As I pen this blog entry (well, not pen, of course, but you know what I mean), sitting in a big, beautiful apartment overlooking the 7th arrondesment in Paris, France, it occurs to me that the most important thing about our spaceous, clean, hundreds-of-year-old apartment is that it has WiFi. Although people say "get away, go on vacation, disconnect from the world", I can't imagine doing so. Too dull. My world is connected, many of my friends are tied to me this way, and there are too many useful things available online to pull the plug. Paris is lovely, but don't make me give up my laptop. Pathetic, but true.
As for our trip, so far it flops along nicely. A minor, confusing starts involving passports left sitting at home, but leaving for the airport early enough meant never having to say "we're sorry--you can't board because you forgot your passports." Air India, our inexpensive carrier-of-choice was actually very comfortable (if you count sitting upright while trying to sleep comfortable) and right on time. Amazing that Air India to Paris, France was on time and American Airlines to Chicago, Illinois, never seems to be.
Anyway, we spent yesterday wandering everywhere trying, mostly, to eat and stay awake. The former was not a problem--we found a lovely little bistro and kept them there much later in the afternoon than they wanted to be open as we worked on grilled lamb, some sort of tripe-y thing, and frites. The latter, however, was managed with difficulty, although I think I did make it until about 10 before I passed out. Alain, our host, has an extremely comfortable bed, which I have now risen from some 12 hours later as Kim heads off to forage for pastries.
The weather was perfect yesterday, but rumor has it that it will turn rainy for the next few days and cooler. This may not be too much of a problem as apparently everything is also going to be closed for the next few days. Good thing we don't actually care what we do, as this would be somewhat of a dampener for us if we did. Who knew that everything in Paris is closed on May 1st for May Day. Solidarity, brothers! I won't work that day either.
More from the city of light as it becomes available. And relevant. And interesting.
