I am going to have to step up my wardrobe when we move here

Tuesday evening we got on a plane to Charles de Gaulle. Only 2 1/2 hours after we were supposed to take off, we actually left the ground. No big deal, since we had to wait to check into our hotel anyway, but boy am I tired of sitting on planes that aren’t moving!

Now that my whining is out of the way … we’re in Paris! We spent a night in a lovely hotel (Hôtel Bradford-Élysées), which I would recommend. They still give you free water (in the U.S. a hotel bottle of water always seems to be $4, really?) and cute little things like a sewing kit. Plus, the bed was comfortable (Steven would have slept on a log he was so exhausted), and we could see Paris from our fifth floor room. We took a nap at the hotel (I took a nap Steven SLEPT) and then prepared for our next adventure: Meeting the people whose apartment where I sit now typing. We met Paul and his daughter, Oona, so they could show us everything we need to know. (Most important: Try not to set off the alarm!)

• 

• 

• 

The two of them were amazing and helped us get SIM cards and Metro cards for the month. I am trying to speak French, but it is not going very well. I wish thought bubbles came out of people’s mouths so I could read what they are saying.

After we said goodbye to them, we realized we hadn’t eaten at all and were not up for a fancy meal or a long walk. We ended up at an outdoor cafe a couple of blocks away for dinner. I picked one, but somehow we ended up at different one because there was a cafe on all four corners. Cie la vie! (Dinner was very nice, we sat outside and tourtured the waiter by trying to speack french. I ordered a glass of wine and had to count on my fingers to figure out how to say which size I wanted (25cl). After dinner, we went back to the hotel and I fell asleep for the next 11 hours!)

Today, we went to a cafe for coffee and it came with the most delicious little pastry!

After coffee, we hauled our suitcases (I mean we allowed the Uber driver to get our suitcases in and out of the car) over to Paul’s and then took a short 4.4 km walk to meet my wonderful high school friend for lunch, wandered some more and took the Metro back here. It is a work day, after all.