Post-Europe Trip Reflection #1

le 6 juillet 2007.

Flew into London in the morning, (which isn't great) because it only took about 6 hours--caught some crazy tail wind or something. Watched Premonition on the plane. Was alright. Had to pee real bad at the end, but held it so as not to miss anything. So sleep was minimal and here we had the whole day ahead of us! Good ol' Heathrow was still reeling from insecurities and we had to comply with many frustrating hand baggage restrictions. Transfered easily for next flight on to Paris.

First impression of Charles de Gaulle airport: ghetto. Flew into Terminal 2B and couldn't believe this is one of the major 1st world airports! Walked and walked. Tried to find an air alliance lounge to talk our way into--nope. Found a Sheraton and found some couches in the lobby on which we snoozed for a bit. Nice! After the power nap, bought a baguette sandwich. Walked on further to some train thing to get to Terminal 3. Already my 22 kg suitcase was proving to be somewhat of a trial.

See, I always travel for work. Leading a pack of students, all laden in fancy backpacks, myself included. This Europe trip however, was to be a first of traveling with a roller suitcase and staying in Bed and Breakfasts. Bringing as many things as I wanted because we'd have a car to store it in. Besides, two of my travel companions were not seasoned travellers and admittedly would be bringing lots of clothes, hair dryers, straighteners, shoes and things. So I needn't feel bad about this huge suitcase I borrowed from my sis-in-law. At least it was still smaller than my only roll-y one (that I bought for living in India for four months)!

So yeah, Terminal 3. Even more ghetto. Reminded me of the Manaus airport (that's in the Amazon)! Birds flying around inside. Slept there some more while we waited for the ladies' plane to arrive. And Easy Jet was late.

Got a cab to take us to the centre to our hotel. A bit of a fight amongst the taxi drivers over that. Got accustomed to hearing "apres 250 metres, tournez a doite", "tournez a gauche" and started to think maybe we should get a GPS for our rental car later! It didn't serve our driver too well though, because there was some sort of demonstration going on near our hotel and he took some crazy, long, backwards way to get there. 70 Euros later...we arrived at the Best Western Premier L'Horset Opera Hotel (booked with more Aeroplan miles than one needs for two free flights within North America--I was desperate and trying to save money).

Good location. Awesome introduction to le petit dejeuner! Mmmm. Two nights. One full day to walk everywhere and see everything we could.

Wandered around trying to find a good place to eat. Asked an attractive man (or so the ladies pointed out) for some advice--I was enjoying trying out my French and randomly selected someone nearby who happened to be sharply dressed in a suit. And happened to be attractive. I then, unintentionally, continued to entertain my companions by walking along and suddenly and startlingly finding the arm of a young Frenchman around my shoulder. "Ca va?" and a request for a kiss (in the French greeting style). Bienvenue a Paris.

Then right after that, I saw William H. Macy! Tres cool!

le 7 juillet

Lots of walking. Checked out the Louvre. Confirmed that Mona Lisa's eyes do follow you around the room.

Stumbled upon the top secret wedding of Eva Longoria and Tony Parker.


Walked along the Seine River. Spotted the Eiffel Tower. To Notre Dame.

Weather kinda sucked. Some shopping started. Got tired. Had a nap. Headed out for the Eiffel Tower via the Champs Elysees. There it is. Had to stand in the middle of the road during a red light to get a picture of the Arc de Triomphe!

Tried out the metro.

Had escargots at an ok restaurant near the Eiffel Tower. Checked the tower out from the ground.


And that my friends, is Paris in a day.