In case anyone was wondering, we made it to Paris no problem.
Okay, I say no problem, but I really mean we woke up at 3:45am, took a taxi to the airport, took off at 7:00, arrived at 9:00, arrived by bus in Paris at 10:30, and then spent two hours trying to figure out the train system on our way to our temporary home.
It was ridiculous.
But we have since managed to learn the trains to some degree and now have a pass that allows us to travel from our house throughout Paris proper with no additional charges. And yesterday we discovered that supermarkets close for lunch, and that supermarket clerks will assume your credit card is European, causing them to tell you it does not work, sending you to the atm, which is closed, therefore sending you to the bank across the street, which is out of order, which sends you back across the street to the market, which along the way you notice you left your credit card at the store, then the store manager realizes the card is international and must be swiped, and THEN you get your groceries. I don't know if it's like that every time you visit, but it sure was like that this time.
Oh, there's another funny little difference, which is the shopping carts that are locked together. You have to pay a euro to get one unlocked, and we were telling our host couple about how we carried our groceries in our arms because we did not want to pay. After a good fit of laughter, they explained that the euro is a deposit to make sure people do not run off with their carts and return them to the corral. Oops.
Speaking of our host couple, they are really nice people, and we love the place we are staying. It is still on the third floor, but that is about the only similarity to our hostel we have found. The home is three stories, with the entryway, restroom, and garage on the ground level, a living room, kitchen, and restroom on the second, and the bedrooms on the third. Our bedroom has a living area and a fourth staircase to the loft-style bed area. I like it a LOT. It's like sleeping in a tree house indoors!
Today was our first day exploring Paris, and we spent it viewing Notre Dame (we will enter it later), walking down the river Seine (past where they filmed a scene in Ratatouille!!), exploring the botanical gardens, searching for--and eventually finding, the Eiffel Tower, and a quick trip to the Musee de Parfum (that is, the perfume museum-- it was free, people, okay?). It was a nice full day and I don't quite know what is on our agenda for tomorrow, so I instead will list the only french words we know as of yet: **spelling not necessarily even close**
bonjour- (bone zhoor) Hello, good morning, good day.
bonsoir- (bone swah) Good evening.
bon noit- (bone nwee) Good night.
o'rervoir- (or rev wah) Goodbye.
carte orange- (kah (really make a hacking sound) rlt-or anzh) It means Orange Card, which is the weekly travel pass for all of the trains.
we- (we) Yes.
merci- (mare see) Please.
par le vous englais? no? are you sure? because we need to ask you a question.- (par lay voo on glay no are yoo shoor be coz we need too ask yoo a kwes chun) Do you speak English for crying out loud?!?
bon bon- (boh boh) candies!
That's it for now, perhaps we will have another french lesson soon, so be practicing!
-Andrew
