Travels And Reflection A blog of my journeys and the lessons I've learned.

When Dulce and I reached Paris, France, we didn't know what to expect. Sure, the obligatory visits to the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre were to be...obligatory, but we wanted a very personal exerience, no guided tours; just walks across that wonderful and mysterious city.

We touched down at sunrise on a spring day at Charles DeGaulle 2 or CDG Deux as it is affectionally called. We have always marvelled at this wonderful piece of architecture by Paul Andreu from books and magazines and now we were taking it all in first hand. It was simply beautiful. This was true 20th Century architecture. The immense vaulted ceiling made my heart skip a beat. Dulce was speechless. It, the ceiling, looked lightweight and had the impression that it was floating on air.(Note: On May, 2004, a section of this terminal collapsed due to fissures in the heads of the posts supporting the main vaulted ceiling and resulting in the deaths of four)

We took a cab and crawled to the city through the morning rush hour. It reminded us of home. Our driver was a Portugese immigrant who, with limited english, tried to explain the traffic situation and was very apologetic about it. I told him that we were used to the traffic in our country and he did not need to apologize. What we weren't used to though was being hungry and sleepy that early in the morning.

We reached the Hotel Ascot Opera at the rue Monsigny. It is very near the Opera, near the big department stores, and a short walk to the Louvre. Dulce had already taken note of the different stores near the hotel while we were in the cab. Nothing escaped her almond eyes when it came to shopping. The hotel elevator was an amusing two-passenger model where you had to open the door manually. The room was small but it was clean and so was the bathroom. When we opened the windows, we realized that we were on the top floor and had a great view of the street; perfect for people watching. I suggested we go down and grab some chow but when I looked back at her from the window, she had already fallen asleep. I can still remember the way she looked that early spring morning: exhausted but beautiful.