Sunday, September 14, 2008

Marie and Joan are off to Paris

Well, the girls are having adventure. Off to Paris, without our husbands. This is a bigger deal for Marie – she has never traveled without the appendage. Since we suggested the trip just to tease Bill, when he said OK, we didn’t hesitate to make the plan.

After the usual cattle car experience on the plane, we sailed through Charles de Gaulle and took the Metro to Marie’s apartment. (This involved me carrying my suitcase up and down stairs. Paris Metro’s are not designed for handicapped or luggage hauling.) The good part was that it was mid-afternoon and nothing was crowded.)

The apartment is lovely - very spacious and bright. They bought it completely furnished and ready to move in. This is very rare – normal Paris apartments come with nothing – not even a sink in the kitchen.

After plugging in and turning on all of the necessary stuff, we unpacked and went to the cave (a storage room in the basement) to get some wine. Marie had only been down there once so she wasn’t sure which one was her’s. The basement has the normal French lighting system – push the button and then keep pushing it periodically or you will be left in the dark. The catacombs have more light! Ask me how I know!! Marie left me down in the dungeon while she went to ask the concierge for help. I did have a very large flashlight. Success at last. The concierge also showed us how to turn on the lights and have them stay on – just in case we needed this feature. In order to get to the stay on switch from the elevator, you would probably be left in the dark at least once.

We made lunch dates for the next two days and went out for dinner to a local crepe place.
Here comes the 1st food pictures…

We shared an enormous duck gizzard salad. Truly scrumptious. (I forgot to take a picture, so when our neighbor ordered the same thing; I asked permission to photograph theirs. )

Then we each had the crepe l’ancienne. It had potatoes, cheese, onions and bacon. We should have shared that also because we were too stuffed to finish and really couldn’t have dessert.

Waddled home, called the USA to let everyone know we were safe and each took a sleeping pill to help us over the jet lag. A good report – we both slept like babies.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Joan,

I called the house on Sept. 11 and Chuck informed me that you had just called from the airport before boarding. Glad to hear that your flight to Paris was uneventful. I would love to see photos of Marie's apartment. I hope you have occasion to journal a few more times while in Paris as I really enjoy reading about your museum tours, adventures on foot and by metro, visits with friends, and meals eaten.

Love,

Susan

Anonymous said...

Bonjour Joan and Marie,

Gracias - woops! - Merci beaucoup pour le update! I can't do more than one language, sorry! Sounds like the beginning of your Hallelujah holiday was great. Duck gizzard? Ah me. I'm not so adventursome - photo looks good, though! Keep us posted!
Love, Ellen