5 juin 2023

 Bienvenue à Paris...

We knew our time would go fast.

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I planned our flight to France, via Paris, so that we could get a glimpse.  A quick look at the city of lights.  (More on those lights later.)

Our flight left O'Hare Sunday evening with an 8 hour flight ahead + a 7 hour jump in time. We arrived in Paris just before 8am, but faced a two hour line to get through customs.  Thankfully, our rideshare knew very well that this would be the case and patiently waited for us.  

We weren't able to get into our AirBnB until after 3pm, so we used STASHER to store our stuff and still be able to sightsee around town.  We knew that time would not be generous to us  (especially after losing so much in the airport). 

We jumped on BatoBus, which is actually a boat tour down the Seine River, with 9 infamous stops: La Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, etc. 

 It was an easy one stop, two hour round trip to see, but not "touch"; we were fine with this because jet lag was real on this day. 

Once we retrieved our stuff from Stasher and checked in, we quickly showered and headed to the Eiffel for dinner.  This was our big Paris outing!  Dinner at Madame Brasserie was a beautiful event full of goodies, 5 course meal and stunning view.  Nearly every time a new plate was placed in front of us, more water and/or wine was added to our glasses. 

 For our starter, Chato chose the Niçoise-style tuna, while I went for the Blue lobster.  Our "first" dish was Surf and turf vol-au-vent with farmhouse chicken.  Our next dish, Chato chose Saddle of lamb, artichoke cream, roasted artichoke and meat jus, which he loved.  I went with the Chicken fricassee and crispy rice with Comté cheese that was absolutely delicious.

It was beautiful weather with a gorgeous backdrop. 

Now, as for this "City of Lights" - I think I misunderstood the assignment.  

I thought that the lights of the Eiffel, at night, were what most people were referring to when this name was used to describe Paris.  Well, historically, it's not completely incorrect.  Paris was the first European city to use gas street lamps in the mid 1800s.  But I am pretty sure that my understanding of LIGHTS is that Paris sunsets are so late in the evening, it takes forever for those lights to even come on; dayLIGHT lasted until well after 10pm in the evening, and our jet-lagged bodies could barely keep our eyes open to see the Eiffel light up after dusk.

Although it was short, we are glad we got to explore just a bit of Paris before heading south for the biggest adventure of our lives!

Next stop: St. Jean Pied de Port, Gateway to the Camino de Santiago