Well, just as I thought, by the time I arrived yesterday morning I was way too tired to write anything coherent in a blog! The trip started out great – the flight to Chicago arrived 45 minutes early, so I spent 4 hours relaxing in the United Airlines Red Carpet Room before leaving on the flight to Paris. Then the flight to Paris arrived 1 hour early – unheard of! As many hours as I’ve flown, both as a passenger and a stewardess [or more politically correct these days: “flight attendant”], I have never had a flight to anywhere arrive an hour early.
However, that was where the good luck stopped – or should I say was temporarily halted. No problem getting through Customs, but my bag was the very last bag off the plane. Then I called the Paris-Shuttle which was to take me into the city from CDG Airport, and the woman said to meet the shuttle in 15 minutes at Exit 12 on the Departure level. Well, let me tell you, finding “exit 12” was quite the experience. My French is not the best, and it seemed no one in the airport that day spoke any English. So I went down to departures and was given at least 4 different directions as to where Exit 12 might be found. Someone said Gate 12, but no, it was really at Gate 2. Trying to find it reminded me of being on the Great Race. (Actually I think I might do quite well on that show after the last 2 days.) Needless to say by the time I found the exit, two Paris-Shuttle vans had gone by so I needed to call for yet another. While waiting I called Joe. Joe was to meet me at my apartment and give me the keys and explain how everything worked. Well, it seems the phone number I had for Joe was wrong. But all was not lost, the Paris-Shuttle driver whipped out his own cell phone and called Joe for me. How was I to know that my ATT phone already knew it was in France and I didn’t need to dial the international prefix as I had been told? Anyway, finally got into Paris, the shuttle driver left me off at the end of my street (because it’s too narrow for even an ox-cart), and I trudged down the street with a huge (47-lb) suitcase and a smaller roll-away duffle bag along with my laptop. By the time I came to the gate and “courtyard” of my apartment building, I was very discouraged. It would have looked pretty much like a slum in any neighborhood in America, but of course this was Paris so it just looked “quaint”. I punched in the gate code I had been given and entered the door of the apartment house. Then, with some misgivings as I viewed the rickety, dirt-stained staircase, and wondering what in the heck had prompted me to come to Paris for a month, I started up the stairs and began my Paris adventure.
Joe did indeed meet me at the door and helped me into the “lift” with my bags. That was more of a feat that it sounds -- the elevator is only big enough for about two midgets, so getting myself and 2 bags in there was impressive. Joe then ran up the 3 flights of stairs – I could hear his footsteps as my elevator was ascending – and met me at the top and let me into the cutest little French apartment ever! Whew, was I ever relieved. I’ve added pictures of my street, the great courtyard, and the front door of my apartment so you can imagine my trepidations before he opened the door. Seems the French don’t like to spend money on repairs for the common areas, and would rather spend it on their dwellings. So now I just ignore l’extérieur and enjoy l’intérieur.
After being up for 28 hours, I finally fell asleep at 8 pm last night and slept for 12 ½ hours. Felt much better today and was off to get my 1-month metro ticket – now called a Navigo-Decouvert card. All one has to do is swipe it on the purple circle and the gate to any metro in Paris magically opens. So now I’m mobile and ready to go anywhere. Still a bit jet-lagged today, so I limited my adventures to shopping. First in the nearby Monoprix which has everything from groceries and pastries to clothes, shoes, and handbags. After buying some staples there so that I could eat properly, I took the metro out to La Defense, the end of the “yellow” line on the Metro, and shopped around for a few other necessities such as flowers, candles, and croissants. I remembered there’s a great mall out there as well as a “hypermarche” – meaning a large supermarket with 3 floors of everything one can imagine – hardware, clothes, video games, toys, kitchen-ware – you name it, they have it. Reminded me of a store I saw in Tokyo once named "Everything in the Whole Wide World" store, and it was! I then took two metros back home again during rush hour and arrived back here at 8:30 pm having no sense of time here yet.
However, that was where the good luck stopped – or should I say was temporarily halted. No problem getting through Customs, but my bag was the very last bag off the plane. Then I called the Paris-Shuttle which was to take me into the city from CDG Airport, and the woman said to meet the shuttle in 15 minutes at Exit 12 on the Departure level. Well, let me tell you, finding “exit 12” was quite the experience. My French is not the best, and it seemed no one in the airport that day spoke any English. So I went down to departures and was given at least 4 different directions as to where Exit 12 might be found. Someone said Gate 12, but no, it was really at Gate 2. Trying to find it reminded me of being on the Great Race. (Actually I think I might do quite well on that show after the last 2 days.) Needless to say by the time I found the exit, two Paris-Shuttle vans had gone by so I needed to call for yet another. While waiting I called Joe. Joe was to meet me at my apartment and give me the keys and explain how everything worked. Well, it seems the phone number I had for Joe was wrong. But all was not lost, the Paris-Shuttle driver whipped out his own cell phone and called Joe for me. How was I to know that my ATT phone already knew it was in France and I didn’t need to dial the international prefix as I had been told? Anyway, finally got into Paris, the shuttle driver left me off at the end of my street (because it’s too narrow for even an ox-cart), and I trudged down the street with a huge (47-lb) suitcase and a smaller roll-away duffle bag along with my laptop. By the time I came to the gate and “courtyard” of my apartment building, I was very discouraged. It would have looked pretty much like a slum in any neighborhood in America, but of course this was Paris so it just looked “quaint”. I punched in the gate code I had been given and entered the door of the apartment house. Then, with some misgivings as I viewed the rickety, dirt-stained staircase, and wondering what in the heck had prompted me to come to Paris for a month, I started up the stairs and began my Paris adventure.
Joe did indeed meet me at the door and helped me into the “lift” with my bags. That was more of a feat that it sounds -- the elevator is only big enough for about two midgets, so getting myself and 2 bags in there was impressive. Joe then ran up the 3 flights of stairs – I could hear his footsteps as my elevator was ascending – and met me at the top and let me into the cutest little French apartment ever! Whew, was I ever relieved. I’ve added pictures of my street, the great courtyard, and the front door of my apartment so you can imagine my trepidations before he opened the door. Seems the French don’t like to spend money on repairs for the common areas, and would rather spend it on their dwellings. So now I just ignore l’extérieur and enjoy l’intérieur.
After being up for 28 hours, I finally fell asleep at 8 pm last night and slept for 12 ½ hours. Felt much better today and was off to get my 1-month metro ticket – now called a Navigo-Decouvert card. All one has to do is swipe it on the purple circle and the gate to any metro in Paris magically opens. So now I’m mobile and ready to go anywhere. Still a bit jet-lagged today, so I limited my adventures to shopping. First in the nearby Monoprix which has everything from groceries and pastries to clothes, shoes, and handbags. After buying some staples there so that I could eat properly, I took the metro out to La Defense, the end of the “yellow” line on the Metro, and shopped around for a few other necessities such as flowers, candles, and croissants. I remembered there’s a great mall out there as well as a “hypermarche” – meaning a large supermarket with 3 floors of everything one can imagine – hardware, clothes, video games, toys, kitchen-ware – you name it, they have it. Reminded me of a store I saw in Tokyo once named "Everything in the Whole Wide World" store, and it was! I then took two metros back home again during rush hour and arrived back here at 8:30 pm having no sense of time here yet.
Tomorrow it’s off to explore a neighborhood I just read about in a book a good friend gave me for my birthday called “Into a Paris Quartier” by Diane Johnson, apparently a well-known travel writer who lives between San Francisco and Paris. She lives on the Left Bank in the St Germain-des-Prés area and I can’t wait to explore. Will try to take some more pictures to add tomorrow.
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