Day 1

So I'm finally here, in Paris France. The flight was only moderately scarring. The first plane went to Newark and was blissfully uneventful. On the second plane from Newark to Charles de Gaulle I sat in the aisle seat next to a pleasantly cute couple who left me alone. The airplane itself was pretty cool though. There were TV screens in the back of the headrests from which to choose movies, music, games, and a little map with a disproportionately large airplane icon traveling across our flight plan, showing exactly where in the middle of nowhere we were currently located. The best part, it was free! I watched 27 dresses and Catch me if you can (the latter becoming an instant favorite) and listened to Radiohead. I forgot for a while that I was cramped in a 17x17in space breathing recycled air 32000 feet above an ocean no inflatable seat cushion could save me from. We boarded the plane at 9:50pm Newark time and landed 11:25am Paris time making for about a seven and a half hour flight. Hours of those spent sleeping- 0

We collected our immense amounts of luggage and-as the name implies- hauled it through the masses and out of the terminal area, only to find (or not find) that the ride we had scheduled to drive us to the hotel was nowhere in sight. For three hours. I was left to keep watch over our combined 150+lbs of baggage while Nanny went in search of a phone (as our cellies cost your first born child to operate internationally). A tour group called "Celtic Lands" briefly tried to kidnap me but after about three exasperated "No, I am NOT part of your group"s they eventually let me be. When a driver did show up he was a very plesant Frenchman named Didier. He even cracked a few jokes. It should also be noted that I was mildly reprimanded by a large camo clad French army man wielding a machine looking sucker of a gun.

We finally made it to the hotel and crashed to the beds. A combination of jet lag and starvation had me in not my best temperance. I slept, not sure how long. When we woke up we decided to try and dig up some food. A shower, change of clothes, and three trips into and out of the hotel later, we found a nice sandwich/pizza shop. The owner did not know English. Between my grandmother and me, we may know a grand total of eight French words. I ordered, accidently said "si" instead of "oui”, and only snapped 2 pictures for fear of further embarrassment.




I only have 24 hours of wifi time for now, so I may not get to post every day, but I'll keep up as best I can.

The real fun starts tomorrow (supposedly)