Friday, September 12, 2008

LAFAYETTE, WE ARE HERE!


We arrived in Paris pretty much on time. Customs was slow at first, but the must have added a couple agents at 8:30am as all of a sudden the line was booking, Dave had to check his bag at Logan as it was deemed too big. He was pretty psyched when it showed up at the baggage claim. So a pretty amazing trip so far: left on time (ok pulled away from the gate on time, waited in line for 35 minutes for take off) landed on time (actually touched the ground almost 20 minutes early, then spent 20 minutes getting to the gate and getting the door open) and no lost luggage Trifacta! AND THEN we got to the hotel about 10am and our room was ready. And we are in room 44. With the Express premiering in Syracuse tonight and Penn State in the Dome tomorrow, I hope it is a good omen. We are on a roll.

Once we had a chance to clean up a little, we secured coin of the realm and got ourselves some café and a croissant at a little place just down the street. We then made our way to Bistro Aberage to secure a 7:30pm dinner reservation for tomorrow night. The restaurant is near the Invalides and as we went by, we noticed a big stage with a group doing what appeared to us to be a run through of a Roman Catholic Mass. So I jokingly said to Dave, maybe the Pope is in town and going to say Mass here. After making our dinner arrangements, we walked toward the Eiffel Tower and lo and behold, we pass these big posters on the front of an RC Church announcing that the Pope will be saying mass tomorrow at the Invalides at 10am. Pretty swell of him to come to town to say Mass for us.

From the Eiffel Tower, we passed the spot over the tunnel were Diana and Doti Faod were killed. We walked south along the Seine and cut up to the Champs Elysees and to the Arc de Triomphe to pay our respects to the Unknown Soldier and all those who mort por France. We climbed up to the top of the Arch and got a fantastic view of Paris. And when I say climbed, it’s 284 steps up a spiral staircase. We then proceeded down the Champs Elysees, stopped at a sidewalk café and had lunch. I had Jambon de Paris (ham on a baguette with some moutard) and Dave had a club (chicken, lettuce, tomato and freshly made mayonnaise). The bread was just delicious as were the tomatoes. (I am not supposed to mention the pomme frits , so I won’t , go simvastatin---I’m going to be saying that a lot the next 12 days). After lunch, we continued down the Champs Elysees cut down to the Seine and followed it north back to le Hotel d’Orsay. Along the way, we passed the National Assembly and Place de Concord. The nickel tour of Paris.

Tomorrow, depending on how late we sleep (neither of us slept on the plane so it may be crash and burn time soon—5:45 pm local time) we will head over and see how close we can get to the Pope (Dave has a 55/200 telephoto lens). We will also head to Notre Dame, the Bastille and the Tuileries.

Now, where to go for dinner?

1 comment:

Fr. Bob said...

Excuse me Fred and David - just how much time was spent at the pinup girl display? Fr. Bob