i love paris
Really, I do. I love it. So far.
I'm so tired. I'm trying to stay awake for another hour and then I can go to bed. With the time cahnge, I'm not sure how long I've been awake but it is a long time.
First, I went to school on Friday night at 8:15ish to verify that my flight was indeed leaving at 5:00pm on Saturday. I figured it might be an hour earlier or later, but what I did not expect to read was cancelled. That is right, my flight to Detroit was cancelled but my other two connecting flights were not. It wouldn't let me re-book online so I called their 1-800 number. Well, Mike called. I was not happy so he did it for me. Fifteen minutes later someone answered, listened to what he had to say and then transferred him to the international flight line. 15 minutes later no one had answered so we left to head toward the airport. Thirty minutes later we got to the airport and were still on hold. We went inside and I got booked on a later flight which flew non-stop to amsterdam and from there to Paris. Actually, because of the non-stop flight I got to Paris an hour earlier than my original flight arrived.
The flight to Amsterdam was on one of those new Airbus A330s. They are impossibly huge. It hadat least 8 bathrooms. Also, each seat had its own TV with a list of like 30 movies to choose from. There were also four computer games and a jukebox you could listen to as well. You could map the progress of your flight path too. I had the only empty seat on the plane (well, only empty one I could see because the plane was so huge) next to me. It was a nice perk. I still only managed to sleep for two hours though.
We got to Amsterdam and I had 35 minutes to disembark, get a boarding pass, clear customs, and check in for my flight to Paris. When I got to the transfer desk for my boarding pass, the line looked like it would take at least two hours. So, I being a big baby, simply tapped the line monitor ont he shoulder and pointed to my departure time which was, at this point, a measley 25 minutes away. I got skipped to the front of the line. I thought I was okay until they looked at me and said run until you reach customs. Customs was on the complete opposite end of a very large airport. I pulled the same tap and point trick when I got to customs (20 minutes) and got bumped to a special line. 10 minutes later I was running for my KLM plane to Paris. I got there very sweaty, just as the last people were boarding. I never looked at my row number until I got on board and then I noticed it said 5C. I showed it tot he person be cause that did not seem right. I figured there must be a first class 5C and then a coach 5C. There was only one. Thank you whomever screwed up and gave me a first class ticket for a coach price. It was the first (and probably only) time I've ever flown first class. They give you real glasses in first class. They also give you great food. The rest of the flight got what looked like trail mix and I got three pastries filled with hummus and olive, creamy parmesan, and spicy eggplant pate with a bacon wrapped date respecitvely. The first two were good. The eggplant date thing was not. I also got a piece of ginger lime cake with caramel lavender sauce. It was delicious. Easily the best hour long flight of my life. Also, there was a very cute nine month old baby sitting across the aisle from me. Her name was Anastasia and she smiled at me a lot. I smiled back. Baby smiles transcend language barriers.
I got to the airport in Paris, grabbed a cab, and got into my four hundred year old apartment building. After hauling all my bags up four spiral staircases, I got to the door of the apartment. I rang the bell because my roommate was supposed to be there to let me in. No answer. I collapsed on the landing for awhile and I finally dredged up my courage and a few semi-coherent french sentences to knock on the neighbor's door and ask if I could borrow his phone to call the rental agent. When I called him, he said Natalie never showed up, and that he had hidden the ley. I found it and the nice gay men across the hall carried my luggage in because my legs were literally shaking from exertion and tiredness. Then, I called and discovered my roomate is still in the US (no idea why).
After that I went and wandered around Le Marais. I discovered that I am a measly four blocks from Le Musee de Pompidou. Also, school is across the river--nowhere near here. Oh well. I went and bought a weeklong metro pass (mostly without assistance) and then I also found a marche and bought some dinner. I just got strawberries, bread, yogurt, and diet coke. I'm too tired to eat heavy food. No wonder the french are so skinny.
I'm going to go stay awake for thirty more minutes now. I was going to go explore some more tonight but it might not be a good idea when I'm this exhausted.
I'm loving Paris. It could only get better if you (yes you, dear Reader) and Mike were here.
Au revoir.
I'm so tired. I'm trying to stay awake for another hour and then I can go to bed. With the time cahnge, I'm not sure how long I've been awake but it is a long time.
First, I went to school on Friday night at 8:15ish to verify that my flight was indeed leaving at 5:00pm on Saturday. I figured it might be an hour earlier or later, but what I did not expect to read was cancelled. That is right, my flight to Detroit was cancelled but my other two connecting flights were not. It wouldn't let me re-book online so I called their 1-800 number. Well, Mike called. I was not happy so he did it for me. Fifteen minutes later someone answered, listened to what he had to say and then transferred him to the international flight line. 15 minutes later no one had answered so we left to head toward the airport. Thirty minutes later we got to the airport and were still on hold. We went inside and I got booked on a later flight which flew non-stop to amsterdam and from there to Paris. Actually, because of the non-stop flight I got to Paris an hour earlier than my original flight arrived.
The flight to Amsterdam was on one of those new Airbus A330s. They are impossibly huge. It hadat least 8 bathrooms. Also, each seat had its own TV with a list of like 30 movies to choose from. There were also four computer games and a jukebox you could listen to as well. You could map the progress of your flight path too. I had the only empty seat on the plane (well, only empty one I could see because the plane was so huge) next to me. It was a nice perk. I still only managed to sleep for two hours though.
We got to Amsterdam and I had 35 minutes to disembark, get a boarding pass, clear customs, and check in for my flight to Paris. When I got to the transfer desk for my boarding pass, the line looked like it would take at least two hours. So, I being a big baby, simply tapped the line monitor ont he shoulder and pointed to my departure time which was, at this point, a measley 25 minutes away. I got skipped to the front of the line. I thought I was okay until they looked at me and said run until you reach customs. Customs was on the complete opposite end of a very large airport. I pulled the same tap and point trick when I got to customs (20 minutes) and got bumped to a special line. 10 minutes later I was running for my KLM plane to Paris. I got there very sweaty, just as the last people were boarding. I never looked at my row number until I got on board and then I noticed it said 5C. I showed it tot he person be cause that did not seem right. I figured there must be a first class 5C and then a coach 5C. There was only one. Thank you whomever screwed up and gave me a first class ticket for a coach price. It was the first (and probably only) time I've ever flown first class. They give you real glasses in first class. They also give you great food. The rest of the flight got what looked like trail mix and I got three pastries filled with hummus and olive, creamy parmesan, and spicy eggplant pate with a bacon wrapped date respecitvely. The first two were good. The eggplant date thing was not. I also got a piece of ginger lime cake with caramel lavender sauce. It was delicious. Easily the best hour long flight of my life. Also, there was a very cute nine month old baby sitting across the aisle from me. Her name was Anastasia and she smiled at me a lot. I smiled back. Baby smiles transcend language barriers.
I got to the airport in Paris, grabbed a cab, and got into my four hundred year old apartment building. After hauling all my bags up four spiral staircases, I got to the door of the apartment. I rang the bell because my roommate was supposed to be there to let me in. No answer. I collapsed on the landing for awhile and I finally dredged up my courage and a few semi-coherent french sentences to knock on the neighbor's door and ask if I could borrow his phone to call the rental agent. When I called him, he said Natalie never showed up, and that he had hidden the ley. I found it and the nice gay men across the hall carried my luggage in because my legs were literally shaking from exertion and tiredness. Then, I called and discovered my roomate is still in the US (no idea why).
After that I went and wandered around Le Marais. I discovered that I am a measly four blocks from Le Musee de Pompidou. Also, school is across the river--nowhere near here. Oh well. I went and bought a weeklong metro pass (mostly without assistance) and then I also found a marche and bought some dinner. I just got strawberries, bread, yogurt, and diet coke. I'm too tired to eat heavy food. No wonder the french are so skinny.
I'm going to go stay awake for thirty more minutes now. I was going to go explore some more tonight but it might not be a good idea when I'm this exhausted.
I'm loving Paris. It could only get better if you (yes you, dear Reader) and Mike were here.
Au revoir.