Wait, where are we again?
No, that's not Italy. Paris? What? How did we get here? I said FLORENCE. Firenze, Italia. Vorrei andare a Firenze, per favore! Dove siamo? Paris? WHAT is going on? Aw, crap. What did I do? Well, it goes a little something like this...
So Ryanair has ridiculously cheap flights (like $60 roundtrip for TWO), and the airport is only an hour away, who could resist that? Hip, hip, hooray! I was excited. Stella stayed with friends (who, by the way, were wondering if we had a will, so that if something did happen to us they might be able to keep her. Ha! She's too sweet.), and Jackson stayed with another friend in our dog-sitting "co-op." All was set, and we even added a little extra time for the snow that started the night before our trip. It was the ONLY snow we've had all winter, which amounted to all of 2 inches and apparently melted the next day. So off we go to the airport, arrive with plenty of time, park the car, walk to the terminal, and get in line for the online check 'n go stuff. A little background here, Ryanair allows you to check in online, but with either an EU/EEA issued passport or Nat'l ID card. I chose to not take bags and do the online check-in because the airline charges you per bag (and everything else, since they charge you so little for tickets). That little voice inside my head was saying, "just double check and make SURE you can use your German drivers license for this," but I chose to (arrogantly) ignore it. Don't ask me why, I just did. Even at the airport, I figured if we needed something else they would check it when we went through security. (I'm not even sure they OPENED my passport to check it.) But, we got through security just fine and sat down to wait the hour until our flight. Out comes the airline personnel, ready to check us in at the boarding time, and calls for the online check-in folks, since we get to board first. A couple goes up ahead of us, goes to the plane. We go up, she takes a look at our ticket, and then sees our drivers' licenses and asks what it is. We hand her our passports and she says, no, these are not EU issued. She says, just a second and get on the phone (when is it EVER a good sign when they get on the phone?). She comes back and says, "I'm sorry, you can't use online check-in if you're not an EU citizen. You can'e get on the plane." WHAT? Nick starts pulling out his military ID, his SD driver's license, his Geneva Convention card (in case they thought we were terrorists?) and she just laughs, and says "I'm sorry. It's our rule. I believe that this is you, but I can't let you on the plane." Can we go re-check in at the counter? "Counter closes 40 minutes before take-off." Fantastic! Can we switch to another flight? Sure, for 800 euro (what it costs to buy a ticket that day. $1000. Each.) What about tomorrow? 90 euro. Awesome. Here's the kicker. We ask her if we had checked in when we got to the airport that morning, could we have gotten on the plane? Drumroll.....................
"Yes."
So that's what pride does for ya. I knew better, I knew I should have double checked, I KNEW I was wrong, but I did it anyway. And I have no idea why. So, back to the airport, I cry the entire way out of the airport (and off and on throughout that day) and we get to the car and are like, what now? Stella and the dog are happily being taken care of, Nick took leave for the weekend until Tuesday, and we have no trip. (Keep in mind, too, that I am NOT a person accustomed to abrupt change in schedule. Yes, I am a "J" through and through.) We decide to go to Paris. Mind you, we have no hotel reservation, it's Saturday, and we have no guide book or map of Paris or France for that matter. All we have is us (rather torked off and upset), stuff, a car and a GPS (which rules, by the way). Do you know how much gas costs in Europe? $5-6 a gallon. Do you know how many miles it is to Paris from us? 300. Did you know they like toll roads in France? 20 euros worth one way. Our bill for traveling to and from Paris? A mere $250. (Well, $310 if you count the plane tickets we bought just for the fun of it. Ha!) So this is rolling around in our heads and we decide to try and get off the freeway for a while to clear our minds. We thought a nice little chalet or chateau in the champagne region might be nice for the night. We walked for a little while in a little town (can't remember the name and we didn't take any pictures. What can I say? We were a little upset.) and it helped. No chalet to be found, (at least not one reasonable or with a restaurant within walking distance) we headed on to Paris. Traffic coming into Paris on a Saturday night at 7 pm was not on our minds, so when we hit it, I was despairing. Maybe we should have just stayed home. What if we can't find a room? Look at that crazy idiot on the motorino flying inbetween the lanes of cars! What are we going to do? (Make sure you pay real good attention when changing lanes in Paris. Those little motorbikes come out of nowhere. Thankfully, Nick was driving. My eyes were too puffy.) Well, we had some friends who had been there the week before and mentioned a hotel near Notre Dame so we headed there. Yup, no room. He even said there was NO way we would find one in all of Paris (ha!) that night. They were ALL booked. So we went next door and they had one. (I should have gone back to the first hotel and just let him know that we have a God who even thinks about hotel rooms, but I spared him.) It only cost 75 euro a night (still a lot) which was actually quite good for downtown Paris. It really was quite a find, as they had free kitchen facilities to use (buy and cook your own food) and free laundry. Plus, they included breakfast. Not bad, and good to know for next time. I must say, Nick really did well through all of this. If it had been up to me, I would have gone home and crawled into bed and pouted. He held his ground and led me on, and we had a very nice weekend. And now that I've told you all the drama of how we got there, here's what we did:
That night, as it was 8:30 PM by the time we got checked into our room and all, we just went out and walked and found a place to eat. It's really expensive to eat in Paris, especially when you don't come prepared and don't know where all the non-touristy areas and down-home type restaurants are (i.e. where the locals go). So we forked it out for food that was good, but not what I think of when I think of Paris and it being the headquarters of all things gourmet. Anyway, wine helps. I'm just amazed that I didn't pass out hours before from not eating anything (those sugar lows are not fun), and enjoyed eating at 10 pm. It was fun, too, just walking around Paris by night and seeing Notre Dame all lit up. There was a little pedestrian zone/restaurant area (the kind where they have someone outside convincing you to come in and eat) and it was packed. We tried to find some live music, but were unsuccessful.
The next day we visited the Louvre. Well, we visited SOME of the Louvre. Maybe 1/5 of it. We saw the Mona Lisa, of course (Nick was wondering the same thing I have always wondered and every art critic/theorist pondered, what's the big deal about that painting?) We saw the Venus de Milo and Victory of Samothrace, and a ton of paintings. Our favorite (yes, we both agreed!) was Paul Delaroche's "Le jeune martyre" (the young martyr). You can see it here It stands out from all the busy painting that are in the same hall. We saw Napolean's apartments (which explains the above picture. Napolean didn't have blue jeans, or t-shirts for that matter, I don't think.) After a light lunch, we went for a stroll and headed over to the Opera house. It's an impressive, ornate building, but we elected to not go inside this trip. Then, we took the tube over to the Eifel Tower. It was a fairly nice day, not too cold, so we walked around the park for a while and decided to head over to the Arc d'Triomphe. We sat and watched the traffic go round and round, and waited to see an accident, since there's at least 3 lanes of traffic in the circle, no lane markers, and motorinos zipping in and out and around, and the brave bicyclists to boot. All to no avail, but it was still fun. We then went a sadly unsuccessful hunt for a little patisserie for a nice afternoon sweet, but found NOTHING. How does one not find a pastry shop in Paris? I'm still at a loss. We must have been on the wrong streets. Even tourists like pastries, dang it! I didn't even get to have my mille feuille! Grrr! That's like my favorite thing! And it was my birthday! Don't tell me I'm going to have to go to OMAHA to get one? That's just crazy talk! (can you tell I'm still a little upset?) So anyway, we went back to the hotel to relax our feet for a little while (mom, I should have brought a pedometer), and figure out what to do for dinner. We, again, wanted some live music, but were stumped. Most things either started really late, or were already going, so we just went and had some dinner, and walked around a bit.
Our last day we started out at Notre Dame. We went inside and watched a little of the (sadly very small) mass that was being conducted, and just took in the building. I went crazy taking tons of pictures of stained glass. They have some really beautiful panels that are just patterned, and not of scenes or people that I really liked. The building, of course, is amazing. So richly detailed and ornate. I wish churches today, especially given all the amazing technology we have to help us actually put them together, would try a little harder to give God a beautiful house and not just a big one. Then, we took a walk around the park around the church and just enjoyed the SUNshine. The sun likes to hide in the winter here in Europe, so whenever it is clear and blue sky, you make the most of it (we even had a picnic earlier this month because it was so nice!). We planned to go to Sante Chappelle, too, but the line was too long, so we just trucked along and took the tube to Montmarte/Sacre Cour.
This is one of my fave spots in Paris, so I wanted to make sure Nick got to see it, especially with such nice weather. Plus, I was told that the fabric/textiles district is right there, so we definitely had to check it out. It's such a lovely spot, up on the hill, to see the whole of Paris from above. And, of course, the church is gorgeous, too. If it had been a tad bit warmer, a picnic would have been nice. But, it is January. We enjoyed taking a walk around the grounds and soaking in some rays. Then, when I could stand it no longer, I had to make a break for the fabric shops. Much as Nick would have LOVED to come with, he chose to hang out by the church instead. :) It was quite fun for me, and I did have some material in mind to try and find and was successful. Plus, the prices were actually reasonable as opposed to most of what I've found here in Germany (15 euros a yard for regular old cotton prints/quilting fabric? Are they crazy? I can order it in the states and have it shipped here for half that!). I will post a picture of Stella's Easter dress when I finish it. After I got my fibre fix, we walked back down to a more main-drag street and got some lunch, and headed back to get the car. Oh, and that was one good thing that happened, we only had to pay to park for one day. At least there was a little grace in that. (And, by the way, there's a ton more pictures on our flickr site, which you can get to by clicking the link over to the right.)
And all things being said, it was quite a nice weekend. As Nick says, try to think of it as if we were never planning on going to Florence, and all (or at least most) of the frustration fades. I still want some mille feuille, though. I guess we'll just have to go back...
