Wednesday, July 4th 2018
Paris, France
I am slowly waking up on the airplane. The cabin lights are back on and the smell of coffee fills the cabin. Current time is unknown.
My coffee cup is teeny tiny and I shamelessly ask for multiple refills. After breakfast I spend a few minutes brushing my teeth, moisturizing and getting my stuff back together. I find one of socks across the aisle, 2 rows back. Oops.
Eventually we land and I am one of the first people off the plane. I immediately find an ATM to grab some Euros for my cab into town. Eventually I hit the line for immigration and it is very long. After about 15 minutes of not moving, one of the airport personnel waves me into a new line that is moving much faster. She pulls me to the front and then the man in the passport window calls me forward. He gives me a stamp and waves me through. I’m not sure what just happened, but I am pretty happy about it.
By the time I make it to baggage claim, my bag is just coming down the carousel. I walk outside and get a cab immediately. I show the cabbie the name for my hotel and he says that he doesn’t know it. I’m a little thrown off, but I know that I have the address somewhere and just tell him to head towards the Musee d’Orsay. Eventually I find the address and show it to him. We sit in traffic for at least an hour. When we get to the center of town my driver is mad and aggressive. Eventually he stops on one of the main roads and says that he can not get closer to the hotel and that I need to walk. He does a terrible job of giving me directions and then drives off.
I try to connect to wifi on my phone to get directions, but I have no luck. I see the Musee d’Orsay a block up and head in that direction. Eventually I am able to get onto their wifi and download walking directions to our hotel, which is a few blocks away. I’m feeling angry at that cab driver and am sure that feeling is mutual. After 15 minutes of dragging my bag over cobblestone, I arrive at the hotel. I know that Sarah has already checked in so I ask the front desk for a key. Instead she calls Sarah down into the lobby to meet me. Oh well, I’m here!
Sarah shows me our incredibly small hotel room and waits patiently while I put on makeup, brush my hair and change shoes. It’s about 6pm and we decide to walk up to the river and see the Eiffel tower before a late dinner. Our walk up the Seine is very nice. The weather is astoundingly beautiful and the bright orange sunlight is casting long shadows of the overly ornate bridges onto the pedestrian path. There are locals and tourists everywhere. Vendors are selling bottles of wine out of rolly carts and the mood is upbeat.
Eventually we hit the Eiffel tower. There is some construction, so it takes us a few minutes to find the actual entrance. We buy tickets to go to the top and then wait in line for what seems like forever. Finally, when we arrive at the top, the view is amazing. The sun is just setting and the whole town looks pink and white. The City of Lights has lived up to its name and the sun hasn’t even set yet. They are selling glasses of champagne at the very top and I opt buy some from me and Sarah. After all, what’s one more line at this point?
After 2 glasses of champagne and about 100 pictures, we head back down to find some dinner. We are both famished and it’s nearly 10pm. We decide to not be picky about dinner and grab a table at the first cafe that we find. We sit outside, with a view of the Eiffel tower and its periodically sparkling lights. We start with a carafe of Bordeaux and a cheese plate. I feel that the cheese is a little larger than I expected, but everything tastes fine. I order the duck, which proves to the be the best duck I’ve ever eaten. Sarah orders a steak and is lukewarm about it. After dinner we drink more wine and are happily buzzed as we walk back down the river in the crisp evening air.
We end up in bed by 1am and agree to a late start tomorrow.
