Arriving in Paris

Bonjour!
We have arrived in Paris!

To back up a bit, we arrived home from our two week trip to the Dominican Republic and Boston late on Friday night. That allowed us only Saturday to completely prepare the house for the home exchange and make sure it was ready for the Mary's arrival.

Early Saturday, we dropped the dogs off at the pet hotel, recognizing that as long as they were with us, the less effective we would be at getting the house clean. After a number of other errands, we set to cleaning the house. It's amazing how dusty a house gets when left unattended! At 3am, we were still not quite done, but decided it would be best to take a little nap. Two hours later, I was up and in the shower. But for some reason, there was no hot water. I guess that's one way to wake yourself up!!

We were able to wrap up by 7:15 and we were off to the airport. The goal was to sleep on the flights so as to prevent jet lag. Didn't quite work... I gave up my window seat to Devin on the flight to Chicago, and although he was able to sleep, I just could not get comfortable. But I definitely caught up some sleep on the way to CDG airport in Paris. I woke up for awhile during some storms over the Atlantic, but other than that, I was able to sleep.

At the airport, we claimed our luggage and that set off to find the RER (the train that would take us to Paris). The Mary's had sent us tickets for the RER, however, for some reason mine wouldn't work. It was pretty funny, though, because Devin made it through the turn-style. So I'm stuck on one side, he's on the other. But a quick chat with the ticket counter and I was able to get a new ticket.

Going up an escalator, my pant leg got sucked in at the top step of the escalator. As much as I tried, I couldn't pull it out and the more the escalator kept going, the more difficult it became to keep them up. All the time I'm picturing how I would explain getting arrested in Paris for public indecency!! Final Devin was able to find a switch and turn off the escalator, which wasn't a way to win friends in a new country! The pant leg was completely sucked in, so he had no choice but to pull and rip!

Silly, here I had been concerned about walking around with sneakers because it wasn't fashionable... how about a great big hole in my pants??

After that adventure, we got on the RER and made our way in to central Paris, exiting at the Cite Universitade exit. The next step was to find the Metro. I was thinking that we were looking for an underground / subway, however, Devin pointed out the tram and sure enough, it was what we needed.

We got off at the correct stop, however, were a little mixed up on direction and walked in the opposite direction for awhile before realizing we were going the wrong way. Once we turned back, we were able to navigate pretty easily to the apartment. The building mainteance couple were able to meet us and bring us up to the Mary's apartment, which is absolutely beautiful! Despite the language barrier, we were able to understand and figure things out.

Now, we're going to bundle up and head out to explore. We just realized that we brought the wrong converter for our electrical appliances. Should be interesting trying to find the right one.... in French!