J&J's European Adventure

17 July

Paris, France - Day 1

I gave our Swiss power adapter to the desk clerk on the way out, and we headed for the station. We checked on TGV seats again this morning, to see if they had freed up any for pass holders, but nothing had changed. The regional train served us nicely, as we had power available for the computer and a cool, private compartment. We traveled through a lot of farm land this morning. They are starting to harvest the grain now.

When we arrived in Paris, our first challenge was to tame the Metro system. We wanted to buy a 7-day pass, but the machine in the train station didn't seem to have that option. I asked at the information booth and was told to go to a nearby Metro station. We went around and around with the machine there before giving up and going back to the train station. This time, they told us to go to a different Metro station where there is a live attendant – so we did. The attendant was gone, but we stood patiently for many minutes and were able to buy 5-day passes (the longest they had that would work for us), locate the route we needed, make one train change, and find our condo. Against all odds, they had not misplaced our reservations and we checked in amazingly quickly.

OMG!!! We can't believe this setup. We have a corner unit on the 17th floor with a clear view of the Eiffel Tower less than a mile away. The view out the other windows ain't bad either. We may not have the best view in town, but we'll take it! After much grinning and pointing out of the windows, we made a shopping list and bought groceries at the market around the corner. We had steak, herb potatoes, and peas for supper, all for about $6.

After supper, we walked along the Seine (about 50 yards away) to the Eiffel Tower. We saw a lot of the barges that have been converted into houseboats along the way. The scene around the tower was loosely controlled chaos. There were dozens of peddlers with an almost endless variety of model towers and wind-up animals, but they weren't too pushy and really added to the experience more than being a nuisance. We thought about going up in the tower, but the line was so long that it was difficult to find the end of it. Maybe it will be shorter on a weekday. The soldiers walking around with assault weapons was a slightly spooky thing, but I guess that's just the world we live in today. Nothing blew up, so they must be doing a good job. We hope they can keep it up at least one more week.

We walked from the ET to the military school, then saw a big gold-domed building in the distance and hiked to it. We think it is a military museum. Whatever it is, it is very impressive. By now, it was getting late, so we found a Metro stop and went home.

First day's impression: PARIS IS WAY COOL! As much as we were disappointed in Switzerland, we are blown away by Paris.

Daily miles: 5.35

Expenses:
36.68€ (groceries)
71.25€ (Metro passes mostly + room tax)