Ninjas Ate My Lunch…So I wrote a blog about it.

And other happenings from Paris, France.

Caro and I arrived in gay Paree after waking up alarming early to catch a shuttle to the Girona airport at 4am. Shuttle ride was smooth and we arrived with 2 hours to spare at the aeropuerto. Preparing to fly on RyanAir, the self proclaimed “cheap fare airline”, was a challenge considering their baggage restriction of 10kilos (20lbs) per person. The amount they pound it into your head that this is the MAX per passenger, you’d think it’s punishable by death. Or just a 25 euro fee… Which to someone with no income for 3 months is a similar fate. Anyway, Caro and I were up to the wee hours of the morning packing and weighing our luggage, getting them to 9.8 and 9.9 kilos, respectively. We are packing goddesses!

Getting to the airport we noticed people checking in and going through security with multiple bags (a supposed BIG no-no), and bags definitely larger than 10kilos. Well, fine we played by the apparently arbitrary rules and I ended up traveling without my laptop and flat iron. Horrors! But it was a good exercise in packing light.

This in a way set the tone for how our Paris trip has gone so far. Shuttle from paris airport to city center was 1 hour late getting us, when, as it turns out, the driver was at the terminal the whole time “looking for us”. Um no. We saw him once walking around WITHOUT our name sign and not looking productive at all. After giving us our first taste of Parisian attitude upon US finding HIM we loaded into the shuttle with some annoyed looking Irish family and we were off.

2. A little while into the drive we pull over to the side of the highway, and I’m assuming the vehicle pulling up behind us is a police car. I mean, why else would you pull over on the highway? Well, another reason to pull over is to tell 2 of your passengers to get out and get in the van behind you. The van with 2 men in the front seat. And yes, those passengers were Caro and I. As we get out I felt calm about this decision, though later Caro told me, “For a minute there I thought we were definitely being kidnapped into the sex trade.” Thanks, Taken.)

Unwise decisions aside, we exited the one shuttle and walked through some roadside brush to where the other “shuttle” and it’s “driver” were waiting. A shared look of recognition between the driver and us (we’d seen him hovering around the arrival terminal) affirmed this was only an irritating inconvenience, not an elaborate plot to turn us into prostitutes. Whew!

Moving our luggage over, our first driver explains that Irish family needs to go to EuroDisney, so new driver takes us to our hotel, for less money. Less money? I’m in! A large family of Italians in the new shuttle are rearranging themselves to make room for us, leaving me in the back and Caro in the front seat with new driver and one of the very friendly Italian men. As we pull away they are all having a big laugh at this silly situation, as Caro reaches to put on her seatbelt. The guy goes to help and attempts to put one seatbelt over both of them…cozy! This causes the entire van to erupt in laughter, us included. This leaves me with a cheerful feeling of comraderie and reminds me of how much I love Italians.

We near the city center, evidenced by more people, cars, and trash and fewer trees. We drove through the outskirts of the center and with each passing block and mound of trash I am slowly wondering why we didn’t go to Italy instead? Look how friendly they are!

I tried to reassure myself by remembering positive things about this city, but since it has been 13 years since my last visit, this proves to be challenging. We arrive finally at our hotel though, and it does appear to be in a clean part of the city. Tucked on a quaint little street steps from the Louvre this hotel perks up my spirits.

Things continue to brighten as we are greeted by a very friendly front desk lady who is patient with our lack of French. She gives us a map, helps us store our luggage till the room is ready (about 4 hours) and points us inthe direction of sights to see.

We spent the next 7 hours lunching (sandwich with ham, melted bubbly cheese and an overeasy egg on top, yes please!) and exploring the Louvre. It was challenging having approximately 3 words of French between us, but we made it through. The Louvre was impressive to say the least and we got pictures with the Mona Lisa even!

By the time we got back to the hotel I was ready to shower and relax. The new front desk guy was considerably less friendly, unfortunately. But we made it to our room which is surprisingly smaller than the photos online.

Highlights from the hotel-
1. There was advertised Internet in room, which actually works on my phone! Score!! Although not as advertised it is paid and I was more than willing to pay some to get online. A little 10 euro charge? K.
2. We look for the supposed safe to lock our valuables but all I found was a small fridge with a lock. I contemplate locking my money and passport in there but then decide against it.
3. Scouring the room for an electrical outlet takes me the whole of 30 seconds before I realize the only available 2 are powering the fridge and TV. I don’t need cold Toblerone but I do need French MTV so you can guess which got the boot. This was after I called the front desk and Mr. Unfriendly barked, “What?!” to my question about outlets and then hung up on me.
4. After watching the adequately powered TV for about an hour Caro read the hotel info and realized that we are charged for watching TV. Really? Fine. Also in that info we learned that there is indeed a safe to lock our things for 4 euro. I’m waiting to see if they charge us to also turn lights on or take a shower.

Amusing, and costly, bumps in the road of our first day in a city that is starting to (re)grow on me. Tomorrow should be jammed packed, and hopefully just as entertaining!