We had a very easy morning today as we did not have to catch the train until 11:28. This was a welcome way to start today since the train to Paris involved one change enroute. As we headed to the railway station to find the platform we learned that we had to go through French Customs - except all that happened is we got out our documents in preparation and then walked right by 3 custom officers chatting who hardly even looked at us. Very interesting.
Then we had a great time chatting with a couple of people who live in Switzerland and were traveling. One Wes talked to for awhile before the train arrived and the other sat with us on the first leg of the trip. She is a teacher in Switzerland and this is her last year before retiring. It was very interesting to compare school systems.
We were well prepared for our arrival in Paris having done lots of research and checking out the location of the hotel, which metro to take, and what streets to follow once we got off the metro. We did great as far as getting to the metro and finding the correct train. But when we got off, we realized that we had forgot to forward the street map to the blackberry so we had to rely on memory. Fortunately that worked well and we headed off to find the apartment we have rented for this week - only to get to the correct street address. As we tried to open the gate to get into the yard a lady (who it turns out lives there) walked over to talk to us wondering why we were there. My French is not conversational level and Wes' vocabulary is weak, but we did manage to learn that we had the correct street address, but the wrong town. By this time the GPS found the satellites and we were able to use Karen to locate the correct street address in the correct town which fortunately was about 2 km away - which we could walk.
The apartment is really very nice and clean. It looks like it has just been redone. So after unpacking a bit we walked to the grocery store down the street to buy some supplies. We are only here for one week, so we have to be realistic about supplies. As we stood in line to buy the groceries we had infront of us someone who must have been stocking up for a month - a very full cart and 3 packed bags. Not a problem, we can be patient (well Wes can) and so we wait for our turn. Then the conveyor belt at the till quit working, so we have to move all our groceries down to the teller - one piece at a time. Finally we got the bill and it was a nice surprise - less than we would have spent for one dinner out - and we have supplied for several days.
We have finished our first cooked meal here and it really is nice to sit down and relax rather than sit in a restaurant. Of course we had a good breakfast, no lunch and it was about 7:30 pm before we finally ate so our meal schedule is really off.
Tomorrow we start to explore Paris. Wonder what we will be doing!
Then we had a great time chatting with a couple of people who live in Switzerland and were traveling. One Wes talked to for awhile before the train arrived and the other sat with us on the first leg of the trip. She is a teacher in Switzerland and this is her last year before retiring. It was very interesting to compare school systems.
We were well prepared for our arrival in Paris having done lots of research and checking out the location of the hotel, which metro to take, and what streets to follow once we got off the metro. We did great as far as getting to the metro and finding the correct train. But when we got off, we realized that we had forgot to forward the street map to the blackberry so we had to rely on memory. Fortunately that worked well and we headed off to find the apartment we have rented for this week - only to get to the correct street address. As we tried to open the gate to get into the yard a lady (who it turns out lives there) walked over to talk to us wondering why we were there. My French is not conversational level and Wes' vocabulary is weak, but we did manage to learn that we had the correct street address, but the wrong town. By this time the GPS found the satellites and we were able to use Karen to locate the correct street address in the correct town which fortunately was about 2 km away - which we could walk.
The apartment is really very nice and clean. It looks like it has just been redone. So after unpacking a bit we walked to the grocery store down the street to buy some supplies. We are only here for one week, so we have to be realistic about supplies. As we stood in line to buy the groceries we had infront of us someone who must have been stocking up for a month - a very full cart and 3 packed bags. Not a problem, we can be patient (well Wes can) and so we wait for our turn. Then the conveyor belt at the till quit working, so we have to move all our groceries down to the teller - one piece at a time. Finally we got the bill and it was a nice surprise - less than we would have spent for one dinner out - and we have supplied for several days.
We have finished our first cooked meal here and it really is nice to sit down and relax rather than sit in a restaurant. Of course we had a good breakfast, no lunch and it was about 7:30 pm before we finally ate so our meal schedule is really off.
Tomorrow we start to explore Paris. Wonder what we will be doing!
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