Feet on the Ground

Today's Itinerary:

  - Land

  - "Surprise" Massages

  - Eat

Today we successfully did all the things on the list. Good start team Maule!

Since we were flying overnight, it is hard to define when today started. I am going to call it the time after I woke up from my brief plan nap. Woke up is a generous way to say "Shaken awake to be handed breakfast that I didn't want", but the flight attendant was new. I was so confused as I sat there looking at the food in my hands. Mom noticed and took the food for later, but we ended up leaving it on the plane before heading out.

Considering the abrupt start, things can only get better, right?

After deplaning, we charge into customs. Mom literally just said to me "I think I should let you lead, since you are more familiar with travel", and then busted right into the passport line for European citizens. :-)

Customs was crowded, but our bags arrived without issue and we walked out of the terminal. This is where our driver was waiting with my name on a piece of paper (Surprise number 1 - we have a driver!) Mom, was chittering with excitement, she was anxious about leaving the airport.

Our driver plans to visit Madison in the Summer of 17, apparently he has a friend on the radio there. I have to listen to WORT (or something, 91.7 I'm fairly certain are the numbers of the station he described) for the Wednesday Jazz afternoon feature. If there is any Parisian Jazz, my driver is the one who submitted it.

Our driver was impressive with his driving. It wasn't dissimilar to some of my driving, but hopped up on more traffic and aggression. Mom was certain she would not be able to drive a car in France, I, on the other hand, think I could have done it if I had to. The thing that had me hesitant about this was the motorcycles in the cities. These idiots would blaze through vehicles going over the dotted line. The new campaign in France is going to be for Motorcycles to share the road with cars before long.

We rented a hotel on points for the afternoon, essentially. We were not going to be able to get to the apartment until later in the day, so I booked a temporary place. This caused lots of confusion because the hotel thought we no-showed for our last night check-in. They found us a room, though, and both Mom and I napped hard for not quite 3 hours.

I certainly could have slept longer, but I set the alarm knowing that we would be waking up to massages. Mom, however, did not know this, and she had a hard time getting out of bed until I told her what we were doing at the spa next (Surprise number 2 - Massages!) This being my first massage, she was excited to share that with me. The experience was better than I expected, and only at the beginning did I want to jump out of my skin being soo ticklish. The whole time I was wishing she would pop my back, and then I realized I should have just book a chiropractor appointment instead.

After wrapping up the massages, we left the hotel and finally headed for the apartment. This would be the angst relieving factor in the trip for me, finally getting to where we should be had me on edge for the past while. Once getting to the building, some poor blonde girl was fumbling about. She asked us for help, recognized we only speak English, and tromped away... Sorry.

Our View

The elevator could only hold 1 of us at a time with our bags, so I made Mom get in first. I could hear her meet Judith and practice a little French while I waited for the lift to return. Judith is the woman renting to us, and was a lot younger and prettier than I expected from someone named Judith. Once I got to the top, we go the tour, Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen, Bath. Pretty typical stuff, minus the armed guards outside. Apparently there is a Jewish Patriarchal school outside, and they have had the National Guard standing here since Isis stuff. Mom is on edge for this, but really I think it probably makes the whole area safer.

We sat around the house drinking wine, eating cheese, and listening to music like real Parisians (or at least the way us Americans expect Parisians to act). All this while trying to hold off on eating dinner too early in the day. Finally, 7ish rolled about and we ventured out towards our first meal in the city. 

Mom found a little place that somehow translated to "The Chained Turkey", and the restaurant decorated with paintings of turkeys on chains. I, not knowing the translation of Le Dindon en Laisse, thought we had walked into some kinky establishment that she was not ready for. It was a fine place to eat and the goat cheese in pastry h'ors d'oeuvres were excellent.

As the meal came to a close, I hit the wall. So tired, I fell asleep sitting up on the couch, and would have stayed there till morning had I not been dragged to bed. Our bed is warm and comfy though. A good night's rest will lead to a productive day tomorrow, and I think it is fair to say things got better since the breakfast I didn't eat this morning.