Fortnight in Paris

This has taken me a long time to do:  try to chronicle our visit to Paris.  France, not Texas.  This is our second trip to Paris.  Our first trip was in 2009.  I looked back at this blog, and somehow I never posted about that trip!  We had lots of great pictures.  However, I did not upload them all.  Foolishly, I left many of them in my iPhoto.  That was before the cloud and Photostream.  So, when our house was broken into, my computer was stolen and along with it, all those photos!  But, many of them are at least in my head!  Wish I could translate thought into pictures!!!

As before, we decided to travel Bristish Air.  Unfortunately, that does mean an hour layover in London, but never the less, it is a good airline.  This is our third trip with BA, and it just keeps getting better!!

This time we managed to fly in World Traveler Plus, which gives you lots more legroom.  Well worth the added charge!

We got lots of goodies in our seat when we arrived on the plane!  So excited to have headphone instead of earphones!   (OK, maybe it's been that way a long time.  Remember, we haven't been to Europe in 3 years!)  We had a blanket, socks, a mask, and a toothbrush and toothpaste.  And a newspaper!

You will probably have to click on this image to make it larger in order to read it.  We were very impressed to be given a menu for our meals.  It was an overnight flight, so we had dinner and breakfast on the plane.  We had free beverages, even free wine if you wanted it.  We also had free snacks whenever we wanted.  Both meals were great on the way over.  We also had entertainment in the seatback in front of us.  There were a ton of movies and TV shows to choose from.  Totally enjoyed it!  Made better use of it on the way home, but enjoyed it on the way over, too.

The layover in London was interesting.  We went through security to get on the plane in Dallas.    When we get to London, we walked a long, long way to get to the next terminal.  But we had to go through security again when we got there.  That all took long enough to keep us from having to wait very long to board the next plane.  We had time for a Starbuck's and that was it!

When we arrived in Paris, we had to get our luggage, which took very little time.  It took us much longer 3 years ago!  We had a chauffeur waiting for us with our name on a sign.  Yay!  Felt like a movie star.  Got to ride to our apartment in style, with Air conditioning!

In 2009, we stayed in a  hotel in the 17th district, named Villa Alessandra.  This time, we decided to try an apartment.  We ended up in the 2nd district.  Cute little one bedroom apartment.  On the second French floor, which in the U.S. would be the third floor.  I should have taken a picture of the elevator in the apartment building!  So tiny!  Only room for one person and 2 suitcases!  Mike walked up, I rode up with the suitcases.

Here are pictures of our apartment:

This is the living room.  The door at the end of the couch is the door to the Kitchen.  There is actually a sofa bed in the couch.  We mostly used the couch for our suitcases!  The TV was in the bedroom!

You guessed it, this was the kitchen.  Had everything you need.  Including some lettuce the last tenant left in the refrigerator.  When we discovered that, it did not smell too good, and then neither did the apartment.  Thank goodness for lots of windows and cross ventilation!  We really did not cook.  We kept Coke Zero and cookies in the fridge for snacks.

And of course, the bedroom.  It was a double bed, but quite comfy.  There was no air conditioning, but a great fan by the bedside that kept us quite comfortable.

And the most interesting room, the bathroom!  That shower is actually a foot off the ground.  A big step up for me!  The machine to the right is the washer/dryer combination.  I will talk about that later.  The water pressure was great in the shower!  The towels were tiny.  Note to self:  maybe take a bigger towel in my suitcase next time!  (And if you like a washcloth, take that, too.  There were none!)

It was a cute little apartment.  We were situated on a busy street, with restaurants all around us.  There was a McDonald's across the street.  We had WiFi / internet / cable TV in the apartment.  All the comforts of home.

We were very tired when we arrived.  Our apartment owner met us, gave us keys, and a whole lot of instructions on trash and how to use the washer/dryer machine.  I should have written it down!

We took a little nap, then hit the streets around us.  Found the grocery store, bought some supplies, and then headed to dinner at the restaurant closest to us.  Had a wonderful Parisian salad.  Then home to relax and plan our attack on Paris!  

To be continued.......

"When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace;

You alone, O Lord, keep me perfectly safe."

Psalm 4:8