Paris - the first day

I don't know what was going on at Aéroport Ch. de Gaulle, but it took an hour and a half to clear customs. I've heard it's a terrific airport, but not on May 13th! There was only one gal checking all passports. Then it was off to find the RER train station to figure out how to buy a ticket for the ride into the city. They don't take credit cards with mag stripes. European cards already have SmartCard technology. Our credit cards don't work in most French phones either and they don't take coins. You need a phone card which you can get from any Bar Tabac, where you can also get your morning coffee and Metro tickets, along with your smokes, of course.

We found our train and settled in for the 40 minute ride to our transfer station. I picked a hotel near the train station we'd be embarking from in the morning, Gare de Lyon, and the hotel was aptly called, Hôtel Gare de Lyon. We noticed two things on the ride in: poppies growing everywhere and graffiti on every possible vertical surface. Hmmmmm. We also noticed we were dog tired and wondered if it was possible to get to Paris without having to take a red eye.

The hotel was a few blocks north of Gare de Lyon. The subway (Metro) shares a lot of stations with the commuter train (RER) network, but some stations are HUGE and require 10 minutes to walk from one one system to the other, sometimes going up, over and then back down. One good thing is there are maps of the surrounding 'hood at each station and it was easy to determine which way to walk. But when you climb out of the station, you don't know where you are or which way is North, and it takes a bit of time to orient yourself. I found navigating in Paris a little strange, especially with all the 'Places' and their radiating street patterns. You have to pay attention until you get used to your area and then it's easier.

Our room wasn't ready when we got there (we landed at 8am and it was 11 when we got to the hotel) so we dumped the bags and headed to the bistro on the corner for a beer and some planning on how to spend the day. An hour later we checked in, had a nap and then a shower and then headed out for some sightseeing and dinner.

Paris is a lovely city for walking around. And considering it has 14 million people in a very small (relative) area, and is, I think, the city with the highest density in Europe, it has a real pedestrian feel to it. Boulangeries are practically in every block. Markets with fresh fruit are everywhere and cafés abound. It feels like you could live your entire life within 10 blocks of your house without need to go anywhere else. Compare that to our cities where the automobile is practically a necessity. The French do love their cars, though, and I don't think they have any pollution control standards. Automobile exhaust coupled with all the cigarette smoke on café patios (they're no longer allowed to smoke inside) makes breathing hard at times. It stings the eyes, too.

The hotel room was very small. It didn't have air conditioning and was frightfully stuffy so we left the window open but there was constant noise and yelling from the street below for most of the night. I kept getting up (just leaning over, actually) and opening and closing the window all night long. Not must restful sleep was had. But, hey, this was Paris! I knew I could sleep when I went back to work! :)