Just the teeniest bit on Paris

Ahh Paris. I don't know that I can ever adequately write about this city... what she means to me, how she has grown in stature in my mind, all the ways she will never live up to our past, and all the ways in which she is so much greater than I remembered.

Maybe the best way to begin this is to list the facts, just the facts ma'am. So here goes.

The Paris post.

Joren and I left Sevilla by train the night of November 6. It was a fairly uneventful journey, uneventful in that it was alternately hot and cold, with too-upright seats and strange people sleeping next to us, but nowhere near as weird as some of the train rides back in 1999.

At ten am, Jor and I arrived at Gare du Nord (Gare du Lyon?) in a grey Paris, industrial and full of commuters. The air smelled like coffee and exhaust and I was so tired but so happy to be back, finally. We went immediately to the station counter (to the English line) and bought our ticket to Rome for the following week. Once that was settled, a first class ticket because it was all that was available, we made our way to the Metro.

Ahhhh, Le Metro! Lovely, stinky, crowded Metro. Nothing at all in the world like a Paris Metro. - I feel like I wrote those lines many years ago, and they still fit. - Happily, the Metro stop at Gare ?? employed a kind worker who directed Jor and I in how to purchase a weekly Metro pass. It involved a few steps, including passport photos, an official stamp, and the full payment up front. But, with our nice employee helping, the process went quick.

Next stop, Tuileries!

Yes, that is a blanket you see. We packed an extra large, fleece blanket on the chance that someone would have to sleep on the floor. As it turned out, that blanket was absolutely necessary.

So, Rachel wasn't scheduled to arrive till around 2pm, so Jor and I settled in to enjoy the grey/white of the Tuileries Gardens. I stayed with our luggage and just soaked up the Paris-ness of it all while Jor immediately got out his camera and began snapping pictures of everything, including all statues, pigeons, balloon-men and tourists, and of course, the Louvre.

Of course, two pm rolled around and there was no sign of Rachel. We weren't entirely sure where or how we were meeting, and since no one had a cell phone that worked in Paris, I decided to run up to a Starbucks and check email. Just in case we'd missed each other. 

Somehow, we managed to meet up with Rachel eventually outside of our little Paris flat. Rach had booked a week's stay via VRBO and the place was perfect! (ly tiny!) It was on Rue Saint-Roch, a corner building near l'Opera.

After getting situated with groceries, wine and cheese from around the corner at trusty ole Monoprix, the three of us decided to venture out for an evening walk. We walked back up to the Tuileries but skirted around it to go over to Place du Concord, then over towards the Left Bank and along the Quai d'Orsay where we finished the evening with a night view of the Eiffel Tower. 

As always, Jor took the most beautiful photos. Come over sometime, hopefully I'll have them up on the walls soon!

(Paris, Day 2 coming up - who was I kidding. Paris can't be done in one post.)