Rick Rambles – A blog

Paris in summary…
The flight over was not bad at all, but I don’t really mind sitting for seven hours…  the immigration and passport processing was very fast.  Considering we got there at 6:30 in the morning, that may have helped…  we went right out and got on the Air France bus.  I am not sure who, but I think someone told us about it.  Then we looked it up.  Regardless, it worked out well.  Marlo even bought round trip tickets so we did not have to wait when we went back to the airport.  I was in charge of those :>
Getting around was pretty easy.  We figured out the metro, which is very clean and efficient.
We did all of the Paris things, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, La Louvre, the Arc D’ Triumph, the Champs Elysian, a cruise on the Seine, fine dining, a jazz club, and a cabaret show…     when we were done, we were ready to go home to the good old U S of A.
The hotel was very nice and big especially for a European hotel.   The lobby was very Pari, the location was great once we figured out a few things.  Right across the street, there was a whole mall and downstairs was a grocery store and a deli!
Eating was a bit of a challenge though.  We had the language thing to deal with.  Many places had menu’s in English as well.  The last place we ate was really good.  Some roasted duck, some beef, a bottle of wine and some flaming desserts!
Paris – 100% success!!!

Things are already beginning to blur, what we did what day.  This blogging thing is a bit of a chore, but I want to do it and I know that there are a couple of people out there that appreciate it…
So we saw the arc.  Actually we see the arc all of the time because we are staying right down the road from it.  It is 200 feet tall, but we still lose track of it.  There are tall buildings with narrow streets, so you can’t see far.  There are also tiny, tiny, tiny cars everywhere.  As Marlo haphazardly crosses streets she is not even scared of them.  It seems as if they would jus fall over and give up if they hit you :>
So, we walked our butts all the way over to the Eiffel Tower.  It is a lot bigger up close, but then again, what isn’t …  we climbed the steps to the second floor and walked around.  The view was great.  Then we walked the steps to the third floor…  someone wanted to take the lift (that’s the elevator for you yanks…), but we took the stairs…  then we had to take the elevator to the third floor.  It was windy and cold…  we walked around, took pictures and enjoyed the view.  Tag, Eiffel Tower, done!  We cabbed it back to the hotel and napped for a bit…  ok, several hours and then we went to the Latin quarter… oh, but wait, we were talking to a couple of girls from Boston college, sophomores…  ok, what college sophomore can afford to go to Paris for spring break????  Anyway we were talking to them at every turn ov the line…  you know one of those serpentine lines that wraps in on itself to the destination…  anyway behind them were some other people.  There were two women and two girls.  Mom’s and their daughters…  one of the mothers looks at us and tells us that they have college students too…  ok, ok, we will talk to you too….????  After a bit it made sense.  She thought that the first girls were our daughters, so she was looking to make friends for their kids…  it was funny the way she said it though… hey we have college kids too, talk to us :>  we did talk to them.  I think they were going to school in Indiana.  They told us how they went dancing in the Latin quarter until four in the morning and slept until two…  that sounded good to us…  so after the tower, Marlo wanted to go for a boat ride on the Seine.  So we did.  It was pretty good.
Now, little did we know, the bus tour that we booked actually included the Eiffel tower AND the boat tour, ooops, no biggy.
We went into a restaurant and they had a  menu in English.  Many places were closed and it was only midnight…  we found a decent place and were intimidated by the pushy waiter…  I ordered some snails and Marlo ordered the cheese plate, aren’t we such the Parisians :>  the snails were good, they were in garlic and oil.  Now what can be really bad soaking in garlic and oil…  the bread was had and crusty.  I asked for some fresh bread.  Fortunately they understood enough English.  Now it was 12:05 am.  Marlo had been abstaining mostly  for the last month or  so.  The month was up at 12:00 at 12:04 she had a glass of wine.  She said that it was really good!…  I waited until noon the next day, actually the same day to break my fast…
I think that was all we did that day…  but like I said it is all starting to blur…
Monday…
I actually wrote down the plan for what we were going to do.  it was getting confusing…  I called it te clipboard of fun.  Please comment of that sounds familiar :>
So Monday was bus tour day.  We walked down to the bus office and got our tickets.  It was 1:00 and the next tour was at 3:00.  We waited.  It just so happened (and it just so happened happens a lot to us) that the restaurant with the awesome hot chocolate was right down the way from the bus place.  So we decided to have lunch there.  Angelina, world famous for their hot chocolate and their desserts.  We had both.  We also had a lovely glass of champagne…  that was also good.  I had an omelets and Marlo had a club sandwich. They were both very good.
While we were standing in line, we struck up a conversation with the six foot woman behind us.  It turns out that she is a fashion editor for Elle magazine and she is here for fashion week.  Hello!  Not only are we in Paris for fashion week, we and chatting it up with the editor from Elle…  how cool are we :>
We sit down and the waiter was very nice and spoke excellent English!  He did  wink at me all of the time though…  actually lots of Paris men winked at me…  I am hoping that it is JUST a friendly gesture… as we are ordering food I look across the restaurant and spot Andy McDowell.  At first I did not know if it was her.  We had just see “Four Weddings and a Funeral” so I could recognize her.  Now movie stars in real life do not have the advantage of all the makeup and the lighting so they look a little different.  I was pretty sure it was her, but not positive…  I had a clear view of her and I kept looking.  Finally I could hear her across the restaurant.  Now how I could pick her voice out over the din of the rest of the people I am not sure, but I could.  It was her…  such fun :>  I watched her for a while and then Marlo and I decided to take a video of her somewhat discreetly.  We had to do this for Mr. Jeffery Roller.  She is #1 on his LIST…  so we did.  Of course se mocked him.. here we are, there she is and what not :>
After a lovely lunch with awesome hot chocolate and really good dessert we took the bus tour.  We saw all the sights and they dropped us at the Eiffel tower.  We ditched them and went back towards the hotel.  We took a bus…  we have now taken a place, a bus, a taxi, the metro and a bus… it dropped us by the arch.  We attempted to go back to the hotel.  We wandered a bit.  We are in no hurry.  We went into shops and what not.
They we happened on the James Joyce Irish pub.  I wanted to go there since we got here.  We tossed back an pint and chatted it up with the French bartender (he looked Irish) and an Irish couple who were waiting for a bus to the airport.  We had a lovely conversation and totally enjoyed speaking to people we could understand…
We want back to the hotel and napped…. And it was a good thing too…
We were going to go to a club called Queen, but they would not let us in:<  either because of the way we were dressed or we did not fit they target demographic…  ok, we were not young and hip and gay… so we were going to do to the Duplex…  whatever that was.  But first we stopped in the phamancy, bar, jewelry store…  yea, a little odd…  while there I had absinthe.  The bartender poured it over sugar and lit it on fire.  It was a VERY strong liquorish taste.  It was better after adding a little ice water.
At this odd place we met Benginin.  He was a 40 something guy hanging out at his bar.  He made tv movies about musicians.  We told him about our experience  with the Queen club and offered to take us to a spot he knew.  Millionaire..  actually I think it was more like Mille on Airre or something, but it did not matter, it was closed…  so we took a cab to a place over by Notre Dame,  it was a basement club with some woman singing  at the piano on the top floor…  it was a little scary, but we had Ben, our guide.  He had some months ago had a large party here so they remembered him.  He made excuses for us.  Something about taking two Americans…  there was a band and a long wooden table.  The singers would dance on the table along with some of the more adventourous patrons.  People would even goo up on stage and dance with the very good dancing girls.  Yes, I did both!  Marlo was keeping Ben amused.  I think that his night took a turn for the better when he met us.  We amused him.  And bought him drinks :>  We did not get home until after 4:00 :>  Paris was done right!
Tonight is a burlesque show at the crazy horse.  But first we go to Notre Dame and St. Marie.  It is 3:00 something,  I have to go rouse Marlo and bring her to church :>
Ha, I am caught up…

Things are already beginning to blur, what we did what day.  This blogging thing is a bit of a chore, but I want to do it and I know that there are a couple of people out there that appreciate it…
So we saw the arc.  Actually we see the arc all of the time because we are staying right down the road from it.  It is 200 feet tall, but we still lose track of it.  There are tall buildings with narrow streets, so you can’t see far.  There are also tiny, tiny, tiny cars everywhere.  As Marlo haphazardly crosses streets she is not even scared of them.  It seems as if they would jus fall over and give up if they hit you :>
So, we walked our butts all the way over to the Eiffel Tower.  It is a lot bigger up close, but then again, what isn’t …  we climbed the steps to the second floor and walked around.  The view was great.  Then we walked the steps to the third floor…  someone wanted to take the lift (that’s the elevator for you yanks…), but we took the stairs…  then we had to take the elevator to the third floor.  It was windy and cold…  we walked around, took pictures and enjoyed the view.  Tag, Eiffel Tower, done!  We cabbed it back to the hotel and napped for a bit…  ok, several hours and then we went to the Latin quarter… oh, but wait, we were talking to a couple of girls from Boston college, sophomores…  ok, what college sophomore can afford to go to Paris for spring break????  Anyway we were talking to them at every turn ov the line…  you know one of those serpentine lines that wraps in on itself to the destination…  anyway behind them were some other people.  There were two women and two girls.  Mom’s and their daughters…  one of the mothers looks at us and tells us that they have college students too…  ok, ok, we will talk to you too….????  After a bit it made sense.  She thought that the first girls were our daughters, so she was looking to make friends for their kids…  it was funny the way she said it though… hey we have college kids too, talk to us :>  we did talk to them.  I think they were going to school in Indiana.  They told us how they went dancing in the Latin quarter until four in the morning and slept until two…  that sounded good to us…  so after the tower, Marlo wanted to go for a boat ride on the Seine.  So we did.  It was pretty good.
Now, little did we know, the bus tour that we booked actually included the Eiffel tower AND the boat tour, ooops, no biggy.
We went into a restaurant and they had a  menu in English.  Many places were closed and it was only midnight…  we found a decent place and were intimidated by the pushy waiter…  I ordered some snails and Marlo ordered the cheese plate, aren’t we such the Parisians :>  the snails were good, they were in garlic and oil.  Now what can be really bad soaking in garlic and oil…  the bread was had and crusty.  I asked for some fresh bread.  Fortunately they understood enough English.  Now it was 12:05 am.  Marlo had been abstaining mostly  for the last month or  so.  The month was up at 12:00 at 12:04 she had a glass of wine.  She said that it was really good!…  I waited until noon the next day, actually the same day to break my fast…
I think that was all we did that day…  but like I said it is all starting to blur…
Monday…
I actually wrote down the plan for what we were going to do.  it was getting confusing…  I called it te clipboard of fun.  Please comment of that sounds familiar :>
So Monday was bus tour day.  We walked down to the bus office and got our tickets.  It was 1:00 and the next tour was at 3:00.  We waited.  It just so happened (and it just so happened happens a lot to us) that the restaurant with the awesome hot chocolate was right down the way from the bus place.  So we decided to have lunch there.  Angelina, world famous for their hot chocolate and their desserts.  We had both.  We also had a lovely glass of champagne…  that was also good.  I had an omelets and Marlo had a club sandwich. They were both very good.
While we were standing in line, we struck up a conversation with the six foot woman behind us.  It turns out that she is a fashion editor for Elle magazine and she is here for fashion week.  Hello!  Not only are we in Paris for fashion week, we and chatting it up with the editor from Elle…  how cool are we :>
We sit down and the waiter was very nice and spoke excellent English!  He did  wink at me all of the time though…  actually lots of Paris men winked at me…  I am hoping that it is JUST a friendly gesture… as we are ordering food I look across the restaurant and spot Andy McDowell.  At first I did not know if it was her.  We had just see “Four Weddings and a Funeral” so I could recognize her.  Now movie stars in real life do not have the advantage of all the makeup and the lighting so they look a little different.  I was pretty sure it was her, but not positive…  I had a clear view of her and I kept looking.  Finally I could hear her across the restaurant.  Now how I could pick her voice out over the din of the rest of the people I am not sure, but I could.  It was her…  such fun :>  I watched her for a while and then Marlo and I decided to take a video of her somewhat discreetly.  We had to do this for Mr. Jeffery Roller.  She is #1 on his LIST…  so we did.  Of course se mocked him.. here we are, there she is and what not :>
After a lovely lunch with awesome hot chocolate and really good dessert we took the bus tour.  We saw all the sights and they dropped us at the Eiffel tower.  We ditched them and went back towards the hotel.  We took a bus…  we have now taken a place, a bus, a taxi, the metro and a bus… it dropped us by the arch.  We attempted to go back to the hotel.  We wandered a bit.  We are in no hurry.  We went into shops and what not.
They we happened on the James Joyce Irish pub.  I wanted to go there since we got here.  We tossed back an pint and chatted it up with the French bartender (he looked Irish) and an Irish couple who were waiting for a bus to the airport.  We had a lovely conversation and totally enjoyed speaking to people we could understand…
We want back to the hotel and napped…. And it was a good thing too…
We were going to go to a club called Queen, but they would not let us in:<  either because of the way we were dressed or we did not fit they target demographic…  ok, we were not young and hip and gay… so we were going to do to the Duplex…  whatever that was.  But first we stopped in the phamancy, bar, jewelry store…  yea, a little odd…  while there I had absinthe.  The bartender poured it over sugar and lit it on fire.  It was a VERY strong liquorish taste.  It was better after adding a little ice water.
At this odd place we met Benginin.  He was a 40 something guy hanging out at his bar.  He made tv movies about musicians.  We told him about our experience  with the Queen club and offered to take us to a spot he knew.  Millionaire..  actually I think it was more like Mille on Airre or something, but it did not matter, it was closed…  so we took a cab to a place over by Notre Dame,  it was a basement club with some woman singing  at the piano on the top floor…  it was a little scary, but we had Ben, our guide.  He had some months ago had a large party here so they remembered him.  He made excuses for us.  Something about taking two Americans…  there was a band and a long wooden table.  The singers would dance on the table along with some of the more adventourous patrons.  People would even goo up on stage and dance with the very good dancing girls.  Yes, I did both!  Marlo was keeping Ben amused.  I think that his night took a turn for the better when he met us.  We amused him.  And bought him drinks :>  We did not get home until after 4:00 :>  Paris was done right!
Tonight is a burlesque show at the crazy horse.  But first we go to Notre Dame and St. Marie.  It is 3:00 something,  I have to go rouse Marlo and bring here to church :>
Ha, I am caught up…

2009-Paris-2
We arrived in Paris at 6:30am local time and 1:30 am EST.  We cruised through the airport.  They looked at our passports, stamped them and we were on our way.  No paperwork, no nothing, stamp and go…  I thought it was more complicated than that.  I will be slightly harder when we go home.  We cruised through the airport and walked right by the information desk.  Just on the other side of the desk was an ATM… there was an Air France Bus right outside and it was going to where we wanted to be.  The problem was that they did not take US$ or credit cards.  We walked back in the terminal passed the information desk and to the ATM machine.  We both got money out.  I decided to take my ATM card back with me unlike I did in Peru where I forgot it…  anyway, back to the bus.  Marlo went into the office and bought, in French, two round trip tickets to the right bus and it was there in 15 minutes.  We asked the very nice, English speaking bus driver if they were going by our hotel and they were.  She even told us that it was the first stop and she would tell us when.  Nice!  It would have been a little better if I had brought a map and had the address with me, but no… silly boy…  anyway a very short bus ride later we were at our hotel.  The bus stop was latterly across the street, sweet.
We checked in at 7:30 in the morning…  they charged us 75e for the early checkin… hmmm…. But we wanted the bed, now…  we got a power converter and went up to the starwood preferred guest floor.  Now, I did not put the account on the reservation until we got here, so I don’t know how that happened, but we ended up with a very nice room on the eighth floor.  The room was pretty big.  It had a king-size bed, a nice bathroom with a bath/shower, a sink, and a baday.  It had a separate small room with the toilet.  Very nice.  It even had a speaker for the tv in the bathroom…
Marlo lay her head down on the bed and was instantly asleep…  she did not sleep on the plane very well and did not sleep well the night before…  I was going to stay up, but figured that I might as well lie down for a bit.  This was at 7:30am.  I woke up at 12:30pm…  I thought about getting up and that lasted several seconds and I fell back to sleep…  ooops…  at 2:45 I woke up again and we both stirred.
We got showered and dressed and began our exploration…  we stopped to get a map at the concierge desk, but did not get one.  We wandered instead.  We wandered over to the Arch De Triomphe.  It’s big.  We wandered around it.  We will go in it during the week when there is no crowd.  We then walked down the Champs Elysees….  It is eight lanes wide and has lot of traffic, and traffic circles, and restaurants, and shops, and, etc, etc, etc…  we stopped at a café and had a sandwich and coffee.  We then hoofed it all the way down to the Louvre and the pyramid.  It is all way more impressive in real life :>  we walked along the Seine and saw the river tour boats.  They looked like fun.  At this point it was after 7:00 so the museum was closed….
We ate at a cusco place that was not that expensive.
We came back to the hotel and hung out in the jazz club for a bit.  Marlo had a cappuccino and I ate the nuts…  the cappuccino was 11e or $15!!!!  Not only is the exchange rate slightly unfavorable, the prices are obscene!  We will muddle though, we won’t be back any time soon, so here we go..  We are going to hit the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel tower, L’Arc de Ttiomphe, and the Champs-Elysees.   We have already laid our eyes on most of them and now we have to have a closer look…

To be continued…

Things are already beginning to blur, what did we do what day.  This blogging thing is a bit of a chore, but I want to do it and I know that there are a couple of people out there that appreciate it…
So we saw the arc.  Actually we see the arc all of the time because we are staying right down the road from it.  It is 200 feet tall, but we still lose track of it.  There are tall building with narrow streets, so you can’t see far.  There are also tiny, tiny, tiny cars everywhere.  As Marlo haphazardly crosses streets she is not even scared of them.  It seems as if they would jus fall over and give up if they hit you :>
So, we walked our butts  all the way over to the Eiffel Tower.  It is a lot bigger up close, but then again, what isn’t …  we climbed the steps to the second floor and walked around.  The view was great.  Then we walked the steps to the third floor…  someone wanted to take the lift (that’s the elevator for you yanks…), but we took the stairs…  then we had to take the elevator to the third floor.  It was windy and cold…  we walked around, took pictures and enjoyed the view.  Tag, Eiffel Tower, done!  We cabbed it back to the hotel and napped for a bit…  ok, several hours and then we went to the Latin quarter… oh, but wait, we were talking to a couple of girls from Boston college, sophomores…  ok, what college sophomore can afford to go to Paris for spring break????  Anyway we were talking to them at every turn ov the line…  you know one of those serpentine lines that wraps in on itself to the destination…  anyway behind them were some other people.  There were two women and two girls.  Mom’s and their daughters…  one of the mothers looks at us and tells us that they have college students too…  ok, ok, we will talk to you too….????  After a bit it made sense.  She thought that the first girls were our daughters, so she was looking to make friends for their kids…  it was funny the way she said it though… hey we have college kids too, talk to us :>  we did talk to them.  I think they were going to school in Indiana.  They told us how they went dancing in the Latin quarter until four in the morning and slept until two…  that sounded good to us…  so after the tower, Marlo wanted to go for a boat ride on the Seine.  So we did.  It was pretty good.
Now, little did we know, the bus tour that we booked actually included the Eiffel tower AND the boat tour, ooops, no biggy.
We went into a restaurant and they had a  menu in English.  Many places were closed and it was only midnight…  we found a decent place and were intimidated by the pushy waiter…  I ordered some snails and Marlo ordered the cheese plate, aren’t we such the Parisians :>  the snails were good, they were in garlic and oil.  Now what can be really bad soaking in garlic and oil…  the bread was had and crusty.  I asked for some fresh bread.  Fortunately they understood enough English.  Now it was 12:05 am.  Marlo had been abstaining mostly  for the last month or  so.  The month was up at 12:00 at 12:04 she had a glass of wine.  She said that it was really good!…  I waited until noon the next day, actually the same day to break my fast…
I think that was all we did that day…  but like I said it is all starting to blur…
Monday…
I actually wrote down the plan for what we were going to do.  it was getting confusing…  I called it te clipboard of fun.  Please comment of that sounds familiar :>
So Monday was bus tour day.  We walked down to the bus office and got our tickets.  It was 1:00 and the next tour was at 3:00.  We waited.  It just so happened (and it just so happened happens a lot to us) that the restaurant with the awesome hot chocolate was right down the way from the bus place.  So we decided to have lunch there.  Angelina, world famous for their hot chocolate and their desserts.  We had both.  We also had a lovely glass of champagne…  that was also good.  I had an omelets and Marlo had a club sandwich. They were both very good.
While we were standing in line, we struck up a conversation with the six foot woman behind us.  It turns out that she is a fashion editor for Elle magazine and she is here for fashion week.  Hello!  Not only are we in Paris for fashion week, we and chatting it up with the editor from Elle…  how cool are we :>
We sit down and the waiter was very nice and spoke excellent English!  He did  wink at me all of the time though…  actually lots of Paris men winked at me…  I am hoping that it is JUST a friendly gesture… as we are ordering food I look across the restaurant and spot Andy McDowell.  At first I did not know if it was her.  We had just see “Four Weddings and a Funeral” so I could recognize her.  Now movie stars in real life do not have the advantage of all the makeup and the lighting so they look a little different.  I was pretty sure it was her, but not positive…  I had a clear view of her and I kept looking.  Finally I could hear her across the restaurant.  Now how I could pick her voice out over the din of the rest of the people I am not sure, but I could.  It was her…  such fun :>  I watched her for a while and then Marlo and I decided to take a video of her somewhat discreetly.  We had to do this for Mr. Jeffery Roller.  She is #1 on his LIST…  so we did.  Of course se mocked him.. here we are, there she is and what not :>
After a lovely lunch with awesome hot chocolate and really good dessert we took the bus tour.  We saw all the sights and they dropped us at the Eiffel tower.  We ditched them and went back towards the hotel.  We took a bus…  we have now taken a place, a bus, a taxi, the metro and a bus… it dropped us by the arch.  We attempted to go back to the hotel.  We wandered a bit.  We are in no hurry.  We went into shops and what not.
They we happened on the James Joyce Irish pub.  I wanted to go there since we got here.  We tossed back an pint and chatted it up with the French bartender (he looked Irish) and an Irish couple who were waiting for a bus to the airport.  We had a lovely conversation and totally enjoyed speaking to people we could understand…
We want back to the hotel and napped…. And it was a good thing too…
We were going to go to a club called Queen, but they would not let us in:<  either because of the way we were dressed or we did not fit they target demographic…  ok, we were not young and hip and gay… so we were going to do to the Duplex…  whatever that was.  But first we stopped in the phamancy, bar, jewelry store…  yea, a little odd…  while there I had absinthe.  The bartender poured it over sugar and lit it on fire.  It was a VERY strong liquorish taste.  It was better after adding a little ice water.
At this odd place we met Benginin.  He was a 40 something guy hanging out at his bar.  He made tv movies about musicians.  We told him about our experience  with the Queen club and offered to take us to a spot he knew.  Millionaire..  actually I think it was more like Mille on Airre or something, but it did not matter, it was closed…  so we took a cab to a place over by Notre Dame,  it was a basement club with some woman singing  at the piano on the top floor…  it was a little scary, but we had Ben, our guide.  He had some months ago had a large party here so they remembered him.  He made excuses for us.  Something about taking two Americans…  there was a band and a long wooden table.  The singers would dance on the table along with some of the more adventourous patrons.  People would even goo up on stage and dance with the very good dancing girls.  Yes, I did both!  Marlo was keeping Ben amused.  I think that his night took a turn for the better when he met us.  We amused him.  And bought him drinks :>  We did not get home until after 4:00 :>  Paris was done right!
Tonight is a burlesque show at the crazy horse.  But first we go to Notre Dame and St. Marie.  It is 3:00 something,  I have to go rouse Marlo and bring here to church :>
Ha, I am caught up…

We are cranking with the sightseeing.  We have done, the tower, the arch, the river, lots of cafes, and are havving a grand time.  Details later!

We (that means me) now have a schedule, Monday tour bus, Tuesday, Notra Dame and St. Marie and the Crazy Horse, Wednesday La Louvre, and we fly back Thursday :<

2009-Paris-2
We arrived in Paris at 6:30am local time and 1:30 am EST.  We cruised through the airport.  They looked at our passports, stamped them and we were on our way.  No paperwork, no nothing, stamp and go…  I thought it was more complicated than that.  I will be slightly harder when we go home.  We cruised through the airport and walked right by the information desk.  Just on the other side of the desk was an ATM… there was an Air France Bus right outside and it was going to where we wanted to be.  The problem was that they did not take US$ or credit cards.  We walked back in the terminal passed the information desk and to the ATM machine.  We both got money out.  I decided to take my ATM card back with me unlike I did in Peru where I forgot it…  anyway, back to the bus.  Marlo went into the office and bought, in French, two round trip tickets to the right bus and it was there in 15 minutes.  We asked the very nice, English speaking bus driver if they were going by our hotel and they were.  She even told us that it was the first stop and she would tell us when.  Nice!  It would have been a little better if I had brought a map and had the address with me, but no… silly boy…  anyway a very short bus ride later we were at our hotel.  The bus stop was latterly across the street, sweet.
We checked in at 7:30 in the morning…  they charged us 75e for the early checkin… hmmm…. But we wanted the bed, now…  we got a power converter and went up to the starwood preferred guest floor.  Now, I did not put the account on the reservation until we got here, so I don’t know how that happened, but we ended up with a very nice room on the eighth floor.  The room was pretty big.  It had a king-size bed, a nice bathroom with a bath/shower, a sink, and a baday.  It had a separate small room with the toilet.  Very nice.  It even had a speaker for the tv in the bathroom…
Marlo lay her head down on the bed and was instantly asleep…  she did not sleep on the plane very well and did not sleep well the night before…  I was going to stay up, but figured that I might as well lie down for a bit.  This was at 7:30am.  I woke up at 12:30pm…  I thought about getting up and that lasted several seconds and I fell back to sleep…  ooops…  at 2:45 I woke up again and we both stirred.
We got showered and dressed and began our exploration…  we stopped to get a map at the concierge desk, but did not get one.  We wandered instead.  We wandered over to the Arch De Triomphe.  It’s big.  We wandered around it.  We will go in it during the week when there is no crowd.  We then walked down the Champs Elysees….  It is eight lanes wide and has lot of traffic, and traffic circles, and restaurants, and shops, and, etc, etc, etc…  we stopped at a café and had a sandwich and coffee.  We then hoofed it all the way down to the Louvre and the pyramid.  It is all way more impressive in real life :>  we walked along the Seine and saw the river tour boats.  They looked like fun.  At this point it was after 7:00 so the museum was closed….
We ate at a cusco place that was not that expensive.
We came back to the hotel and hung out in the jazz club for a bit.  Marlo had a cappuccino and I ate the nuts…  the cappuccino was 11e or $15!!!!  Not only is the exchange rate slightly unfavorable, the prices are obscene!  We will muddle though, we won’t be back any time soon, so here we go..  We are going to hit the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel tower, L’Arc de Ttiomphe, and the Champs-Elysees.   We have already laid our eyes on most of them and now we have to have a closer look…

To be continued…

Hartford to DC
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 4:30 or so.  This means that we have to be at the airport at2:30 or so.  Lots of time to sleep in and what not.  Well Marlo got a call to work at 10:30 for a bit and we both thought that was fine, but we did have to get up at 8;30…  not terrible.  I actually woke up at 8:00 thinking of last minute things that I wanted to do.  Print out the boarding passes, grab my trimmer, and charge the mp3 player.  I was working on printing the boarding passes and there was some options for our seating.  Such things as this are far more important to Marlo then they are to me so I let her select the seats.  I had to help her with the site a bit first though…  and I ended up finishing up and printing them.  I got my trimmer, and the mp3 player.  I took a moment to look into ground transportation for when we get t oParis, but it was complicated.  Plus the hotel people told me that Air Paris has shuttles that run every hour and they stop right across from our hotel.  This will be our first adventure after we land.
We drop the car at RonCarre because they forgot to take care of Marlo’s car properly last time, so we brought it back.  We were riding with a family that apparently was going skiing.  Well the mother was completely neurotic!  She had to keep track of every bag at all times.  She had to keep track of every person, and every scrap of paper.  We talked to the boy later and expected that this was their first trip.  It turn out they they travel quite a bit…  hello, she needs to take a pill.  Both kids realized that she was nuts.  I asked the boy if he pulls her chain much.  He laughed and said that it amusing, but it gets him into trouble :>
So, Marlo and I had a chat about the buddy system when we travel.  I equated it to scuba diving where you are to keep you buddy in site at all time and not let them get out of your site.  Well, Marlo forgets this sometimes.  Even after our chat, as soon as we hit the airport, she was off like a big tail bird.  She took off and never looked back.  I was not worried.  I knew exactly where I had to be AND I had both boarding passes and passports.  I got stuck behind a bunch of people in uniform and watched her cross the whole terminal without me.  I do have to admit that as soon as she enters this zone.  I tend to stay out of her direct line of site and see exactly how far she will get before remembering that she has a travel companion.  She was only 100-150 feet away almost in line for security by the time she remembered…. Hmmmm
There was a long line for security and Marlo expressed her extreme double that we would get through in a hour and a half.  The line was moving fast and I was not overly concerned…
It took us about 20 minutes AND Marlo looked back for me from then on.  So much so that when we got separated in line she told some very large man (6’7”) that I was her buddy and the we were together…  her buddy…. Hmmmm…  that’s ok, she has called me worse.  I remember months ago as she was wimping on my car…  accelerating very fast, sliding around corners, braking hard, etc…  no, really… she was having a ball.  When she finally came out of her zone she looks at me and says, “ooops, sorry pal.”  So I guess buddy is no worse then pal…
We cruse through in plenty of time.  I get my diet dew and some gum and then head to the bathroom.  I clearly state my intentions and tell her where I will meet  her… like a good travel buddy…  I leave the bathroom and walk to where I was going to meet her.  She is not there, but no biggy.  She had no idea how long I would be and we had a meeting point.  I found her up the other way at the dunkin donuts getting coffee.  She turns to walk towards me a couple of people tell her she dropped something…  it was her boarding pass, ooops, who needs that :>
We get on our flight and I had overheard a young woman tell the people at the desk that she had the  seat in between us…  bummer.  But she did not sit there at first.  Her and her 20 something friends were giggling up a storm in the row behind us.  They had convinced on guy to trade for a window seat and were sitting in a guys isle seat.  He was having no part in the seat swap, so she ended up between us.  It turned out to be a good thing because the distance ceased the incessant giggling…
The flight was very short and uneventful…  off at DC.  We got out at D23 and needed to be at C12, no worries…
We sat in an uncrowded area and I broke the computer out, just to see if I could get wireless…  it was an AT&T hotspot so I was in.  I emailed mom and checked Facebook.  Marlo updated her status.  A woman across the way was admiring our cute little laptop and I explained the finer points to her.
It was time to board our plane so we hovered over by the line.  We were in boarding party 3 so we hovered until after the 2’s were on their way.  A man and a woman were in front of us and the woman had gotten a water and returned to her buddy…  Marlo had some off-handed remark on how they had cut us off and we had been behind a guy with a blue plaid short…  well they guy heard the comment and couldn’t quite let it go.  Her turns and says that they have been waiting behind the people the whole time…  the line was not moving at all…  finally the line moved and the people in front of us did not.  It turns out that they were in group 4 and just in our way…  Marlo expressed her displeasure somewhat under her breath, but they heard that and huffed some more…  oh well…..
We board the plane and I go to the left because that’s where our seats were. And stow my bag.  Marlo works her way from the right side.  We were hoping for an empty row.  No such luck…  Marlo ended up sitting next to a child, and was not all that happy.  Then this young woman would not switch with Marlo so that we could sit together.  She would switch, but only for the aisle seat…  butt head…  I did purposely talk over and around  her many times.  She did not seem to mind…  Marlo did not seem to mind sitting over there either, so I just sat in my aisle seat and watched the move, typed this, read my book, etc…
Now, I may be strange, but I think that the airplane food is fun.  It is in all the little compartments and all arranged just so.  I had the chicken.  I thought it was good…  the girl got the pasta and did not eat much…
She is off to Paris to meet up with her boyfriend…  who can afford a boyfriend on another continent at 20 something.  I wanted to ask who was paying for this trip, but I don’t like to be rude….  She did separate Marlo and I and I was not happy about that, so maybe I will…
More later…

So, it is time to pack again, I know poor me.  As I begin to pack I ponder what to call this trip.  As I have pointed out before; I don’t think it is a vacation, because it has to be a vacation from something.  No work means no vacation…  I like to refer to this time as a mini retirement or an extended holiday… anyway back to the question at hand, or more accurately the question in my head.  Even if I was working the second part of the trip to Florida was an adventure.  I believe that a vacation should be more relaxation then effort.  More in the way of, you go somewhere different and relaxing, you stay there for a spell and you come back all refreshed and ready to get back to the grind.  The second part of Florida I did not stay in one place more than two days and drove about 1,000 miles…  This would be clearly in the adventure category, especially considering the backpacking portion of the trip.
Now, what about Paris?  I think that it has some indicators of being a vacation (except for the work thing, let’s consider this more from Marlo’s perspective).  We are flying far away and staying in the same place for a week; Vacation.  BUT, it is in a strange new land and we have to fly and go through customs and they speak a foreign language; Adventure.  Oh yea, the learning French thing, that did get the attention necessary to be much help at all…  I guess I need to find some motivation.  Anyway I have to switch back to Spanish now because Mexico is our next foreign destination…
Also in discussing our Paris adventure (or vacation) we thought that since we were going to be there for a while, we might as well check out London.  It really is a day trip.  Unlike the Easter Island idea.  We can take a train through the chunnel, and make a day of it there.  We are even thinking about riding in the cliché double decker bus!   Now it seems more like an adventure… hmmm…
Now in May we go to Mexico.  One would think that would be a simple vacation (assume there is some work to be vacationing from), but no.  We are not just flying to Mexico and hanging out on the beach.  We are doing not one, not two, but three all-inclusive resorts in the same trip…  I sense a pattern here.
It is funny after my Florida adventure it felt really good to come home, to a place where I could really relax and not have to think about where I was going to stay, how to get from place to place or anything else.  Having a wonderful woman to come home to was even better.
So regardless if it is a vacation or an adventure…  someone once told me, “If you are not happy at home, you won’t be happy in Paris…”  Well I am happy at home and in Paris, and in Florida, and in Mexico, and in Peru, and in Chile, etc, etc, etc.
So, back to packing.  We are going to do carry-on again, because we can.  We are leaving the 6th and returning the 12th.  There is something about an overnight flight on the way over.  Does that mean we gain a day on the way home???
More later…