the second hand smoke we are toking on.

Dinner is so yummy: salmon with basmati rice and Peirre. Metro back to hotel, I think, I am too tired to remember. Showers, phone calls home, collapse into our double bed. Last thought, Don't touch me (I kid, but not really).