Pre-Paris: The Flight

Earlier this year, our good friend said we could use his apartment in Paris.  A combination 40th birthday and nine year wedding anniversary-sort-of-trip.  We did almost no research, as our friend has lived there for more then eight years.  We trusted his expertise once we would arrive and because we read his blog, we knew there would be a plethora of things for him to show us around town.  We just had to tie-up loose ends at home, ship the kid off to Grandma's house and arrive on time to the airport.  Piece of cake.

We did get an early morning call on the day of our flight saying that Grady was really sick and upset that we were going on our big trip.  Really?  Yes, really.  We did a quick stop by Grandma's house to check on him on our way to the airport, an even quicker kiss on the forehead and a promise of gifts from abroad when we returned.  What exactly?  Books.  Yes, our sweet boy cannot stop reading these days and a book about a naughty little French boy, Nicholas, was just what he was requesting.  Done.  Fine.  Okay.  Bye-bye sweet little man.  I will find you Nicholas.  I promise.  (I know, I know - I better deliver!)

Everything went so smoothly.  Traffic, long-term parking, check-in and even security was a cinch.  Our flight to JFK was actually early.  We arrived just in time to grab a quick snack and a much needed dirty martini at the airport bar.  Ahhhhhhhhh.  

We boarded on time and plopped into our seats.  It was really hard to sleep on the plane, but I was so engrossed in my book, Still Alice, that I happily read and tried to get comfortable.  This was, by far, the longest part of our journey in terms of hours and the psyche.  We just wanted to get there and it seems like you never will.  

We landed at 11:30 a.m. Paris time and followed our friend's perfect directions.  There is a transportation labor strike going on right now and we were mildly concerned about how the trains would run and our ability to actually get to the heart of Paris.  It was a snap.  We didn't see anything to indicate a strike was happening, much less the riots in the street and burning of schools that was publicized in the U.S. the day before we left.  

We emerged from the underground train tunnel and had a magnificent view of Notre Dame.  We trudged along the Seine River with our multiple bags of luggage for a nine minute walk to our friend's apartment.  We were greeted with a Bon jour! from their third story window and we walked up the beautifully worn staircase to an amazing apartment in the heart of Paris.  Almost 24 hours to get here and absolutely worth every second of it.

Let the adventures and memory-making begin.